时间:2019-01-16 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(七月)


英语课
By Melinda Smith
Washington
12 July 2007
 





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Alcoholism is a growing problem worldwide.  The World Health Organization reports that alcohol causes almost two million deaths every year and results in physical disability or shortened life span for at least 58 million others.  Now a drug -- already used to help smokers 1 cut back -- is showing promise as a way to reduce alcohol consumption.  VOA's Melinda Smith has the story.






Varenicline


Varenicline



The pill's name is varenicline and it is already on the market in the U.S. and Canada as a remedy for smoking under the brand name Chantix.  Its European name is Champix.


No research on the drug as a treatment for alcoholism has been done yet on humans.  But one study on rats shows varenicline cuts desire for alcohol by 50 percent.  The rats do not exhibit excessive drinking even after they are no longer given the drug.


That reduced desire for alcohol could be a key element in any future testing on humans.  Often alcoholics 2 tend to go back to drinking after they quit taking any of the current drugs on the market. 






Dr. Salina Bartlett


Dr. Salena Bartlett



The study's author is Dr. Selena Bartlett of the University of California San Francisco. She says medication options are few for treating alcoholism. "There are very few effective medicines to treat alcoholism.  Our hope is that this drug will provide a new and improved method for treating alcoholism."


Varenicline has been available for about a year as a treatment to curb 3 nicotine 4 addiction 5.  Dr. Bartlett thinks it will help drinkers too. ”There is a huge link in smoking and drinking."


Eighty-five percent of alcoholics are also believed to smoke, and researchers are hoping patients would then be able to take one drug for both conditions.


The World Health Organization says most of the increase in global alcohol consumption is happening in developing countries.  The WHO says alcoholism is occurring in places where drinking has not been a traditional part of the culture and there are few treatment programs available.


Dr. Bartlett believes successful treatment with varenicline may be possible because it targets the center of the brain, which releases dopamine -- the 'feel good' neurotransmitter that is temporarily triggered by drugs, cigarettes or alcohol.  Varenicline shuts down the release of dopamine, which then shuts off the desire.


While the drug shows promise, researchers caution that its release to the public is still a long way off.  Even then, they say, curing alcoholism will take more than just swallowing a pill.




吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )
  • 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。
  • Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。
n.嗜酒者,酒鬼( alcoholic的名词复数 )
  • Many alcoholics go on drinking sprees that continue for days at a time. 许多酒鬼一次要狂饮好几天。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Do you have a copy of the Alcoholics Anonymous book? 你手上有戒酒匿名会的书吗? 来自互联网
n.场外证券市场,场外交易;vt.制止,抑制
  • I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
  • You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。
n.(化)尼古丁,烟碱
  • 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。
n.上瘾入迷,嗜好
  • 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。
学英语单词
AATM
acyl carrier protein (ACP)
anterior tubercle of thalamus
antisound
back pressure evaporator
bellylaugh
blaastolytic
blue merle
butty
Carl Gustav
channel decoder
characterpulse
coal supply
cog in the machine
continuous transmission
control of variance
coronal heating
cosmic-ray acceleration
cremation certificate
cross-terms
depression tank
Dermatophagoides
Dokken
dough maker
echocardiographically
edit string
emitter coupled trigger
fetticus
firebrick tile
fixed screw
flower show
frequency offset transponder
galumphed
games console
gasiform
gonogamete
heptapetalous
Hod.
housing depth
Hydrocon
hypsoisotherm
ideal (thermal) cycle efficiency
idolothism
imortal
indicator plant of soil
infrared generator
insurance proposals
Jersey cream
juvenile xanthogranuloma
Kawm
khassem
l'empire
licencing
lithide
Lomuro
London clearing banks
Lāna'i City
m. risorius
make memoranda of
measurement assurance
mechanical asphalt paver
multiple-skeg stern
non-investment property
nonautoimmune
nonovolytic
online market
orbit transfer engine
palaeanthropic
percent conversion
photo echo
plesioclythia schlingeri
pointingly
poly-ubiquitinated
put a pinch of salt on someone's tail
radioactive daughter products
rami parieto-occipitalis
regrets only
resin filling
resultant program instruction
sanda
schaluppe
sea bread
series name
shell work
shrinkest
silver rule
summary of spoiled work
tcks
tetrachromats
Tetrapanax tibetanus
throwing under the bus
tongued and grooved
tribasic
unit heater
vignoble
Vitacimin
wellbore
wether sheep
winding length
withholded
xenon fluoride excimer laser