Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)

 Section A

 Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Coffee may counteract alcohol's poisonous effects on the liver and help prevent cirrhosis (肝硬化), researchers say. In a study of more than 125,000 people, one cup of coffee per day cut the   47   of alcoholic cirrhosis by 20 percent. The coffee effect held true for women and men of various   48   backgrounds.

It is  49   whether it is the caffeine or some other   50   in coffee that provides the protection, said study co-author Dr. Arthur Klatsky of the Kaiser permanent Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. The participants  51   from teetotalers(禁酒主义者), who made up 12 percent of the total, to heavy drinkers, who made up 8 percent.  The researchers calculated the risk reductions rate for the whole group, not just the drinkers. Not all heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis, an   52   scarring of the liver that hurts the organ's ability to filter toxins (毒素) from the blood. Klatsky said the new findings may help explain why some people's livers  53   heavy alcohol use.

Hepatitis(肝炎) and some   54   diseases can also cause cirrhosis. But the study found coffee did not   55   the liver against those other causes of scarring.

The same study bund coffee drinkers had healthier results on blood tests used to measure liver function, whether or not they were heavy alcohol users. Coffee's effect on reducing liver enzymes (酶)in the blood was more   56   among the heavy drinkers in the study.

A)ingredient         B)religious         C) protect         D) inherited

E)covered           F) ranged          G) irreversible     H)ethnic

I) unclear            J ) risk             K) factors         L) disease

M) apparent           N) survive           O) prevent