locksmith模块七 Unit 2阅读材料中英文对照版

2021年1月20日发(作者：patrick)
Unit 2 Fit for life

Two life-saving medicines
This
article
will
focus
on

two
drugs
that
started
revolutions
in
medicine.
If
you
open
up
any
medicine
cupboard

or
go
to
any
medicine
counter
in
the
world,
it
is
likely
that

you
will
find
aspirin
and
penicillin.
Both
of
these
medicines
have
saved
millions
of
people's
lives
and
have
proved beneficial to mankind
since they were invented.
Aspirin
Aspirin was invented in 1897. However, the basic chemical used to make aspirin can be found in
nature. Nearly 3,500 years ago, people chewed on leaves or drank a kind of tea made from leaves
possessing a special chemical
to
reduce body pains and fever
. About 2,500 years ago, the Greek
physician Hippocrates, father of all doctors,
made a juice from a tree bark
containing salicylic acid
for the same effect. It was in 1897 that a European chemist called Dr Felix Hoffmann
produced
aspirin from this chemical
. The first trials of this medicine took place in 1899, when the company
Hoffmann worked for began
distributing the medicine in powder form to physicians
to use with
patients. A year later, in 1900, aspirin was sold in shops
in the form of tablets
. Within a short time,
aspirin became
the best-selling medicine in the world for pain relief
.
Not only has aspirin
proved vital for reducing fever
and helping stop pain, but there are also other
things that aspirin can help with. Lawrence Craven, a doctor from the USA,
introduced the idea
in
1953 that aspirin had the potential to
reduce the risk of heart attacks
, because it helped the blood
circulate better. The
report was ignored
. However, in 1971, Smith and Willis from the UK proved
that aspirin could have that effect, and in 1977
a study carried out
in the USA showed that aspirin
could
prevent
strokes
,
as
well.
Eleven
years
later,
Dr
Thun
from
the
USA
showed
that
aspirin
could
reduce the risk of some cancers by 40 per cent
. In 1999, aspirin was over 100 years old, and
yet there have been more discoveries about how it can help
increase the length of people's lives
. In
2003, a Chinese doctor, Dr Y
uan Minsheng, found that aspirin could reduce blood sugar levels and,
therefore, help people with diabetes.
Penicillin
Another
drug
that
has
helped
increase
the
standard
of
people's
health

is
penicillin,
which
is
considered by many to be
one of the most important medicines
in contemporary society
. It was
discovered
by
a
Scottish
scientist
named
Alexander
Fleming
in
1928.
He
noted
that
a
dish
in
which he was trying to grow bacteria for an experiment
looked abnormal
--there was blue mould in
it. It astonished him to see the bacteria surrounding the mould dead, which meant that the mould
had killed them. Fleming
tried this mould out on

another bacterium
and found that it killed the
bacterium
too.
He
immediately
realized
that
the
mould
might
have
an
application
in
treating
illnesses
caused by bacteria. He named the liquid made from the mould 'penicillin'. However, the
development of penicillin as a drug faced two problems. First, he was unable to
find a procedure
to
make
penicillin
pure

enough
to
work
as
a
medicine
.
Second,
it
was
difficult
to
produce
penicillin
in
the
ample
quantities

needed
to
be
effective.
In
1940,
two
other
scientists,
Howard
Florey
(Australian)
and
Ernst
Chain
(German-born
English),
helped
solve
these
problems,
and
managed to
make and test the new drug in large quantities
. Since the new drug was needed for
World
War
II,
the
government
approval
process
for
penicillin
was
accelerated
,
and
mass
production began in 1944.
Due to the widespread use of penicillin
, many lives were saved during
the war. If penicillin had not been available, many people would have died from sickness or even
small wounds. Penicillin became the greatest drug of the 20th century, saving millions of lives.
In 1945, the three scientists, Fleming, Florey and Chain, shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for
their work.


Magic needles: Chinese acupuncture
One
of
the
most
famous
Chinese
medical
treatments

is
the
art
of
'magic
needles',
or
Chinese
acupuncture.
It
was
developed
long
ago,
perhaps
as
early
as
2000
BC.
There
is
evidence
that
acupuncture began during
the
Stone
Age,
when
stone
tools
called
bian
(
砭
)
were used
to
press
areas of the body.
As
acupuncture
developed,
the
simple
bian
stones
were
replaced
by
stone
needles.
Eventually,
metal needles began to appear and
took their place
. There were nine different kinds of needles.
These included
a needle with a head like an arrow
, used for
making shallow holes in
the surface of
the skin;
a needle with a round tip
, used for
pressing the tissue under the skin
; a dull needle, used
for
tapping against pressure points
; and a needle like a small sword, used for
letting liquid out of
body parts
which had
swollen up
. These needles could be made of different metals, such as gold
and silver. Some acupuncturists today still use gold and silver needles, but the majority use only
stainless
steel
ones.
The
main
needle
now
used
for
acupuncture

is
fine
and
sharp.
Most
of
the
others have been replaced by
more complex medical instruments
. For example,
the needle looking
like a sword
has been replaced by a sharp knife that doctors use in operations.
Acupuncture uses stainless steel needles that are
put into the skin at certain points on the body
so
that a disease can be cured or a health problem solved. These points are
called acupuncture points
.
When
acupuncture
was
first
practised
,
there
were
365
such
points.
The
number
of
acupuncture
points
was
the
same
as
the
number
of
days
in
a
year.
However,
over
the
last
2,000
years,
this
number has gradually
increased to about 2,000
. Some acupuncturists
insert needles
at or near the
body part affected by the disease, while others select points according to the symptoms that the
patient has.
If
you
go
to
an
acupuncturist,
he
or
she
will
ask
you
questions
about
your
medical
history
and
your way of life. The acupuncturist will look at the colour of your skin and your tongue, listen to
your breathing, and
check your pulses
.



Western medicine only
recognizes one pulse which indicates the heartbeat
. However, according to
traditional Chinese medicine, there are twelve different pulses, six on each wrist, and every one of
them
is
connected
with

a
major
body
organ
or
its
function.
By
checking
all
the
pulses,
the
acupuncturist can find out which energy channel does not have enough energy.
Some of the medical problems that can be treated by acupuncture include severe pains, headaches,
injuries, stomach problems and high blood pressure. Some people have also
used acupuncture to
treat smokers, alcoholics
and people who
are addicted to drugs
.
How acupuncture reduces pain is not clear.
One theory explaining this phenomenon
suggests that
acupuncture
blocks pain signals from reaching the brain.
Another theory
relates acupuncture to
the
production of chemicals in the body which reduce pain. A lot of people now
subscribe to these
theories
.
As a unique contribution of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture
spread to many other Asian
countries
,
such
as
Japan,
as
early
as
the
6th
century.
It
was
introduced
to
the
West

in
the
17
th