Passage 2

(19) My research focus is on what happens to our immune system as we age. So the job of the immune system is to fight infections. It also protects us from viruses, and from autoimmune diseases. We know that as we get older, it’s easier for us to get infections. So older adults have more chances of falling ill. This is evidence that our immune system really doesn’t function so well when we age. In most of our work, when we’re looking at older adults who’ve got an illness, we always have to have health controls. So we work very closely with a great group of volunteers called the ‘One Thousand Elders’. These volunteers are all 65 or over, but in good health. (20) They come to the university to provide us with blood samples, to be interviewed, and to help us carry out a whole range of research. (21) The real impact of our research is going to be on health in old age. At the moment, we’re living much longer. Life expectancy is increasing at two years for every decade. That means an extra five hours a day. I want to make sure that older adults are still able to enjoy their old age, and that they’re not spending time in hospital with infections, feeling unwell and being generally weak. (21) We want people to be healthy, even when they’re old.

 

19. What is the focus of the speaker’s research?

[D] The change in people’s immune system as they get older.

20. What are the volunteers asked to do in the research?

[B] Offer blood samples.

21. What does the speaker say will be the impact of his research?

[C] Helping improve old people’s health conditions.

 

解析：

这篇短文主要讲的是对健康老年人的免疫系统的科学研究，旨在提高人们的健康水平。做科学研究的短文题需要使用好答案提示词，并关注研究的目的和结果。做第19题需要关注开头，做第20题可以用答案提示词but进行定位，而做第21题需要去关注研究的结果和影响。