Cancer is a terrible disease. Every year in the UK, more than 330,000 people get cancer, and doctors usually use a kind of therapy called radiotherapy to treat people. This treatment uses high energy X-rays to destroy the disease, but the effects of treatment can be nearly as bad as the cancer. As the X-rays destroy the cancer cells, they also damage healthy cells that are next to them. It’s like using a shotgun to kill an insect. When really important parts of a person’s body are hurt by the X-ray energy, it can have very bad results. It can also make more cancer grow in the damaged places in the future.
A new therapy that uses protons(质子) instead of X-ray energy could be the answer to the problem. In a project called PRaVDA, scientists from the UK and South Africa are working to this. If X-ray energy is like a shotgun, then protons can work more like a laser. Scientists can make protons travel through someone’s body without hurting them, and only damage the cancer.
The PRaVDA scientists use computers to make a 3-D model of the cancer cells to make sure the protons go to the right places. “It’s more accurate,” said Michaela Esposito, PhD, from the University of Lincoln.
Building this technology was very difficult, though. Professor Nigel Allinson from the University of Lincoln, the project leader, has put together a team of many different kinds of scientists with different skills. Those skills were all needed to make what he calls “one of the most complex” medical machines ever. It’s also 10 times more expensive than X-ray radiotherapy. Even so, Allinson believes that most cancer treatment will be done by protons in the future. “I think it will improve the quality of life of many cancer patients,” he says.
28．What point does the first paragraph make?
A. Cancer is a really terrible disease.
B. Lots of people get cancer every year in the UK.
C. Radiotherapy isn’t a perfect way to cure cancer.
D. Radiotherapy is a commonly used therapy against cancer.
29． What can be concluded about the new therapy?
A. It’s much cheaper than X-ray radiotherapy.
B. It depends on protons to locate the cancer cells.
C. Damaging the cancer by replacing X-rays with lasers is much more accurate.
D. It uses protons to damage the cancer cells without damaging healthy cells.
30．According to Professor Allinson, the new therapy .
A. will enable cancer patients to enjoy a better life
B. will cure most cancers in the future
C. will ensure that cancer patients live longer
D. will replace radiotherapy completely
31． What can be inferred from the text?
A. Science and technology are a double-edged sword.
B. Not every cancer patient will be able to afford proton therapy.
C. Radiotherapy is completely the wrong way to cure cancer.
D. The complex medical machine mentioned will soon be put into use.