高中牛津英语模块七 Unit2 Reading.doc

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1、【精品文档】如有侵权，请联系网站删除，仅供学习与交流高中牛津英语模块七 Unit2 Reading.精品文档.Two life-saving medicinesThis article will focus on two drugs that started ravolutions 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 the

2、se medicines have saved millions of peoples lives and have proved beneficial to mankind since they were invented.AspirinAspirin was invented in 1897.However,the basic chemical used to make aspirin can be found in nature.Nearly 3500 years ago,people chewed on leaves or drank a kind of tea made from l

3、eaves possessing a special chemical to reduce body pains and fever.About 2500 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 f

4、rom 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

5、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

6、 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 t

7、he USA showed that aspirin could reduc the risk of some cancers by 40 per cent.In 1999,aspirin was over 100 years old,and yet there have been more discoverise about how it can help increase the length of peoples lives.In 2003,a Chinese doctor,Dr Yuan Minsheng,found that aspirin could reduce blood su

8、gar levels and,therefore,help people with diabetes.PenicillinAnother drug that has helped increase the standard of peoples 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 Flem

9、ing 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 foun

10、d 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 t

11、o 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

12、new drug in large quantities.Since the new drug was needed for World War II,the government approval process for penicillin was acclerated,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.