A study published in the New England journal of Medicine estimated that there are an average of30 in-flight medical emergencies on U.S. flights every day. Most of them are not grave;fainting, dizziness and hyperventilation (換氣過度) are the most frequent complaints, But 13%of them-roughly four a day-are serious enough to require a pilot to change course. The mostcommon of the serious emergencies include heart trouble (46%), strokes and other neurologicalproblems (18%), and difficult breathing (6%).

　　Let's face it: plane riders are stressful. For starters, cabin pressures at high altitudes are setat roughly what they would be if you lived at 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. Most peoplecan tolerate these pressures pretty easily, but passengers with heart disease may experiencechest pains as a result of the reduced amount of oxygen flowing through their blood. Lowpressure can also cause the air in body cavities to expand-as much as 30%+ Again, mostpeople won't notice anything beyond mild stomach cramping. But if you've recently had anoperation, your wound could open. And if' a medical device has been implanted in your body-asplint, a tracheotomy(氣管切開術)tube or a catheter (導管)-it could expand and cause injury.

　　Another common in-flight problem is deep venous thrombosis(深靜脈血栓)-the so-calledeconomy-class syndrome, When you sit too long in a cramped position. the blood in our legstends to clot. Most people just get sore calves. But blood clots, left untreated, could travel tothe lungs, causing breathing difficulties and even death. Such clots are readily prevented bykeeping blood flowing; walk and stretch your legs when possible,

　　Whatever you do, don't panic. Things are looking up on the in-flight-emergency front. Doctorswho come to passengers' aid used to worry about getting sued; their fears have liftedsomewhat since the 1998 Aviation Medical Assistance Act gave them"good Samaritan"protection. And thanks to more recent legislation, flights with at least one attendant arestarting to install emergency medical kits with automated defibrillators (電擊去顫器) to treat heartattacks.

　　Are you still wondering if you are healthy enough to fly? If you can walk 150 it. or climb a flightof stairs without getting winded, you'll probably do just fine, Having a doctor close by doesn'thurt, either.

　　一項刊登在《新英格蘭醫學雜志》上的研究估計，美國的航班平均每天發生30起飛行中的醫療急癥。大多數情況并不嚴重，最常見的癥狀包括暈厥、頭昏目眩及換氣過度。[16]但是其中13%——每天約4起——癥狀非常嚴重，因而迫使飛行員改變航向。最常見的嚴重突發狀況包括心臟病(46%)、中風和其他神經系統疾病(18%)以及呼吸困難(6%)。

　　讓我們面對現實吧：飛機乘客很緊張。對于初次乘坐飛機的人而言。高空機艙內進置的壓力大約相當于海拔5000-8000英尺的氣壓水平。大多數人能輕松地承受這樣的壓力，但是有心臟病的乘客可能會因為流經血液的氧氣減少而感覺胸痛。[17]低氣壓也可能導致體腔內的空氣膨脹——最大時可膨脹30%。此外，大多數人除了輕微的胃部痙攣外不會有其他感覺。但如果你剛動過手術，傷口可能會裂開。如果你體內植入了醫療器材——如夾板、氣管切開套管或導管——這些東西可能套膨脹，并導致受傷。

　　[18]飛行中常見的另一種毛病是深靜脈血栓形成——即所謂的經濟艙綜合征。長時間坐在狹窄的住置上，腿部的血液容易結塊。大部分人只會感覺小腿酸痛。但血栓不經治療，可能轉移至肺部，引起呼吸困難，甚至死亡，保持血流通暢。盡可能多走動并伸展腿部，就可以輕松預防血栓。

　　無論做什么都不要驚慌。飛行中患癥的狀況正在好轉。[19]過去搶救乘客的醫生曾擔心會被起訴，自從1998年頒布的《航空醫療救助法案》為醫生們提供了“樂善好施”稱號的保護，大致消除了醫生們的擔心。最近的立法規定，至少有一名以上服務員的航班開始配備急救醫療包，內有對付心臟病突發的自動電擊去顫器。

　　你還在懷疑自己身體是否足夠健康而可以來坐飛機嗎?[20]如果你走150英尺的路，或爬上一段樓梯而不會氣喘吁吁，那你可能沒問題。當然，身邊有個醫生也不是什么壞事。

　　16.Heart disease takes up about__________of the in-flight medical emergencies on USflights.

　　A) 13%

　　B) 460/o

　　C) 18%

　　D) 6%

　　17.According to the passage, the expansion of air in body cavities can resultin____________.

　　A) heart attack

　　B) chest pain

　　C) stomach cramping

　　D) difficult breathing

　　18.According to the passage, why does deep venous thrombosis usually happen?

　　A) Because the economy class is not spacious enough.

　　B) Because there are too many economy-class passengers.

　　C) Because passengers are not allowed to walk during the flight.

　　D) Because the low pressure in the cabin prevents blood flowing smoothly.

　　19.According to the J998 Aviation Medical Assistance Act, Doctors who came topassengers' aid__________.

　　A) do not have to be worried even if they give the patients improper treatment

　　B) will not be submitted to legal responsibility even if the patients didn't recover

　　C) are assisted by advanced emergency medical kits

　　D) will be greatly respected by the patient and the crew

　　20.The phrase "getting winded" (Line 2. Para. 5) is closest in meaningto____________.

　　A) falling over

　　B) being out of breath

　　C) spraining the ankle

　　D) moving in a curving line

　　16.[D]根據首段末句，心臟病占飛行中醫療重癥的46%;而根據倒數第2句，重癥在美國所有飛行中的醫療急癥中占13%。結合這兩句可知，心臟病應占所有急癥中13%的46%，即約6%，因此選項D為本題答案。

　　17.[C]第2段第4句提到了“體腔內空氣膨脹”，接下來三句分別列出了這種現象可能導致的三種病癥，其中選項C在第5句提到，為本題答案。

　　18.[A]第3段末句建議乘客有機會就多運動或伸展腿部，由此可以推斷該段第2句中的cramped表明經濟艙的空間狹窄，因此選項A為本題答案。

　　19.[B]倒數第2段第3句提到，醫生擔心他們給予病人的醫療援助一旦出現意外就會遭到起訴，而這種害怕自從1998年《航空醫療救助法案》頒布后，在某種程度上就消失了，由此可推斷，Aviation Medical AssistanceAct讓醫生在出現意外時能避免承擔法律資任，即選項B為本題答案。

　　20.[B]末段第2句指出了測試身體是否足夠健康去乘坐飛機的方法，結合全文中提到的飛機中氣壓低、含氧量低的特點，可以推斷getting winded應指“喘氣”。即選項B。