Most of the news in the newspapers is bad but sometimes there is a story with good news. This is one of those stories. Millions of people around the world suffer from AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other serious diseases. There are medicines to treat these diseases but for people in poor countries, these medicines are too expensive to buy. When a pharmaceutical（制药的）company produces a new medicine, they receive a special license called a
patent. This license means that the new medicine or drug is protected for a period of 20 years. The company that produced the drug can fix the price of the drug and no other company is allowed to produce the same drug or a copy of the drug for 20 years. At the moment, these patents operate all over the world, both in rich countries and in poor countries. The drugs companies say that they need patents so that they can get the money to pay for research to find new drugs and medicines. In rich countries people usually have enough money to pay for these drugs but in poor countries people can’t afford to buy them and cannot treat diseases like AIDS and malaria.
Last month, however, a group of experts published a report which says that patents are very bad for poor countries. The report says that drug companies do not want to find new medicines for diseases of poor people in poor countries. It says that poor countries should be allowed to buy cheap drugs without patents from other countries.
The authors of the report were lawyers, scientists and a senior director from the drug company Pfizer. Of course, the pharmaceuticals industry doesn’t agree with the report, “We need patents so that we can develop new medicines to fight disease both in the developed and developing world,” said a spokesman. But the report is the first sign that there might be a change in the patent system. This change could save millions of lives in the world’s poorest countries. This really is good news.
小题1: Why are medicines expensive for people in poor countries?
| A．They are protected by patents. | B．They are produced in rich countries. |
| C．They are imported. | D．They can cure the deadly diseases. |
小题2: What does the underlined word “patent” in Para1 mean in Chinese?
小题3:Why do drugs companies need patents?
| A．To sell drugs in rich countries. |
| B．To sell drugs in poor countries. |
| C．To get money to produce new drugs. |
| D．To compete with other companies. |
小题4: What does the report say?
| A．Poor countries should spend more money on drugs. |
| B．Poor countries shouldn’t obey a pharmaceutical patent. |
| C．Poor countries should import drugs. |
| D．Poor countries should be allowed to make copies of drugs. |
小题5:What might happen if the patent system is changed?
| A．Millions of lives will be saved in poor countries. |
| B．Drugs companies will stop producing drugs. |
| C．Drug companies will make more money. |
| D．The competition will be canceled. |
