For some years the big drugmakers have been worrying about an approaching "patent cliff"—a fall in sales as the patents on their most popular pills expire or are struck down by legal challenges, with few new potential blockbusters to take their place. This week the patent on the best-selling drug in history expired—Lipitor, an anti-cholesterol pill which earned Pfizer nearly $11 billion in revenues last year.In all, pill like Lipitor with a combined $170 billion in annual sales will go off-patent by the end of 2015.
What is supposed to happen now is that lots of copycat firms rush in with "generic" (ie, chemically identical) versions of Lipitor at perhaps one-fifth of its price.Patients and health-care payers should reap the benefit.Pfizer's revenues should suffer. The same story will be repeated many times, as other best-selling drugs march over the patent cliff
But generics makers may face delays getting their cheaper versions to market.Ranbaxy, a Japanese-owned drugmaker, struggled to get regulators' approval for its generic version of Lipitor, and only won it on the day the patent expired.More importantly, research-based drug firms are using a variety of tactics to make the patent cliff slope more gently. Jon Leibowitz, chairman of America's Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is concerned by drugmakers filing additional patents on their products to put off the day when their protection expires.
Another tactic(策略) is "pay-for-delay", in which a drugmaker facing a legal challenge to its patent pays its would-be competitor to put off introducing its cheaper copy. In the year to October the FTC identified what it believes to be 28 such settlements. American and European regulators are looking into these deals. However, legal challenges against them have been delayed, and a bill to ban them is stuck in Congress.
To encourage generics makers to challenge patents on drugs, and introduce cheaper copies,
an American law passed in 1984 says that the first one to do so will get a 180-day exclusivity period,in which no other generics maker can sell versions of the drug in question, as Ranbaxy supposedly won with Lipitor.
However, Pfizer is exploiting a loophole(空子) in the 1984 law, which lets it appoint a second, authorised copycat—in this case, Watson, another American firm.According to BernsteinResearch, under the deal between the two drugmakers Pfizer will receive about 70% of Watson's revenues from its approved copy of Lipitor.More unusual, Pfizer has cut the price of its original version, and will keep marketing it vigorously. So Ranbaxy faces not one, but two competitors.
All this may raise Pfizer's sales by nearly $500m in the last half of 2015 compared with what they would otherwise have been, says Tim Anderson of BernsteinResearch, with revenues then falling after the 180 days are over. Others fear that Pfizer's tactics , if copied, will make the 180-day exclusivity period worth far less, and thus discourage generic firms from challenging patents in the first place.The underlined word “blockbusters” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_______’
| A．pills that sell very well |
| B．new patents to appear |
| C．drugmakers to compete with Pfizer |
| D．challenges which Pfizer has to face |
What is the tactic mentioned in Paragraph 4?
| A．Legal challenges against expired patents have been paid for putting off the cheaper copy. |
| B．Bills to prohibit generic makers have been stuck in Congress. |
| C．Drugmakers try to spend money delaying filing additional patents on popular pills |
| D．Patent-holders give possible competitors money to prevent more losses. |
Pfizer exploit a loophole in the 1984 law mainly by ________.
| A．marketing Lipitor more actively |
| B．making the price of Lipitor go up |
| C．cooperating with Watson to beat Ranbaxy |
| D．encouraging Watson to produce cheaper copies |
How many tactics are adopted by patent-holders in the passage?
| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four | D．Five |
Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Drugmakers’ struggle |
| B．Generic makers’ dilemma |
| C．Laws concerning patent protection |
| D．Popular pills of Pfizer |
We’re unleashing the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending November 15, 2014.
We don’t get any new songs this week…but things do get shaken up a bit.
It all starts in fifth place, where Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj dip a notch with “Bang Bang.” Jessie says she wanted to assemble this lineup for a long time - she says she only met the other two after the song went to number one on iTunes. Jessie also says she wanted to use Nicki five years ago on her debut single, “Do It Like A Dude.”
Taking over fourth place is Maroon 5 with “Animals.” This band has been around for 20 years…but not always under this name. The Los Angeles group formed in 1994 as Kara’s Flowers, and released one album under that name in 1997. Four years later the members re-grouped as Maroon 5, and the rest is chart history.
Holding in third place is Tove Lo with “Habits (Stay High).” Where did that name come from? This Swedish artist’s real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nillson. “Lo” is Swedish for lynx - a species of wildcat that Tove says she fell in love with as a little girl.
After eight weeks, Meghan Trainor falls off the Hot 100 pedestal: “All About That Bass” falls to second place. Last week, she and Miranda Lambert sang this song at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, and Meghan kicks off a headlining North American tour next February in Vancouver, Canada.
Taylor Swift re-takes the Hot 100 title, with "Shake It Off" - giving her three total weeks at the top - but that’s only the beginning of her phenomenal week. Taylor’s 1989 album just opened at number one by selling 1.2 million domestic copies. That’s the largest sales week since The Eminem Show sold 1.3 million copies, way back in 2002.
That’s a wrap for this week, but as you know, the chart is always changing. Come back in seven days for an all-new lineup.What is TRUE according to the passage？
| A．There are many news songs this week. |
| B．The article introduces from the first place song. |
| C．“Do It Like A Dude” is sung by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj. |
| D．“Habits (Stay High)” is sung by a Swedish singer Ebba Tove Elsa Nillson. |
How long has the band Maroon 5 been around under this name?
| A．17. | B．18 | C．20 | D．13 |
We can infer from the passage?
| A．Taylor’s 1989 album created the largest sales. |
| B．The chart is updated every week. |
| C．Meghan kicks off a headlining North American tour next February. |
| D．“All About That Bass” has never taken the Hot 100 title. |
Like many developing countries, Cambodia’s mainly agricultural society is changing fast, driven by urbanization and falling fertility rates. As young workers move to the cities, older people are staying back in the villages, where they have little support.
After Sok Soeun’s husband died 12 years ago, she left her village for the Saravan pagoda in Phnom Penh.
Twenty elderly people - most of them women - live here assisting the monks with Buddhist ceremonies.
In return, attendees donate cash that the women spend on food and medicine.
Although former civil servants and soldiers get a pension, more than 80 percent of Cambodia’s 850,000 elderly did not have formal employment and so do not qualify.
Like 73-year-old Soeun, many are widows and struggle to get by.
“My kids come here every two or three months and give me between 10 and 25 dollars," she said. "It depends - they are poor. But what can I do? It’s my fate. I’ve been at this pagoda for 12 or 13 years. Recently I started getting more ill, and so now I can’t join the religious events.”
Experts want the government to provide geriatric health care and a universal pension.
Annie Nut, an adviser to the non-profit organization HelpAge Cambodia, says such help is critical because of the increased responsibilities carried by many grandparents.
“Because of course when you migrate to the city or to another country it is very difficult - especially as a low-qualified laborer or worker - to bring your own children because their services are very expensive and renting a house is out of the question. So the grandparents have to take care of the grandchildren at home, and they also have to be the guardian of the households and the crops,” said Nut.
HelpAge has, with government support, set up 400 village-level groups to foster volunteer care of the elderly at the community level.
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has proposed a $10 monthly pension and free healthcare for the elderly.
Opposition legislator and former minister of women’s affairs, Mu Sochua, speaks of a moral obligation to help.
“As I say, our culture elevates the elderly. We look up to the elderly - and for what they have gone through with Pol Pot and they have survived, the least the future government of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the least thing we can do is provide them with that minimum package starting with $10 a month,” said Mu Sochua.
The clock is ticking: a baby boom at the end of the Khmer Rouge’s rule and a declining fertility rate mean that by 2050 the country will have more than 4 million senior citizens - a fivefold increase.Which is not the reason why Cambodia’s Elderly face increasing hardship ?
| A．Many young people go to the urban areas. |
| B．The fertility rates is rising. |
| C．Old people need to support their children. |
| D．Old people are short of help in villages where they remain. |
What is true about Sok Soeun?
| A．She works in the Saravan pagoda in her village. |
| B．Her children come to see her two or three years. |
| C．She is a widow who makes a living by helping the monks with religious events. |
| D．She is not well enough to look after herself. |
According to the passage, what may be the solution to this problem?
| A．Government should decrease the old people’s responsibility. |
| B．Young people should stay at home to support family. |
| C．People should look up to the old who support the family. |
| D．Government should supply free healthcare and a universal pension to the old. |
Why do many grandparents have to attend to their grandchildren?
| A．Grandchildren need to guard the household and the crops. |
| B．It is very difficult to move to the city or another country as a low-qualified laborer or worker. |
| C．The low-qualified workers can’t afford the expenses of raising their children in the city. |
| D．Their services are very expensive and renting a house is out of question. |
第三部分 阅读理解（共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分）
High-tech gadget shows draw throngs of excited consumers each year in the United States, Japan, Europe and the Arabian peninsula. Though many people are already surrounded with all kinds of smart electronic devices, some always need one more -- better and smarter than the previous one.
At electronic shows, visitors flock around the newest tablet computers, cameras, 3D television screens, even small robots, dreaming of taking one home.
Consumers spend hours waiting in lines and spend hundreds of dollars to be among the first to get the latest smart phone.
The modern world seems to be infatuated with shiny expensive objects that keep us connected, help us navigate, record our thoughts and memorable events, and even talk to us. So infatuated, we no longer merely "own" our gadgets -- we have relationships with them, according to clinical psychologist and life transition therapist Francine Lederer.
“It’s a lot easier to have, right, a one-sided relationship with your computer, your phone, than it is with a live person. So that at the end of the day, you don’t need to worry about somebody being angry with you, you don’t need to worry about getting blamed for anything,” she said.
Magical devices
Although having a thousand Facebook friends may be perceived as equivalent to having a thousand real, authentic friendships, Lederer said in reality it is not so.
“It comes down to a lot of the internal stuff. How we feel about ourselves, our own sense of self-esteem, our self-worth, a lot of those things,” she said.
But gadgets are magical. They fascinate us the same way we are intrigued by a magician’s trick, said psychology professor at the University of the South Pacific, Robert Epstein.
“If you don’t know how they’re doing it, that’s very fascinating and intriguing. But if they do it 10 times or 20 times or 100 times, it gets boring and you want something else. That’s why magicians do not repeat the same trick over and over again,” he said.
Plugged in, isolated
Epstein, former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine, said he is concerned that gadgets will take on a life of their own.
“All we’re seeing so far is a little bit of the so-called wearable technology that you might wear on your wrist or in your glasses, but we’re moving very rapidly, whether the public knows it or not, toward real biological interfaces so that the gadgets will be built into us to some extent,” he said.
Lederer said the danger is that our dependence on electronic gadgets is increasingly being perceived as normal.
“I think our society in a way, and the media, often times normalizes the extent to which we use these gadgets and phones, but the reality is, it’s really not healthy for us,” she said.
Scientists predict that gadgets with biological interfaces may be available within the next 20 years and, coupled with strong artificial intelligence, will be much smarter than today.What does the underlined phrases “be infatuated with” mean？
| A．be worried about | B．be used to |
| C．be attached to | D．be popular with |
Why do people like to have relationships with gadgets?
| A．Because they are cleverer. |
| B．Because they will not have burden with the gadgets. |
| C．Because they have no feelings. |
| D．Because they are easier to operate. |
What’s the similarity between gadgets and magicians according to the passage?
| A．They both make people happy. |
| B．We will be bored with them. |
| C．They both cheat people. |
| D．They both don’t use the same trick repeatedly. |
What is Lederer’s opinion?
| A．It’s abnormal for us to rely on electronic gadgets too much. |
| B．Gadgets will take on a life of their own. |
| C．It’s healthy for us to use model electronic gadgets. |
| D．The gadgets will be built into us to some extent. |
Tigers are among the most admired and most feared animals in the world . When we think of a tiger, we think of danger. We think of the big teeth and large feet of it. We also think of beauty.
The tiger is a hunter that hunts alone. In fact , tigers are probably better than any other land mammal(哺乳动物) at catching large animals without help. Even so, the life of this big-game hunter isn’t easy. Finding food can be difficult, especially for a tiger that is old or weak. Most of the animals it tries to attack get away. A tiger sometimes goes weeks without eating. When that happens, it may hunt animals that can be dangerous even for a tiger.
When they are in a bad situation, some tigers may even attack humans. But in fact, tigers kill very few people each year. Most tigers run away when they see people.
What tigers have done to people can’t compare to what people have done to tigers. Over the last 200 years, we have almost killed tigers in the wild(野外). Today, the tiger is one of the most endangered animals on Earth.
A tiger may live 20 years or more, if it is not disturbed by humans. Female(雌性的) tigers usually live longer than male(雄性的)tigers, because the males live more dangerously.
It isn’t easy for people to tell a male from a female unless the female happens to be with her babies.Only females take care of the young. The big difference between males and females is size. Male tigers are much bigger.
Tigers are big eaters. In a single year, one tiger must eat about 70 deer or other large animals. That is one reason why tigers hunt alone. If they lived in big groups, they could never find enough animals to feed them all.What’s the topic sentence of Paragraph 2?
| A．The tiger is a hunter that hunts alone. |
| B．A tiger sometimes goes weeks without eating. |
| C．The life of this big-game hunter isn’t easy. |
| D．Most of the animals it tries to attack get away. |
The easiest way to tell a male tiger from a female one is by looking at their______
| A．size | B．running speed |
| C．way of hunting | D．claws |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．A tiger can only live about 20 years. |
| B．It is people who make tigers endangered |
| C．Many people are killed by tigers every year. |
| D．Male and female tigers take care of their babies together. |
According to the passage, why do tigers hunt alone?
| A．They can run faster hunting alone. |
| B．They can’t get along well with other tigers. |
| C．They can hide themselves easily in this way. |
| D．They can’t find enough animals to share with other tigers. |
.The passage is most probably taken from __________________
| A．A library guide | B．a news story |
| C．a wildlife book | D．a pet magazine |
Who doesn’t have a clingy friend? You know, that person who often calls,texts, and e-mails. He often needs your attention, your feedback,or your help.Worse yet, he often gets antsy when you don’t reply immediately.
Is there ever a moment when you just want to turn off your phone and be alone? But you won’t do that to a friend. Actually there are better ways to deal with a clingy friend.
Give Yourself Some Time
If you really need some time for yourself, or you’re just tired of being the listener, just explain to your friend honestly that you want or need some time of your own.Even the most determined friends will understand and give you some space. Of course, those extremely clingy friends will still call, text, and e-mail. If that happens, just reply gently that you need some time for yourself.
Suggest an Activity for Your Friend
If you ‘re tired of different get-togethers and outings, then you should advise your friend to do something alone. If you both like sports, you could tell your friend to have a try at the new gym. If your friend likes your suggestion, but insists that you go along, just explain that you’ve already visited the gym. Mention that you enjoy the gym. If you’re lucky , he’ll try it, and like it.
Introduce Your Clingy Friend to Others.
Your clingy friend may just be lonely or have trouble meeting new people. If that’s the case , introduce him to others with similar interests. He may just make some new friends.
_________________________________________
There’s no reason for you to rudely tell your clingy friend that he’s a pain in the neck. Just follow the above advice to take your time back. After a while, your clingy friend should learn to value your time and your friendship.What does the underlined word “antsy” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
| A．Busy | B．Silent |
| C．Nervous | D．Bored |
What does the author suggest you do in the first advice?
| A．Understand your friends. |
| B．Be honest with your friends. |
| C．Spend more time with your friends. |
| D．Keep your distance from your friends. |
Which of the following can best fill in the blank of the last paragraph?
| A．Give Your Friend Some Time |
| B．Take Your Time Back |
| C．Don’t Be Rude |
| D．Value Your Friendship |
If a clingy friend calls you to play badminton with him but you want to be alone, you should NOT_________
| A．reply gently that you want to be alone |
| B．introduce a new friend to him to play with |
| C．advise him to try another new game |
| D．tell him that you will meet an old friend soon |
We can learn from the passage that clingy people______________
| A．are very confident | B．have little free time |
| C．don’t respect others | D．don’t want to be alone |