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 Germanyhad 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, tenUSmedical 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.

词汇：

quackery/ˈkwækəri/ n.江湖医术

narcotic/nɑ:ˈkɔtɪk/ n.麻醉药；adj.麻醉的

potent /ˈpəutənt/ adj.有效力的

thermostat/ˈθɜ:məˌstæt/ n.恒温器

antibiotic/ˌæntɪbaɪˈɔtɪk，ˌæntaɪ-/ n.抗生素；adj.抗生的

sedentary /ˈsednˌteri:/ adj.坐着的

digitalis/ˌdidʒiˈteilis/ n.毛地黄，洋地黄

prostaglandin/ˌprɔstəˈglændɪn/n. 前列腺素

willow/ˈwiləu/ n.柳树

platelet/ˈpleitlit/ n.（血）小板

bark/bɑ:k/n. 树皮

clot/klɒt/n. 凝块，血块

salicin/ˈsælisin/n. 水杨醇葡萄糖甙（镇痛药）

artery/ˈɑ:təri/n. 动脉

variant/ˈveəri:ənt，ˈvær-/n. 变种；adj.变异的

placebo/pləˈsi:bəʊ/n. 安慰剂，安慰剂治疗

arthritis/ɑ:ˈθraɪtɪs/n. 关节炎

control/kənˈtrəul/n. 对照，对照物

analgesic/kənˈtrəul/ n.止痛药；adj.止痛的

注释：

1.an over-the-counter pill on sale：摆在柜台上（不需处方）出售的药丸pill：药丸，丸剂on sale：（商店的货物等供）出售的

2.this remarkable remedy dates back to Hippocrates：这种疗效显着的治疗剂可以回溯到希波克拉底时代date back to：追溯，回溯至Hippocrates：希波克拉底（公元前460 –公元前370），希腊医生，世称“医学之父”

3.acetylsalicylic acid：乙酰水杨酸

4.act on：对……起作用

5.coronary or cerebral thrombosis ：冠状动脉血栓（形成）或者脑血栓（形成）

6.turn off the body’s prostaglandins：改变身体前列腺素的有害作用turn off：避开（问题等）；使改变方向

7.“double-blind”trial：“双盲”试验（指在药物临床评价时不让病人和医务人员知道所试药物究属何种）

8.transient ischemic attack (TIA)：一次性缺血发作

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

There is a prostaglandin      

A:A B:B C:C D:D E:E F:F

Who Want to Live Forever?

    If your doctor could give you a drug that would let you live a healthy life for twice as long，would you take it?

    The good news is that we may be drawing near to that date,Scientists have already extended the lives of flies,worms and mice in laboratories. Many now think that using genetic treatments we will soon be able to extend human life to at least 140 years.

    This seems a great idea.Think of how much more time we could spend chasing our dreams，spending time with our loved ones，watching our families grow and have families of their own.

    "Longer life would give us a chance to recover from our mistakes and promote long term thinking," says Dr Gregory Stock of the UniversityOfCalifornia School Of Public Health. "It would also raise productivity by adding to the year we can work."

    Longer lives don"t just affect the people who live them. They also affect society as a whole. "We have war，poverty，all sorts of issues around，and I don"t think any of them would be at all helped by having people live longer,"says US bioethicist Daniel Callahan."The question is "What will we get as a society?"I suspect it won"t be a better society."

    It would certainly be a very different society.People are already finding it more difficult to stay married.Divorce rates are rising.What would happen to marriage in a society where people lived for 140 years?And what would happen to family life if nine or 10 generations of the same family were all alive at the same time?

    Research into ageing may enable women to remain fertile for longer. And that raises the prospect of having 100-year-old parents，or brothers and sisters born 50 years apart¹. We think of an elder sibling as someone who can protect us and offer help and advice. That would be hard to do if that sibling came from a completely different generation.

    Working life would also be affected，especially if the retirement age was lifted. More people would stay in work for longer. That would give  us the benefits of age-skill，wisdom and good judgment.

    On the other hand，more people working for longer would create greater competition for jobs. It would make it more difficult for younger people to find a job.Top posts would be dominated by the same few individuals，making career progress more difficult. And how easily would a 25-year-old employee be able to communicate with a 125-year-old boss?

    Young people would be a smaller part of a society in which people lived to 140. It may be that such a society would place less importance on guiding and educating young people，and more on making life comfortable for the old.

    And society would feel very different if more of its members were older. There would be more wisdom,but less energy. Young people like to move about. Old people like to sit still. Young people tend to act without thinking.Old people tend to think without acting.Young people are curious and like to experience different things.Old people are less enthusiastic about change. In fact,they are less enthusiastic about everything.

    The effect of anti-ageing technology is deeper than we might think. But as the science advances，we need to think about these changes now.

    " If this could ever happen，then we"d better ask what kind of society we want to get，" says Daniel Callahan. "We had better not go anywhere near it² until we have figure those problems out."

词汇:

mice/ maɪs/n.老鼠(复数)
sibling / "sɪblɪŋ/n.兄弟姐妹
bioethicist/,baiəu"eθisist /n. 生物伦理学家

注释:

An important feature of a society in which people live a long life is that     .

A:it places more emphasis on educating the young. B:it is both wise and energetic. C:it lacks the curiosity to experiment what is new. D:it welcomes changes.

The Only Way Is Up

    Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don"t permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

    When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

    The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

    Elisha Otis, a USinventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention ¹. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

    A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts ².

    "It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space ³ we carry around with us -- and you just can"t choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

    Don"t worry about them. They are probably from a university.

词汇:

skyline["skaɪlaɪn] n.空中轮廓线  

tension["tenʃ(ə)n] n.紧张

pulley ["pʊlɪ] n.滑轮

bubble["bʌbl] n.幻想,妄想;

fairground [ˈfeəgraʊnd] n.露天市场

注释：

1．It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention.正是这项技术赢得了人们对新发明的信心。本句使用了强调句型It is... that...被强调的是this，所指代的是上文中所说的Otis发明了电梯刹车的事。

2．The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.对于研究人类来说，最接近的方式就是在电梯里观察他们。句中的that指的是上一句中提到的科学家一直对动物园里的动物进行观察。

When Oti.s came up with the idea of a lift,____.

A:he sold it to the architects and builders immediately B:the Egyptians used it to build the Pyramids C:it was accepted favorably by the public D:most people had doubt about its safety

The Only Way Is Up

    Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don"t permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

    When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

    The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

    Elisha Otis, a USinventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention ¹. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

    A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts ².

    "It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space ³ we carry around with us -- and you just can"t choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

    Don"t worry about them. They are probably from a university.

词汇:

skyline["skaɪlaɪn] n.空中轮廓线  

tension["tenʃ(ə)n] n.紧张

pulley ["pʊlɪ] n.滑轮

bubble["bʌbl] n.幻想,妄想;

fairground [ˈfeəgraʊnd] n.露天市场

注释：

1．It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention.正是这项技术赢得了人们对新发明的信心。本句使用了强调句型It is... that...被强调的是this，所指代的是上文中所说的Otis发明了电梯刹车的事。

2．The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.对于研究人类来说，最接近的方式就是在电梯里观察他们。句中的that指的是上一句中提到的科学家一直对动物园里的动物进行观察。

Which of the following best describes the experience of going in a lift now?

A:Fascinating B:Uninteresting C:Frightening D:Exciting

The Only Way Is Up

    Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don"t permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

    When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

    The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

    Elisha Otis, a USinventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention ¹. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

    A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts ².

    "It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space ³ we carry around with us -- and you just can"t choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

    Don"t worry about them. They are probably from a university.

词汇:

skyline["skaɪlaɪn] n.空中轮廓线  

tension["tenʃ(ə)n] n.紧张

pulley ["pʊlɪ] n.滑轮

bubble["bʌbl] n.幻想,妄想;

fairground [ˈfeəgraʊnd] n.露天市场

注释：

1．It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention.正是这项技术赢得了人们对新发明的信心。本句使用了强调句型It is... that...被强调的是this，所指代的是上文中所说的Otis发明了电梯刹车的事。

2．The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.对于研究人类来说，最接近的方式就是在电梯里观察他们。句中的that指的是上一句中提到的科学家一直对动物园里的动物进行观察。

Which of the following best describes the experience of going in a lift now?

A:Fascinating B:Uninteresting C:Frightening D:Exciting

The Only Way Is Up

    Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don"t permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

    When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

    The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

    Elisha Otis, a USinventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention ¹. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

    A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts ².

    "It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space ³ we carry around with us -- and you just can"t choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

    Don"t worry about them. They are probably from a university.

词汇:

skyline["skaɪlaɪn] n.空中轮廓线  

tension["tenʃ(ə)n] n.紧张

pulley ["pʊlɪ] n.滑轮

bubble["bʌbl] n.幻想,妄想;

fairground [ˈfeəgraʊnd] n.露天市场

注释：

1．It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention.正是这项技术赢得了人们对新发明的信心。本句使用了强调句型It is... that...被强调的是this，所指代的是上文中所说的Otis发明了电梯刹车的事。

2．The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.对于研究人类来说，最接近的方式就是在电梯里观察他们。句中的that指的是上一句中提到的科学家一直对动物园里的动物进行观察。

Psychologists find the lift a good place where they can study human behaviour because__．

A:here humans behave the way animals do B:people in a lift are all scared C:here some people take notes D:in a lift the bubble of personal space breaks

布雷迪曾作过这样的实验，两只猴子各坐在自己被约束的椅子上，每隔一定时间通一次电，其中一只A猴子能自己断电而避免电击，另一只猴子B则不能，最终（）。

A:A得了溃疡病  B:B得了溃疡病  C:AB均得了溃疡病  D:AB均未得病  E:AB均得了高血压