A healthy Briton is to become the first person to receive a potential new vaccine for the Ebola virus.

The UK volunteer will be given the candidate vaccine in a safety trial being conducted by experts at the University of Oxford. The person will be the first of 60 to receive the experimental drug in the UK trial. The testing is part of a series of safety trials of potential vaccines to fight the virus, which could offer hope to the thousands facing the illness in West Africa where an outbreak has killed around 53% of those infected.

The vaccine uses a single benign Ebola virus protein to generate an immune response. The university said the vaccine does not contain infectious Ebola virus material and will not cause a person taking part in the trial to be infected. The trials are conducted on healthy people to see whether they suffer any side effects. The testing will also assess whether those given the jab generate a good immune response.

The vaccine has shown promising results when tested on animals. Pre-clinical research indicated that it provided protection for humanlike animals exposed to Ebola without any significant harmful side effects.

A £2.8 million grant was awarded to the research center making trials of the vaccine. The funding will also allow GSK to begin manufacturing 10,000 additional doses of the vaccine at the same time as the initial clinical trials. If it is successful, the drug will be tested in Gambia and Mali to ensure the studies take into account differences between European and West African populations.

In August, when the trial was announced, Professor Adrian Hill who is leading the research team, said: “The tragic events unfolding in Africa demand an urgent response. In recent years, similar investigational vaccines have safely immunized infants and adults against a range of diseases including malaria, HIV and hepatitis C. We, and all our partners on this project, are optimistic that this candidate vaccine may prove useful against Ebola.” 

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1.What is the significance of the volunteers’ trial of the new vaccine of Ebola virus?

A They can help the world stop the Ebola virus spreading.

B Their voluntary work will help the scientists find out the side effect of the new vaccine.

C They make all the British people feel proud of their brave deed.

D They will bring hope to thousands infected by Ebola virus in West Africa.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据文章第二段…offer hope to the thousands facing the illness in West Africa可知，首批志愿者实验埃博拉病毒疫苗将为西非数以千计的感染埃博拉病毒的患者带去生的希望。

2.What will the effect the new vaccine have on the person taking part in the trial?

A The new vaccine will generate an immune response.

B The volunteers in the trial will not be infected by the virus.

C The trial will make the volunteers healthy with the vaccine.

D The volunteers will not suffer from any side effect.

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据文章第三段…the vaccine does not contain infectious Ebola virus material and will not cause a person taking part in the trial to be infected可知，由于疫苗中不含有传染物质，因此不会使实验者感染埃博拉病毒。

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A Scientists are worried about the side effect of the new vaccine.

B 10,000 doses of vaccines will be sent to West Africa after the trial.

C The new vaccine proved effective in previous test.

D The new vaccine will be also used in Europe as a result of Ebola outbreak.

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据文章第四段promising results, protection，without…harmful…判断，新型埃博拉疫苗在前期实验中是非常安全有效的。

4.What does the underlined word most probably mean in the last paragraph?

A Opening little by little.

B Stretching to a larger area.

C Taking place suddenly.

D Coming to a close.

解析：选B。B 猜测词义题。根据文章内容，结合语境判断，unfold在此意为“蔓延，传播”，故选B项。

5.Why do researchers hold a positive view on the trail of the new vaccine?

A Previous clinical vaccines have been successful.

B The world reacts quickly to the urgent events.

C They have great fund to support the research and trial.

D Children and adults show now safe effect with the vaccine.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据文章最后一段可知，Adrian Hill教授综合了近几年各种临床疫苗帮助非洲人民战胜疾病的情况，因此他对于埃博拉病毒疫苗取得成功持乐观态度。