国际交流英语视听说国际交流英语视听说 Unit 7 Traditional and Modern Medicine Book 3 Student: Hi, Professor Sullivan? Professor: Hi, Patrick. Come on in. Student: Thanks. I wanted to . to talk to you about this mornings lecture. Professor: Good. Have a seat. What would you like to know? Student: Well, in the lecture, you talked about some really promising medicinal plants, like chicory, and . and some others, I think. And, um, . also about those two anti-cancer drugs that are made from rosy periwinkle. Professor: Well, actually, theyre made from a synthetic chemical, . but its the same chemical thats in rosy periwinkle. To be continued Listening 1 Student: OK, so . basically, what Id like to know is . why theyre not studying hundreds of plant species looking for the next great medications. Professor: Thats a good question, and the answers pretty complicated. First of all, it costs a lot of money to develop any new drug, and then to do empirical studies on it and get government approval. Its just a long, expensive process. Student: Sure, but isnt it worth it if the new drug can save lives? Professor: Yes, but theres more to it . With traditional remedies, there are a lot of variables. Imagine that a drug company learns about a plant thats supposed to inhibit the action of a viruslike the chicory plant, for example. To be continued Listening 1 Professor: They do experiments with the plant, and nothing happens. It turns outafterwardsthat they picked the wrong sub- species of the plant, or they picked the plant at the wrong time of day . Really! The plant chemicals can actually be different in the morning than they are at night . Or, or maybe the plants were old instead of young, or . some other plant was growing nearby . Student: Wow . do those things really make a difference? Professor: They can. The crucial thing to remember is that scientists need to know exactly which chemical from the plant is active, and they need to put a standard amount of that chemical in each tablet or injection, and they need to make sure it wont kill anybody. To be continued Listening 1 Student: Can medicines actually kill people? Professor: Its possible . Thats why they have studies to find out what the medicines will do . They might start with rats and mice, but eventually, they need to do large clinical trials with human beings. Student: That makes sense. And are those clinical trials expensive? Professor: Absolutely, and they take time, too. Student: Well, I guess I can understand the problem, then. Its a shame though . with plant species going extinct and all, I mean, one of those plants could . might be the cure for some disease, and well never know about it. Professor: You could be right. To be continued Listening 1 Student: Well, I need to get to the library. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Professor: No problem at all . Anytime. See you in class. Listening 1 Teresa: Did I tell you my father is having a hip replacement next week? Aiden: No, whats the matter with his hip? Teresa: He has a lot of pain in his hipfrom arthritis. It must be hereditary because everyone in my family gets arthritis when they get older. Aiden: Yeah, its very commonunfortunately, . but isnt hip replacement a pretty radical surgery? Teresa: No, not really . I mean, its major surgery, but its fairly simple and its over in a few hours. Aiden: I see. So what does the surgery consist of? What do they have to do? To be continued Listening 2 Teresa: Well, they remove part of the bone at the top of the leg, and they put in a, a devicea metal device. It has a ball and . a socket, just like a real hip joint. Aiden: Hmm . And then how long is the recovery? Will, will your dad be in a lot of pain? Teresa: Hell be in a hospital for a few days, and then he needs physical therapy for six weeks to make the leg muscles strong again. There will be some pain, but it shouldnt be too severe. Aiden: Thats good. Teresa: Definitely, but even when something is wrong, my dad tends to pretend that everything is fine . If he is in pain, Ill never know about it. To be continued Listening 2 Aiden: My father is the same way. Teresa: The extraordinary thing is . after the surgery and the recovery, the hip will be as good as new. Hell need to be careful, of course, but hell be able to take walks, or travel, or whatever. Aiden: Thats great. I hope it goes well for him. Teresa: Thanks. Listening 2 Narrator: Have the sniffles? Feeling under the weather? Have an ache or a pain? Then generally, our first stop is the drugstore. But this luxury is only allowed to humans. It may not surprise you to learn that the rest of the species that inhabit the planet come up with some very interesting ways of self- medication. Deep in the English countryside, animal behaviorist Cindy Engel studies a new form of biology called zoopharmacognosyor animal self-medication. Cindys dedicated the last few years of her life into compiling all of her research into a new book. To