青黴素  

今日主題:打開醫學新世界 / Penicillin: breaking the mould

凱妃老師&派老師共同推薦:雅思聽力最好的課外教材:BBC

康康精選雅思會考的主題,堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

建議方法:

1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)

2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍,直到寫出85%以上的字)

3. 最後check文稿,看哪聽不出來,單字沒背過,還是發音不熟。

4. 堅持天天聽,就能每天進步哦。

#BBC六分鐘英語

MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽):喜歡的同學,幫忙推或按讚哦~~

http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/1060.mp3

只有音檔怎夠,聽不懂地方,不用怕,康康幫你準備好中英文稿了:

中英文稿:

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…

大家好,歡迎收聽六分鐘英語,我是愛麗絲。

 

And I’m Neil. [rattles a bottle of pills]

我是尼爾。(拿出一瓶藥)

 

What have you got there, Neil?

你在吃什麼?

 

Antibiotics. I had a blister on my big toe, and it got infected. My whole toe swelled up like a balloon! The swelling has gone down now with these little wonder drugs. Look, I’ll show you.

抗生素。我的腳趾起水泡了,感染了。我的整個腳趾當時腫的像個氣球!吃了這些神奇的藥片,現在已經消腫了。可以給你看看。

 

No, Neil. Please keep your socks on. Thank you. Now, the subject of today’s show is penicillin, which was one of the first antibiotics to be discovered. So, Neil, can you tell me how many lives penicillin has saved since its first use as a medicine in 1942?Is it…a) 20 million? b) 200 million? Or c) 2 billion?

不用了,尼爾。把你的襪子穿上。謝謝。今天節目的主題是青黴素,它是首批被發現的抗生素之一。尼爾,你能告訴我自1942年青黴素首次作為藥物使用以來拯救了多少生命嗎?a) 兩千萬?b) 兩億?還是c) 20億?

 

Well, I’ll say b) 200 million. That sounds like a good number.

我選b) 兩億。聽起來是個好數字。

 

OK, well, we’ll see if you’re right or wrong later on in the show. Now, penicillin is a common antibiotic – or substance that kills microorganisms – that acts very effectively against certain bacteria. And it was discovered in 1928 by a Scottish scientist called Alexander Fleming who noticed some mould growing on a petri dish of bacteria in his lab, which had a halo – or circle – around it where no bacteria were growing.

好的,節目的最後我們再看你回答的是否正確。青黴素是一種常見的抗生素,可以殺死微生物,有效對抗某些細菌。1928年蘇格蘭科學家Alexander Fleming發現了青黴素,他注意到實驗室裡細菌培養皿中長黴了。黴周圍一圈都沒有細菌在生長。

 

Mould, by the way, is the soft green fuzzy stuff that grows…for example, in the bottom of my coffee cups when I forget to wash them up, Alice.

順便說一下,黴是指軟軟的綠色帶絨毛的物質,會生長……例如,當我忘記洗咖啡杯時,杯底就會長黴。

 

We didn’t need to know that, Neil.

我們不想知道這個,尼爾。

 

OK, well, moving on, it took decades before scientists learned how to successfully manufacture penicillin. But they got there just in time to treat huge numbers of soldiers in World War Two where so many men were dying from infected wounds.

好的,我們繼續說,幾十年後科學家們才學會如何使用青黴素。但是他們很及時地將青黴素用於治療二戰中受傷的士兵。二戰中很多人都死於傷口感染。

 

And you could have died from your infected toe, Neil, before penicillin!

沒有青黴素,你也可能死於你感染的腳趾。

 

That is a sobering thought, isn’t it Alice? Let’s listen now to Christopher Tang, Professor of Cellular Pathology at the University of Oxford, talking about how penicillin has been a game changer in the field of medicine.

這種觀點很嚴重,不是嗎?現在我們聽聽牛津大學細胞病理學教授 Christopher Tang的看法,他將講述青黴素如何改變醫藥學領域。

 

The sort of cancer chemotherapy which we currently use, which immunosuppress people, we couldn’t possibly consider that without the use of antibiotics. So not only has penicillin opened the door for treating people with infection, it’s also essentially paved the way for modern medicine, modern interventional medicine that we benefit from now.

進行癌症化療時,會抑制人體的免疫系統,沒有青黴素,我們真的不敢去採取化療。所以青黴素不僅可以治癒感染的病患,也為現代醫學,以及如今受益的現代介入性藥物打下重要基礎。

 

Chemotherapy is a chemical treatment used to kill cancer cells that also suppresses – or stops – the body’s immune system from working. The immune system is our body’s defence against infection and disease. So cancer patients have to take antibiotics to prevent infections that the body can’t fight off by itself.

化療是一種殺死癌症細胞的化學療法,也會抑制人體免疫系統。免疫系統是人體抵禦感染和疾病的系統。所以癌症病人必須服用青黴素來預防感染,因為身體已經不能自己抵抗感染了。

 

So the discovery of penicillin paved the way for chemotherapy and other types of medical treatment– and to pave the way means to make something possible. But surely, Alice, there are some bacteria that penicillin doesn’t kill?

所以青黴素的發現為化療和其他類型的藥物治療鋪平了道路。鋪平道路是指使某事成為可能。但,還有一些細菌是青黴素殺不死的,不是嗎?

 

You’re right. It only works against bacteria with proteins that are sensitive to penicillin. Other types are less sensitive, and also have systems built into the structure of the cell that sweep out harmful compounds, such as penicillin.

沒錯。它只能作用於對青黴素敏感的,含有蛋白質的細菌。其他細菌不敏感,而且內部體系含有清除有害化合物的細胞,就會清除掉青黴素。

 

And what about that superbug, what’s it called… MS… MR…MSR…?

那超級病菌呢,叫MS MR…還是MSR來著?

 

MRSA, Neil. This bacterium was sensitive to penicillin but has developed a resistance to it, and to other antibiotics, meaning the drugs can’t harm it any more.

MRSA,尼爾。這種細菌對青黴菌敏感,但是已然對青黴素產生抗性,對其他抗生素也產生了抗性,也就是說藥物無法摧毀它。

 

Are we returning to the past, then, Alice, where people like me might die from an infected toe?

所以如果回到過去,像我一樣腳趾感染的人有可能死去?

 

Well, it’s possible, Neil. But drug-resistance isn’t new. Here’s Professor Steve Jones to tell us more.

有可能。但抗藥性也不是新鮮事。接下來Steve Jones教授會進一步說明的。

 

Penicillin is not new. It’s been around for millions, probably hundreds of millions of years in the soil. And it’s because the moulds protect themselves with it. And in fact you find resistance to penicillin in the most unlikely places. You find it for example in corpses from before Columbus in the New World.

青黴素不是一個新事物。幾百萬乃至幾千萬年前它就存在於土壤之中。因為黴可以抵禦青黴素。所以事實上在很多不可能的地方你都能發現對青黴素產生抗性的東西。例如在哥倫布發現新大陸前,那段時間的屍體上就發現了抗青黴素性。

 

Professor Steve Jones. So penicillin was discovered in 1928 but it’s actually been around for hundreds of millions of years.

上述是Steve Jones教授的講話。所以青黴素於1928年被發現,但已經存在了幾千萬年。

 

Yes. And scientists have been able to test bacteria present in very old corpses – or dead bodies – discovered in the New World– that’s North and South America – and found that some of it was resistant to penicillin.

沒錯,科學家們在新大陸,也就是南北美洲發現的非常古老的屍體上測試了細菌。發現一些屍體對青黴素產生抗性。

 

But penicillin resistance is growing, isn’t it?

但青黴素抗性也會發展,不是嗎?

 

Yes. These days we overuse penicillin both in agriculture and human medicine, which has given bacteria the chance to adapt and fight back. So it’s now up to scientists to adapt penicillin to extend its lifespan, and to search for new types of antibiotics.

沒錯,如今我們在農業和人類藥物上濫用青黴素,使得一些細菌有機會去適應並對青黴素進行回擊。所以現在輪到科學家去擴大青黴素的壽命,尋找其他新的抗生素。

 

But prevention is better than cure, isn’t it? We should all wash our hands more – it’s a fantastic way of killing bacteria.

但預防比治療更有效,不是嗎?我們要勤洗手,這是殺死細菌的最好方法。

 

Yes. Good point, Neil, but washing your hands didn’t cure your toe, did it? Now, remember I asked you earlier: How many lives has penicillin saved since its first use as a medicine in 1942?Was it… a) 20 million, b) 200 million or c) 2 billion?

很好,但尼爾,洗手也不能治癒你的腳趾。好了,還記得之前問你的問題嗎?自1942年青黴素首次作為藥物使用以來,拯救了多少生命?a) 兩千萬, b) 兩億, 還是c) 20?

 

And I said b) 200 million.

我選b) 兩億。

 

And you were right! Penicillin became the most effective life-saving drug in the world,conquering diseases such as tuberculosis, gangrene, pneumonia, diphtheria, and scarlet feverand made Alexander Fleming an international hero for discovering it.

你答對了!青黴素成為世界上最有效的救命藥,可以治療肺結核、壞疽、肺炎、白喉和猩紅熱,也使得發現青黴素的Alexander Fleming成為世界英雄。

 

Now, let’s hear the words we learned today.

現在我們聽聽今天學到的單詞。

 

They are:

分別有:

antibiotic 抗生素

halo 光圈

mould

chemotherapy 化療

suppresses 抑制

immune system 免疫系統

pave the way 鋪平道路

resistance 抗性

corpses 屍體

 

Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. And join us again soon!

今天的六分鐘英語就到這裡。下期再會!

 

Bye!

再見!

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