英国卫报：此时蜜糖,彼时砒霜(6)

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This is speculation¹, however, as is the notion that the taste of sugar will soothe² distress³ and stop infants crying, or that consuming sugar will allow adults to work through pain and exhaustion⁴ and to assuage⁵ hunger pains.

然而，这只是一种推测，就像糖的味道能够缓解痛苦，让婴儿停止哭泣，或者吃糖可以支撑成年人在痛苦和疲惫中工作，减轻饥饿的痛苦。

If sugar, though, is only a distraction⁶ to the infant and not actively⁷ a pain reliever or a psychoactive inducer of pleasure that overcomes any pain,

但是，如果说糖只是会让婴儿分心，而不是止痛药或者能克服任何痛苦的精神愉悦诱因，

we have to explain why, in clinical trials, it is more effective in soothing⁸ the distress of infants than the mother's breast and breast milk itself.

那么，为什么在临床试验中糖在缓解婴儿痛苦方面比母亲的乳房和母乳本身更加有效，我们必须给出解释。

Research literature on the question of whether sugar is addictive⁹ and thus a nutritional¹⁰ variant¹¹ on a drug of abuse is surprisingly sparse¹².

糖是否会使人上瘾，从而成为一种滥用药物的营养变体，关于这一问题的研究少得可怜。

Until the 1970s, and for the most part since then, mainstream¹³ authorities have not considered this question to be particularly relevant to human health.

直到1970年代，以及在那以后的大部分时间里，主流当局都不认为这一问题与人类的健康有什么特别的关系。

The very limited research allows us to describe what happens when rats and monkeys consume sugar, but we're not them and they're not us.

研究非常有限，我们只知道老鼠和猴子吃糖时会发生什么，但我们不是它们，它们也不是我们。

The critical experiments are rarely if ever done on humans, and certainly not children, for the obvious ethical¹⁴ reasons:

显然，出于道德因素，批判性实验很少会在人类身上进行，当然更不会在儿童身上进行：

we can't compare how they respond to sugar, cocaine¹⁵ and heroin¹⁶, for instance, to determine which is more addictive.

例如，我们无法比较他们对糖、可卡因和海洛因的反应来确定哪一种更容易上瘾。

Sugar does induce the same responses in the region of the brain known as the "reward centre" as nicotine¹⁷, cocaine, heroin and alcohol.

糖确实会在大脑中被称为“奖励中心”的区域引起与尼古丁、可卡因、海洛因和酒精相同的反应。

Addiction¹⁸ researchers have come to believe that behaviours required for the survival of a species – specifically, eating and sex – are experienced as pleasurable in this part of the brain, and so we do them again and again.

成瘾研究人员已经开始相信，一个物种生存所需的行为——尤其是进食和性——在大脑的这个部分会产生愉悦感，所以我们会一次又一次地这样做。

Sugar stimulates¹⁹ the release of the same neurotransmitters – dopamine in particular – through which the potent²⁰ effects of these other drugs are mediated²¹.

糖刺激同样的神经递质的释放——尤其是多巴胺——通过这种神经递质，其他药物的有效作用得到了调节。

Because the drugs work this way, humans have learned how to refine their essence into concentrated forms that heighten the rush.

因为药物是这样工作的，人类已经学会了如何将其精华提炼成浓缩的形式从而提高快感。

Coca leaves, for instance, are mildly stimulating²² when chewed, but powerfully addictive when refined into cocaine; even more so taken directly into the lungs when smoked as crack cocaine.

例如，咀嚼古柯叶时会有轻微的刺激感，但提炼成可卡因时则具有强烈的成瘾性，当作为强效可卡因吸食时，直接进入肺部的就更多了。

Sugar, too, has been refined from its original form to heighten its rush and concentrate its effects.

糖也是从其原始形式中提炼出来以提高其刺激性并浓缩其效果。

1 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

2 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。

3 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

4 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

5 assuage   

v.缓和，减轻，镇定

参考例句：

• The medicine is used to assuage pain.这种药用来止痛。
• Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.你带来的这些振奋人心的消息一定能减轻她的痛苦。

6 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

7 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

8 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

9 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

10 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

11 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

12 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。

13 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

14 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

15 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

16 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

17 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

18 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

19 stimulates   

v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用

参考例句：

• Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

21 mediated   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的过去式和过去分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• He mediated in the quarrel between the two boys. 他调解两个孩子之间的争吵。
• The government mediated between the workers and the employers. 政府在工人与雇主间搞调和。

22 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。