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    課程推薦：2015環球職稱英語簽約保過套餐

　　2015年職稱英語考試衛生類概括大意(1)

　　Aspirin ― a New Miracle Drug

　　1. Using aspirin, an over-the-counter pill on sale1 in every supermarket without a prescription, to treat serious circulatory disease may seem almost like quackery. But today doctors recognize this drug as a potent compound as important as antibiotics, digitalis and other miracle drugs.

　　2. In its natural form as willow bark and leaves, this remarkable remedy dates back to Hippocrates2. In 1829 the chemical in the willow tree that can relieve pain and reduce fever was discovered to be salicin. By 1899 the Bayer Company in Germany had marketed a variant, acetylsalicylic acid,3 under the name of aspirin.

　　3. Since then, aspirin and confounds containing aspirin have been taken by tens of millions of arthritis patients. As a pain killer aspirin is, according to one study, more effective than all other analgesics and narcotics available for oral use. It also acts on4 the body’s thermostat, turning down fever.

　　4. But some of its powers remained unsuspected until recently. In 1950 the late Dr. Craven wrote to a small western medical journal about 400 overweight, sedentary male patients to whom he had given one or two aspirin tablets a day. None had had a heart attack. He enlarged his group to 8,000 and in 1956 reported：”Not a single case of detectable coronary or cerebral thrombosis5 ” and “no major stroke” had occurred in patients who had taken one or two tablets daily for from one to ten years. But his observations were largely ignored.

　　5. Then Dr. Vane proved that aspirin turned off the body’s prostaglandins6 hormonelike chemicals that can be secreted by every cell. Some potent prostaglandins are harmful compounds that create fever, pain and arthritis. One of them stimulates platelets in the blood to begin forming clots inside arteries. Aspirin blocks this dangerous effect.

　　6. Vane’s finding caused some researchers to recall Craven’s 1956 observations, which now had a possible scientific explanation. Numerous studies were begun to find out whether aspirin could indeed inhibit heart attacks and stroke.

　　7. In 1972, ten US medical institutions began two “double-blind” trials7 of 303 patients who suffered from transient ischemic attacks (TIAs)8. Four aspirin tablets a day were given to 153 patients, while placebo tablets were given to 150. Neither patients nor doctors knew which was which. After six months, the patients on aspirin had experienced much fewer TIAs, and fewer strokes and deaths from strokes than the “controls”. The results were so conclusive that aspirin has been used for this purpose widely.

　　詞匯：

　　quackery .江湖醫術 narcotic 麻醉藥;adj.麻醉的

　　potent 有效力的 thermostat 恒溫器

　　antibiotic 抗生素;adj.抗生的 sedentary 坐著的

　　digitalis 毛地黃，洋地黃 prostaglandin 前列腺素

　　willow 柳樹 platelet (血)小板 bark 樹皮

　　clot 凝塊，血塊 salicin 水楊醇葡萄糖甙(鎮痛藥)

　　artery 動脈 variant 變種;adj.變異的

　　placebo 安慰劑，安慰劑治療 arthritis 關節炎

　　control 對照，對照物 analgesic 止痛藥;adj.止痛的

　　注釋：

　　1.an over-the-counter pill on sale：擺在柜臺上(不需處方)出售的藥丸

　　pill：藥丸，丸劑

　　on sale：(商店的貨物等供)出售的

　　2.this remarkable remedy dates back to Hippocrates：這種療效顯著的治療劑可以回溯到希波克拉底時代

　　date back to：追溯，回溯至

　　Hippocrates：希波克拉底(公元前460 ?公元前370)，希臘醫生，世稱“醫學之父”

　　練習：

　　1.Paragraph 2

　　2.Paragraph 3

　　3.Paragraph 5

　　4.Paragraph 7

　　A Confirmation of the New Effect

　　B Pain-relieving and Fever-reducing Effects of Aspirin

　　C The Ignored Significant Observations

　　D The Origin of Aspirin

　　E An Explanation of Craven’s Observations

　　F Further Findings of Dr. Vane

　　5.In the middle of the last century Craven made .

　　6.It is Bayer Company .

　　7.There is a prostaglandin .

　　8.Numerous studies concluded .

　　A that aspirin has a positive effect on heart attacks and strokes

　　B two “double-blind” trials of patients with heart disease

　　C that first produced aspirin for sale

　　D the unsuspected effect on pain and fever

　　E important observations on the effects of aspirin

　　F that may cause clots to be formed in the arteries