模块七Unit2阅读材料中英文对照版.docVIP

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 peoples 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