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 17th

　century. Today acupuncture has become popular round the world, as have other traditional Chinese medicines. The World Health Organization recommends acupuncture as a good treatment for over forty medical problems. While doubts about its safety have faded away, interest continues to grow.

　两种挽救生命的药物

　这篇文章将 着重讲述 两种引发了医学革命的药物。倘若你

　打开世界上的任何一个药柜

　，

　或者走到任何一个卖药的柜台，

　都可能 找到阿司匹林和青霉素。

　自这两种药被发明以来，

　它

　们已挽救了数百万人的性命，并已

　证实对人类有益

　。

　阿司匹林

　阿司匹林发明于

　1 897 年。但是，用于制造阿司匹林的基本化学物质却可在自然界中找

　到。将近

　3500 年前，人们咀嚼一种

　含有特殊化学物质

　的树叶或饮用这种树叶制成的茶，以

　减轻身体疼痛或退烧

　。大约 2500 年前，医生之父、古希腊医师希波克拉底就

　用一种树皮制

　成汁 ，这种汁含有水杨酸，也有同样的功效。

　1897 年，一位名叫费利克斯·霍夫曼的欧洲

　药剂师 提取这种化学物质

　，制成了阿司匹林

　。对该药进行的首批试验发生在

　1899 年。当时，

　霍夫曼供职的公司开始将

　这种药以粉末形式分发给医师

　，在病人身上使用。一年之后，即

　1900 年，阿司匹林被

　制成片剂 在药店出售。很快，阿司匹林成了世界上

　最畅销的止痛药

　。

　阿司匹林不仅被

　证明对于退烧和止痛必不可少

　，而且还有其他用途。美国医生劳伦斯

　-

　克雷文在

　1953 年提出一个观点 ，即阿司匹林可能有助于

　降低心脏病发作

　的风险，因为它能

　改善血液循环。该

　报告并未引起人们的注意。但是，

　1971 年，英国医生史密斯和威利斯证

　实阿司匹林的确有此功效。

　1977 年，美国的一项

　研究 表明，阿司匹林还能

　预防中风 。11 年

　后，美国医生图恩证明，阿司匹林可以

　降低某些癌症

　40％的发病率。到

　1999 年，阿司匹林

　已有一百多年的历史，但是在它如何能够帮助

　延年益寿 方面仍然有更多的发现。

　2003 年，

　中国医生袁敏生发现，阿司匹林可以降低血糖水平，从而帮助糖尿病患者。

　青霉素

　另外一种帮助人们

　提高健康水平 的药物是青霉素。

　许多人 认为这种药是当代社会 最重要

　的药物之一。它是由一名叫亚历山大·弗莱明的苏格兰科学家于

　1928 年发现的。他注意到

　一个碟子 看起来有些异常 ——为了做实验， 他试图在这个碟子中培育细菌——它里面有蓝色

　的霉。使他十分惊讶的是， 他看到这种霉周围的细菌都死了，

　这意味着是这种霉杀死了它们。

　弗莱明 将这种霉用在另外一种细菌上做试验

　，发现它同样杀死了那种细菌。

　他立刻意识到这

　种霉或许能 用于治疗由细菌引起的疾病

　。他将由这种霉制成的液体命名为

　“青霉素”。然而，

　青霉素的药物研发面临两个难题。首先，他难以

　找到一种方法来提纯 药用的青霉素。第二，

　难以 生产出足量的青霉素

　以产生药效。

　1940 年，另外两名科学家，澳大利亚人霍华德·弗

　洛里和德裔英国人恩斯特

　-钱恩，帮助解决了这些问题，并设法

　大量制造和试用这一新药

　。

　由于这种新药为第二次世界大战所需，政府

　批准程序得以加快 ，大批量生产始于 l 944

　年。

　正因为青霉素的广泛应用

　，战争期间的很多生命得以挽救。

　如果没有青霉素， 很多人会死于

　疾病，甚至是很小的伤口。青霉素挽救了无数人的性命，成了二十世纪最了不起的药物。

　由于他们的工作成果，弗莱明、弗洛里和钱恩于

　1945 年共同获得了诺贝尔医学奖。

　Project

　神针：中国针刺疗法

　“神针”艺术， 或称中国针刺疗法，

　是最有名的中医疗法

　之一。很久之前它就被研制出

　来，也许早至公元前 2000

　年。有证据表明针刺疗法始于石器时代，那时一种叫“砭”的石

　器被用来按压身体部位。

　随着针刺疗法的发展， 简易的砭石被石针所代替。

　 最终，金属针开始出现并 取代了 石针。

　当时有九种不同种类的针，包括：

　头部像箭的针 ，用于 在皮肤表面刺出小孔

　；头部是圆形的针，用于 按压皮下组织 ；钝头针，用于 敲打压痛点；像小剑一样的针，用于

　让液体从肿胀部

　位流出 。这些针由金、银等不同的金属制成。

　一些针灸师如今仍使用金针或银针，

　但大部分

　医师只使用不锈钢制成的针。

　如今，用于针刺疗法的主针

　细而锋利。

　而大多数其他的针已被

　更为复杂的医疗器械 所代替。例如， 剑形针 已被手术时医生所使用的锋利的手术刀所取代。

　针刺疗法用不锈钢针

　插入身体的某些点

　，以治疗疾病或解决健康问题。

　这些点称为 针刺

　穴位 。最初， 针刺疗法 有

　365 个这样的穴位，其数量和一年的天数相同。然而，在过去的2000 年中，这一数量已逐渐

　增至大约

　2000 个 。一些针灸师在病灶处或病灶附近

　扎针 ，而另

　外一些则根据病人的症状选择扎针的位置。

　假如你去看针灸师， 他或她会询问你的病史和生活方式。

　针灸师会察看你的肤色和舌头，

　听你的呼吸，并 为你诊脉 。西医只 认可显示心跳的那个脉搏

　。然而按传统中医的说法，

　有十

　二条不同的经脉， 每个手腕上分布六条。

　每条经脉都 和身体的一个主要器官或器官功能

　相关。

　通过检查所有的经脉，针灸师便能查明哪条经络乏力。

　可通过针刺疗法来医治的一些健康问题包括剧痛、头痛、

　伤痛、胃病和高血压。

　 有些人

　也用针刺疗法来治疗吸烟者、酗酒者

　以及吸毒者。

　针刺疗法是如何减轻病痛的尚不清楚。

　一种解释这一现象的理论 认为，针刺疗法 使疼痛

　信号无法到达大脑 。另外一种理论则 将针刺疗法和人体内减痛化学物质的产生联系起来

　。很

　多人现在都 认同这些理论 。

　针刺疗法作为传统中医的一项独特贡献，

　传播到了许多亚洲其他国家

　，如早在公元 6

　世纪就传入了日本。它在

　17 世纪 传到了西方 。今天，如同其他的传统中医疗法一样，针刺

　疗法在世界各地颇受欢迎。世界卫生组织

　推荐针刺疗法为处理四十余种医疗难题的好方法

　。

　对它的安全性的疑虑逐渐消除

　，而人们对它的兴趣在继续增加。