Every year more than half a million American kids have drainage tubes(引流管) surgically implanted in their ears to combat persistent infections. The procedure, know as tympanostomy, may not be as 36 as the tonsillectomy was in the 1940s, but it now 37 as the nation’s leading childhood 38 and a new study suggests it’s being vastly overused. In 39 more than 6 000 scheduled ear tube operations, a team of experts 40 by Harvard pediatrician Lawrence Kleinman found that fewer than half were clearly justified. “Each year”, the researchers write in the current Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), “several hundred thousand children in the United States may be 41 tympanostomy tubes that offer them no demonstrated 42 and may place them at increased 43 .”

　　Tube placement isn’t a 44 risky procedure, but it costs $1 000 to $1 500 and sometimes scars the eardrum, causing a partial loss of 45 . Studies show that the benefits are most likely to 46 the risks if a child’s middle ear has produced sticky fluid 47more than four months despite treatment 48 antibiotics. For less virulent infections, drug treatment is usually a(n) 49 , safer alternative (though drugs, too, can be overused). In the new JAMA study, Kleinman’s team reviewed the medical charts of 6 429 kids, all under 16, 50 doctors had recommended the procedure. Even making “generous assumptions” about the likely 51 , the researchers found that a quarter of the proposed operations were 52, since less invasive alternatives were available, 53 another third were as likely to harm the recipients as help them.

　　Parents needn’t 54 about ear tubes that are already in place. Once 55 implanted, the tiny devices provide drainage for six months to a year, then come out by reducing health costs by hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

　　36. A. rare B. common C. general D. abnormal

　　37. A. considers B. alternates C. ranges D. ranks

　　38. A. operation B. disease C. condition D. injection

　　39. A. finding B. reviewing C. amending D. performing

　　40. A. controlled B. conducted C. legitimated D. led

　　41. A. receiving B. accepting C. undertaking D. initiating

　　42. A. disadvantage B. agreement

　　C. advantage D. shortcoming

　　43. A. bottom B. risk C. edge D. extent

　　44. A.subtly B. hopefully C. merely D. terribly

　　45. A. feeling B. hearing C. health D. memory

　　46. A. outfit B. outflow C. outweigh D. outgrow

　　47. A. for B. on C. in D. to

　　48. A. by B. upon C. with D. along

　　49. A. expensive B. faster C. further D. cheaper

　　50. A. which B. whose C. that D. who

　　51. A. risks B. dangers C. chances D. benefits

　　52. A. inappropriate B. favorable

　　C. preferable D. inadequate

　　53. A. where B. when C. whether D. while

　　54. A. outrage B. panic C. complain D. protest

　　55. A. lively B. quickly C. successfully D. formally

　　答案解析：

　　36. B

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在句子意為“在20世紀40年代的時候，這個手術(shù)可能不像扁桃腺切除術(shù)________，但是……”。common符合句意，所以B正確。

　　37. D

　　詞義辨析題。由空格后的leading可知，鼓膜管置放術(shù)現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)位于全國的第一位，所以rank符合句意，D正確。consider主語應(yīng)該是人，這里應(yīng)該用被動語態(tài)，所以排除;range表示“排列，把……排列成行”，如：She ranged the books neatly on the desk.(她把書整齊地排放在桌子上。)

　　38. A

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在句意為“鼓膜管置放術(shù)現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是位于全國第一位的孩童時期的________。”由此可知，空格所填詞的內(nèi)涵包括鼓膜管置放術(shù)，operation符合句意，所以A正確。

　　39. B

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在句意為“在________六千多手術(shù)中，一組專家發(fā)現(xiàn)少于一半的人接受的治療是正當(dāng)?shù)��！眗eviewing符合句意，所以B正確。amend意為“修正;改進”。

　　40. D

　　詞義辨析題。由空格后的“by Harvard pediatrician Lawrence Kleinman”可知，這個專家組是由Lawrence Kleinman帶頭的，led符合句意，所以D正確。

　　41. A

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在句意為“每年美國有數(shù)十萬的孩子可能________這種手術(shù)。”再看選項可知，空格內(nèi)應(yīng)該是“接受”。receive只表示被動地接受;accept表示主動而且高興地接受，所以A正確。

　　42. C

　　詞義辨析題。前面提到只有少于一半的人接受的手術(shù)治療是正當(dāng)?shù)�，所以可知，空格處所在從句意思�?yīng)該是說這個手術(shù)對他們沒有什么好處，故C正確。Shortcoming意為“缺點;短處”。

　　43. B

　　詞義辨析題。同上題分析，這種手術(shù)不僅對他們沒什么好處，還可能增加他們的風(fēng)險，所以B正確。edge意為“邊緣;優(yōu)勢”。

　　44. D

　　詞義辨析題。空格所在句子意為“植入導(dǎo)管并不是一個________風(fēng)險的手術(shù)，但是要花費1 000~1 500美元，而且有時候還會……�！眛erribly符合句意，所以D正確。subtly意為“敏銳地;精細地”;merely意為“僅僅;只”。

　　45. B

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在句意為“……有時候還會弄傷耳膜，導(dǎo)致喪失部分________�！県earing符合句意，所以B正確。

　　46. C

　　詞義辨析題。空格所在句意為“研究表明，益處極可能________風(fēng)險，如果孩子的中耳能……�！庇纱丝梢姡�句子是用益處和風(fēng)險作比較，outweigh符合句意，所以C正確。outfit意為“配備，裝備”;outflow意為“流出”;outgrow意為“長出”。

　　47. A

　　慣用搭配題�？崭窈笫恰癿ore than four months”，4個選項都可以接表示時間的詞或短語：on接表示時間點的詞;in表示在將來的時間里發(fā)生;to表示到……時間;for表示一段時間。根據(jù)上下文意思，故A正確。

　　48. C

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在短語意思是：“用抗生素的治療”。with符合句意，所以C正確。

　　49. D

　　詞義辨析題�？崭窈笫嵌禾�，然后是safer。由此可知，空格和safer是并列的關(guān)系，所以應(yīng)該是形容詞比較級，排除A;關(guān)于治療的快慢，文章前面沒有提到，排除B，C;文章前面提到治療費用比較高，所以此處可能指更便宜一些，所以D正確。

　　50. B

　　語法結(jié)構(gòu)題�？崭袷菑木涞囊龑�(dǎo)詞，根據(jù)句意可知，是這些孩子的醫(yī)生建議他們做這個手術(shù)，所以whose符合句意，B正確。

　　51. D

　　詞義辨析題。聯(lián)系上下文可知，文章主要論述這種手術(shù)的好處和壞處，選項中A、B同義，所以排除，D正確。

　　52. A

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在句意為“研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)這些被建議的手術(shù)中的四分之一是________”，由前面的even可知，空格處是指這些手術(shù)不好的方面，inappropriate符合句意，所以A正確。Inadequate意為“不充分的;不充足的”。

　　53. D

　　邏輯銜接題�？崭袼�在句意思為“________另外三分之一很可能像幫助接受手術(shù)治療的人們一樣去傷害他們”。由此可見，這里的三分之一是和前面提到的四分之一相對應(yīng)的，所以while符合句意，D正確。

　　54. B

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在句意為“家長們不用對已經(jīng)植入耳內(nèi)的導(dǎo)管感到________�！苯Y(jié)合后面可知，panic(恐慌)符合句意，所以B正確。outrage意為“凌辱;引起義憤”。

　　55. C

　　詞義辨析題�？崭袼�在的句意為“一旦________植入以后，這種小裝置就能排泄半年到一年的時間……。”可見，這正是成功植入后的效果，所以C正確。formally意為“正式地;形式上地”。