GRAMMAR
1 1 mustn’t
2 ought
3 have
4 will
have to
5 needn’t
6 didn’t
need
7 not
permitted
8 supposed
to
2 1 playing
2 heard
3 look
like
4 of
5 seems
6 to
have made
3 1 to be
2 have
3 having
4 to
be
5 to
have
6 being
Vocabulary
4 1 at
2 to
3 over
4 above
5 out
6 off
7 on
8 inside
/ in
5 1 a surgeon
2 a
plaster
3 mainstream
4 a
rip-off
5 prematurely
6 put
6 1 wind
2 stubbed
3 outnumber
4 underestimated
5 reawakened
6 blind
Pronunciation
7 1 stub, acupuncture
2 upon,
reflexology
3 useless
8 1 below
2 around
3 bandage
4 virus
5 system
Reading and Writing
Reading
1 B
2 A
3 B
4 B
5 A
6 C
7 C
8 B
9 A
10 C
DOES COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE
MEDICINE WORK?
The main
point made by people who dismiss Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
as a pointless waste of time and money is that (1) there
is no scientific evidence whatsoever that it works. For conventional
medicine there is of course an enormous amount of scientific research to back
up the effectiveness of medical treatments. (2) This
is because of the fundamental difference between conventional medicine and CAM.
Conventional medicine regards the body as a complex and sophisticated machine
and illness as a breakdown of one or more parts of the machine. Its aim is to
get the machine working properly again by removing the problem parts or
treating them so that they return to working order. CAM, in the form of such
things as homeopathy, acupuncture, and medical herbalism, regards illness as a
breakdown of the body’s natural healing systems. It believes that there is a
natural, non-physical force in all of us that enables the body to heal itself
and its aim is to make that force powerful enough to overcome illness and
restore health.
(3) This natural,
non-physical force, however, cannot be detected using the usual
scientific techniques. So it
is impossible to prove its existence scientifically, and this has led
some people to reject the whole idea of CAM. With conventional medicine, we can
test scientifically whether treatments have an effect on the body by looking
for changes in the body’s cells, nerves, organs and systems as a result of
treatment. With CAM, we cannot prove whether or not the natural force for
restoring health exists. However, it is possible to see what effects CAM
treatments have had on the cells and structures of the body in order to assess
their effectiveness.
(4) One example of
scientific evidence for the effectiveness of CAM treatments is a study
which showed that homeopathic medicine had an effect on the brain activity of sufferers from fibromyalgia, a
painful muscle disorder. Research also indicated that acupuncture was effective in the treatment of patients
suffering from Crohn’s disease, a painful disorder of the digestive
system. Tests on their digestive systems showed that they had less inflammation
after acupuncture treatment. Another study concerned the highly diluted
solutions used in homeopathic medicines. (5) Sceptics
claim that these cannot possibly have any effect because they are so diluted
and little or nothing of the original substance remains. But a study showed
that ultra-high dilutions of histamine (a protein involved in allergies) have
an influence on cell activity in the body.
One of the
most common tools of conventional medical research is a test called an (6) RCT. This is a comparative test to discover the
effectiveness of, for example, a new drug. Some subjects are given the drug and
others are given a dummy pill. The subjects do not know whether they have taken
a real pill or a dummy one, known as a placebo. Researchers then look at
whether the people who took the real pill showed more improvement than the
people who took the dummy pill, or placebo. The same kind of test is also carried out for CAM
treatments, and it seems an obvious thing to do in order to get evidence of
their effectiveness. However, a number of CAM practitioners feel that
these RCT tests are not appropriate for CAM treatments. This is for two
reasons.
Firstly, they say, this is because CAM
therapies are entirely focused on each individual as a separate case. Treatment
isn’t dictated by the specific medical problem the patient is suffering from
but by the need to restore to full power that individual’s natural force for
maintaining health. So (7)
the result of an RCT test for
one person may be wholly different for another, meaning that no general
conclusion could be drawn about a particular treatment. Secondly, the
practitioners say, a key factor in CAM treatments is the relationship between
the patient and the practitioner. Many people, especially those with severe or
long-standing medical problems, opt for CAM treatments because they do not want
to take drugs for a long time or because they do not have faith in conventional
medicine to improve their condition. (8) Some of these
people may feel that they get benefits from CAM treatments and from their
consultations with CAM practitioners, even if the treatments do not work for
their original problem. (9)
So CAM treatments may be
beneficial in ways that RCT tests would not reveal. Some patients, for
example, say that they prefer the holistic approach of CAM and feel that the
decisions about treatment give them greater control over their own lives than
conventional medicine. They like the feeling that they are taking personal
responsibility for their own health.
Listening
1 1 D
2 B
3 H
4 F
5 A
2 1 B
2 B
3 A
4 C
5 A
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