VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-05-27 Help for Heroin Addicts

 

AS IT IS 2013-05-27 Help for Heroin¹ Addicts³

Hello, and welcome to As It Is -- VOA’s daily magazine show for people learning American English.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

Today on the program, we report on how vaccines⁵ are being used in the fight against childhood diseases. There has been a lot of progress. But children are still dying needlessly from diseases that could have been easily prevented.

“If you balance the investment you make in the research and the implementation⁶ with the health benefit, vaccines have to be either the top or very much on the short list.”

And we go back 76 years to the opening of what is said to be the world’s most-photographed bridge...

From: “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” by Tony Bennett:

I left my heart in San Francisco 

High on a hill…

?But first, we have good news to report in the fight against heroin addiction⁷.

Vaccine⁴ Could Be Used To Treat Heroin Addicts                        

Scientists have developed an experimental vaccine to treat individuals addicted⁸ to the drug heroin. Such a treatment would be a major step forward for both public health and safety.

As we hear from Avi Arditti, heroin dependency not only destroys human lives, but fuels a violent drug trade.

An estimated 20 million people around the world are addicted to heroin and other opiate drugs -- all products of the opium⁹ poppy plant. Their drug dependency and use of unclean needles puts heroin users at risk of a number of diseases.

It is difficult to keep heroin addicts away from the drug even after they have received treatment to help them end their dependency. But the experimental vaccine may prevent addiction even if a user is offered the drug after leaving a treatment center.

The vaccine is the work of Kim Janda and his team at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. It tricks the body’s natural defenses for fighting disease into thinking heroin is harmful, like a bacterium¹⁰ or virus. The vaccine causes the immune system to produce antibodies that keep heroin from reaching the brain.

“So, it just, it creates like a wall to block the drug from entering the brain, the pleasure centers.”

Professor Janda is both a chemist and an immunologist. He says developing a vaccine against heroin has been difficult because the body can quickly change the drug into several byproducts. These include morphine -- the drug that produces the feeling that heroin users desire.  

Researchers had to develop a vaccine that would help the body’s immune system recognize and fight those chemicals before they reach the brain. To do that, they experimented on heroin-addicted rats. These animals also had an unlimited¹¹ supply of the drug.

Dr. Janda says the rats were kept away from heroin for one month. That is about the amount of time required for a human addict² to complete a drug treatment program.

Then, researchers put the rats into two groups, giving both groups as much water filled with heroin as they wanted. But half the rats had been given the experimental vaccine. Researchers found that the vaccine had a clear and measureable effect on those animals.

“What happens if you don’t vaccinate¹² them they re-escalate and, and double the amount of intake¹³. In, in the case of the ((rats given the)) vaccine, they completely don’t recognize the heroin at all and stop taking it.”

None of the vaccinated¹⁴ rats became addicted to heroin, even after being re-exposed to the drug.  

The National Institute on Drug Abuse helped to pay for the research. David Shurtleff is the acting¹⁵ deputy director of the agency. He warns that a heroin vaccine is not a complete cure. He says it would have to be used as part of a treatment program that also helps drug addicts change their behavior.

Researchers at the Scripps Institute are now looking for financing to pay for tests of the vaccine on humans, possibly by later this year.

I’m Avi Arditti.

From “King Heroin,” by James Brown:

All through your sentence you’ve become resolved to your fate 

Hear now, young man and woman 

I’ll be waitin’ at the gate 

And don’t be afraid, don’t run, I’m not chased

Sure my name is Heroin, and you’ll be back for a taste

Behold¹⁶, you’re hooked, your foot is in the stirrup 

And make haste, mount the steed and ride him well 

For the white horse of heroin will ride you to Hell, to Hell 

Will ride you to Hell…

?The Value of Vaccines

American health experts say a child dies every 20 seconds from a disease that a safe and effective vaccine could have prevented. Modern vaccines can prevent many childhood diseases. They also protect against hepatitis, influenza¹⁷, and even cervical cancer. Soon, they may end the threat from polio worldwide.

Onka Dekker reports on the progress of vaccination¹⁸ efforts, and the work that must still be done to reduce the number of preventable deaths...

Chesley Richards is with America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He says that, in the United States, vaccines have made many diseases rare or non-existent.

“Vaccines have made an enormous impact on improving health in the United States. Diseases like smallpox¹⁹, measles²⁰, polio -- they’ve been eliminated or eradicated²¹ from the United States and in the case of smallpox, it’s been eradicated worldwide.”  

But there is much more to be done. Scientists have been working for many years to create a vaccine against malaria²². It could save some of the more than 660,000 people -- most of them children -- who die each year from the disease. Malaria is spread by an organism carried by infected mosquitos.            

Anthony Fauci works at the National Institutes of Health. He says it is wise to spend money to develop vaccines.

“If you had to pick out one intervention²³, if you balance the investment you make in the research and the implementation with the health benefit, vaccines have to be either the top or very much on the short list.”

Dr. Fauci says vaccines cut healthcare costs because preventing a disease is less costly²⁴ than treating one.

The World Health Organization is urging countries to invest more in immunization programs so more children can grow up healthy and strong.

I’m Onka Dekker.

The Most-Photographed Bridge In The World?                     

Now, we go back 76 years, to May 27th, 1937, the day the Golden Gate Bridge opened. The bridge links the city of San Francisco, California to communities to its north in Marin County and the state’s northern coast.

The 2.5 kilometer-long structure is often hidden in fog. It crosses the Golden Gate, a waterway that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.

The Golden Gate Bridge has two steel towers that are each 227 meters tall. They are the largest bridge towers in the world.

The red-painted bridge is a point of interest for many visitors to the West Coast of the United States. It is thought to be the world’s most-photographed bridge.         

That’s As It Is for today.

Thanks to Avi Arditti and Onka Dekker for their reports.

1 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。

2 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

3 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

5 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

6 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

7 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。

8 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

9 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

10 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

11 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

12 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

13 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

14 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

15 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

16 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

17 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

18 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

19 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

20 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

21 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

22 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

23 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

24 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。