Aspirin — a New Miracle Drug
1. Using aspirin, an over-the-counter pill on sale1 in every supermarket without a prescription, to treat serious circulatory disease may seem almost like quackery. But today doctors recognize this drug as a potent compound as important as antibiotics, digitalis and other miracle drugs.
2. In its natural form as willow bark and leaves, this remarkable remedy dates back to Hippocrates2. In 1829 the chemical in the willow tree that can relieve pain and reduce fever was discovered to be salicin. By 1899 the Bayer Company in Germany had marketed a variant, acetylsalicylic acid,3 under the name of aspirin.
3. Since then, aspirin and confounds containing aspirin have been taken by tens of millions of arthritis patients. As a pain killer aspirin is, according to one study, more effective than all other analgesics and narcotics available for oral use. It also acts on4 the body’s thermostat, turning down fever.
4. But some of its powers remained unsuspected until recently. In 1950 the late Dr. Craven wrote to a small western medical journal about 400 overweight, sedentary male patients to whom he had given one or two aspirin tablets a day. None had had a heart attack. He enlarged his group to 8,000 and in 1956 reported：”Not a single case of detectable coronary or cerebral thrombosis5 ” and “no major stroke” had occurred in patients who had taken one or two tablets daily for from one to ten years. But his observations were largely ignored.
5. Then Dr. Vane proved that aspirin turned off the body’s prostaglandins6 hormonelike chemicals that can be secreted by every cell. Some potent prostaglandins are harmful compounds that create fever, pain and arthritis. One of them stimulates platelets in the blood to begin forming clots inside arteries. Aspirin blocks this dangerous effect.
6. Vane’s finding caused some researchers to recall Craven’s 1956 observations, which now had a possible scientific explanation. Numerous studies were begun to find out whether aspirin could indeed inhibit heart attacks and stroke.
7. In 1972, ten US medical institutions began two “double-blind” trials7 of 303 patients who suffered from transient ischemic attacks (TIAs)8. Four aspirin tablets a day were given to 153 patients, while placebo tablets were given to 150. Neither patients nor doctors knew which was which. After six months, the patients on aspirin had experienced much fewer TIAs, and fewer strokes and deaths from strokes than the “controls”. The results were so conclusive that aspirin has been used for this purpose widely.
词汇：
quackery .江湖医术 narcotic 麻醉药;adj.麻醉的
potent 有效力的 thermostat 恒温器
antibiotic 抗生素;adj.抗生的 sedentary 坐着的
digitalis 毛地黄，洋地黄 prostaglandin 前列腺素
willow 柳树 platelet (血)小板 bark 树皮
clot 凝块，血块 salicin 水杨醇葡萄糖甙(镇痛药)
artery 动脉 variant 变种;adj.变异的
placebo 安慰剂，安慰剂治疗 arthritis 关节炎
control 对照，对照物 analgesic 止痛药;adj.止痛的
注释：
1.an over-the-counter pill on sale：摆在柜台上(不需处方)出售的药丸
pill：药丸，丸剂
on sale：(商店的货物等供)出售的
2.this remarkable remedy dates back to Hippocrates：这种疗效显着的治疗剂可以回溯到希波克拉底时代
date back to：追溯，回溯至
Hippocrates：希波克拉底(公元前460 –公元前370)，希腊医生，世称“医学之父”
练习：
1.Paragraph 2
2.Paragraph 3
3.Paragraph 5
4.Paragraph 7
A Confirmation of the New Effect
B Pain-relieving and Fever-reducing Effects of Aspirin
C The Ignored Significant Observations
D The Origin of Aspirin
E An Explanation of Craven’s Observations
F Further Findings of Dr. Vane
5.In the middle of the last century Craven made .
6.It is Bayer Company .
7.There is a prostaglandin .
8.Numerous studies concluded .
A that aspirin has a positive effect on heart attacks and strokes
B two “double-blind” trials of patients with heart disease