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(yī)術(shù) 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(zhèn)痛藥)
artery 動(dòng)脈 variant 變種;adj.變異的
placebo 安慰劑，安慰劑治療 arthritis 關(guān)節(jié)炎
control 對(duì)照，對(duì)照物 analgesic 止痛藥;adj.止痛的
注釋：
1.an over-the-counter pill on sale：擺在柜臺(tái)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(shí)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(yī)生，世稱“醫(yī)學(xué)之父”
練習(xí)：
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
答案與題解：
1.D第二段敘述了從希波克拉底時(shí)代開始使用柳樹皮和柳樹葉來止痛、退燒到德國拜爾公司率先制造出阿司匹林出售的過程，故D應(yīng)為正確答案。
2.B第三段只講阿司匹林的止痛和退燒兩種作用。
3.F第五段講道Dr. Vane的新發(fā)現(xiàn)，證明阿司匹林可以阻斷一種前列腺素引起動(dòng)脈血管內(nèi)凝血的有害作用，故F為正確答案。
4.A第七段敘述了美國10個(gè)醫(yī)療機(jī)構(gòu)所進(jìn)行的“雙盲”試驗(yàn)，結(jié)論證實(shí)了以前所提出的阿司匹林具有預(yù)防中風(fēng)和血栓形成的作用，故A為正確答案。
5.E第四段敘述了Dr. Craven在20世紀(jì)50年代對(duì)阿司匹林能預(yù)防心血管疾病的重要觀察資料。
6.C第二段最后一句說的就是拜爾公司率先以阿司匹林的商品名出售乙酰水楊酸的。
7.F第五段最后兩句說的就是有一種前列腺素能刺激血小板形成動(dòng)脈內(nèi)的血塊，而阿司匹林可以阻斷它的有害作用。
8.A此題答案的根據(jù)是第六段和第七段。第六段最后一句說開始了大量研究以證明阿司匹林是否能抑制心臟病發(fā)作和中風(fēng)。第七段最后一句對(duì)此給出了肯定的結(jié)論，而且目前阿司匹林已被廣泛應(yīng)用于這個(gè)目的。
譯文：阿司匹林—一種新的神奇藥物
使用阿司匹林這種不需處方、在每家超市柜臺(tái)上都出售的藥丸治療嚴(yán)重
的循環(huán)系統(tǒng)疾病，收到的奇效如同江湖醫(yī)術(shù)。但是現(xiàn)在醫(yī)生已經(jīng)視其為與抗生素、毛地黃及其他特效藥品同等重要的強(qiáng)效化合物。
以柳樹皮和柳樹葉作為天然形式，這種療效顯著的治療可以回溯到希波克拉底時(shí)代。1829年，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)柳樹中能止痛退燒的化學(xué)元素為水楊醇葡萄糖甙。1899年，德國拜爾公司上市了一種變種商品，乙酞水楊酸，命名為阿司匹林。
從那時(shí)起，數(shù)百萬的關(guān)節(jié)炎患者服用阿司匹林以及含有阿司匹林的化合藥物。根據(jù)一份研究報(bào)告，作為一種止痛劑，阿司匹林比其他所有可口服的止痛藥及麻醉劑都更為有效，它同時(shí)也對(duì)人體保持恒溫起作用，可以退燒。
但是它的有些功能直到近來才被發(fā)現(xiàn)。1950年，晚年的Craven博士給一家小型的西方醫(yī)療雜志寫信，告知說他給約40。個(gè)超重、很少活動(dòng)的男性每天1片或2片阿司匹林，其中沒有人得心臟病。他將實(shí)驗(yàn)人群擴(kuò)大到8, 000人，19SG年他匯報(bào)說，無一病例發(fā)現(xiàn)有冠狀動(dòng)脈血栓或者腦血栓。病人每天服用1到2片持續(xù)I到10年，無一人發(fā)生嚴(yán)重中風(fēng)。但是，兒乎沒人重視他作的觀察。
而后，Vane博士證實(shí)了阿司匹林可以改變身體前列腺每個(gè)細(xì)胞可分泌的前列腺素的有害作用。一些強(qiáng)效的前列腺素是有害的化合藥物，可導(dǎo)致發(fā)燒、疼痛以及關(guān)節(jié)炎。有一種前列腺素能刺激血小板形成動(dòng)脈內(nèi)的血塊，而阿司匹林可以阻斷它的有害作用。Vane的發(fā)現(xiàn)令一些研究者回想起Craven 1956年所做的觀察，那些觀察現(xiàn)在似乎有了科學(xué)的解釋。人們開始從事大量研究，以求發(fā)現(xiàn)阿司匹林是否真正能夠抑制心臟病發(fā)作和中風(fēng)。
1972年，美國10家醫(yī)療機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)303名一次性缺血發(fā)作患者進(jìn)行了兩次“雙盲”試驗(yàn)。153名患者每天服用4片阿司匹林，剩下的150名患者則服用安慰劑�；颊吆歪t(yī)生對(duì)所服藥物究屬何種都全然不知。六個(gè)月后，服用阿司匹林的患者一次性缺血及中風(fēng)發(fā)作大大少于那些“安慰控制”的患者，中風(fēng)病死率也明顯降低。研究結(jié)果具有充足的說服力，于是阿司匹林便被廣泛應(yīng)用于這個(gè)目的。
