2. 职称英语
  3. Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purifica

Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purifica

游客2023-12-31  49
问题    Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purification, medicine and religion were inextricably linked for centuries. This notion is apparent in the origin of our word "pharmacy, " which comes from the Greek pharmakon, meaning "purification through purging."
   By 3500 B.C., the Sumerians in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley had developed virtually all of our modern methods of administering drugs. They used gargles, inhalations, pills, lotions, ointments, and plasters. The first drug catalog, or pharmacopoeia, was written at that time by an unknown Sumerian physician. Preserved in cuneiform script on a single clay tablet are the names of dozens of drugs to treat ailments that still afflict us today.
   The Egyptians added to the ancient medicine chest. The Ebers papyrus, a scroll dating from the 1900 B.C. and named after the German Egyptologist George Ebers, reveals the trial-and-error know-how acquired by early Egyptian physicians. To relieve indigestion, a chew of peppermint leaves and carbonates (known today as antacids) was prescribed, and to numb the pain of tooth extraction, Egyptian doctors temporarily stupefied a patient with ethyl alcohol. The scroll also provides a rare glimpse into the hierarchy of ancient drug preparation. The "chief of the preparers of drugs" was the equivalent of a head pharmacist, who supervised the "collectors of drugs, " field workers who gathered essential minerals and herbs. The "preparers’ aides, " (technicians) dried and pulverized ingredients, which were blended according to certain formulas by the "preparers." And the "conservator of drugs" oversaw the storehouse where local and imported mineral, herb and animal-organ ingredients were kept.
   By the 7th century B.C., the Greeks had adopted a sophisticated mind-body view of medicine. They believed the physician must pursue the diagnosis and treatment of the physical (body) causes of disease within a scientific framework, as well as cure the supernatural (mind) components involved. Thus, the early Greek physician emphasized something of a holistic approach to health, even if the suspected "mental" causes of disease were not recognized as stress and depression, but interpreted as curses from displeased deities.
   The modern era of pharmacology began in the 16th century, ushered in by the first major discoveries in chemistry. The understanding of how chemicals interact to produce certain effects within the body would eventually remove much of the guesswork and magic from medicine. Drugs had been launched on a scientific course, but centuries would pass before superstition was displaced by scientific fact. One major reason was that physicians, unaware of the existence of disease-causing pathogens, continued to dream up imaginary causative evils. And though new chemical compounds emerged, their effectiveness in treating disease was still based largely on trial and error. Many standard, common drugs in the medicine chest were developed in this trial-and-error environment. Such is the complexity of disease and human biochemistry that even today, despite enormous strides in medical science, many of the latest sophisticated additions to our medicine chest shelves were accidental finds. [br] In the last paragraph, the author makes the observation about scientific discovery that______.
选项 A、chance events have led to the discovery of many modern drugs
B、trial and error is the best way to scientific discovery
C、most of the important discoveries have been made inattentively
D、many cures for common diseases have yet to be discovered
答案 A
解析    语义推理。题干问的是作者对于科学发现的看法，而最后一段最后一句的总结是“despite enormous strides in mescal science，many of the latest sophisticated additions to our medicine chest shelves were accidental finds”，其中关键词为accidental finds，即意外发现，这与选项A中的chance events的语义相一致，因此答案为A。【知识拓展】语义推理通常需要抓住核心词汇来构建语义。本题选项A中的核心词汇为chance events，其中chance为形容词，表示“意外，偶然发生”，如a chance encounter，“邂逅”。同理，原文accidental finds中的find为名词，表示“有价值的发现，幸运的发现”，如His discovery was hailed as the botanical find of the century(他的发现被誉为本世纪植物学的大发现)。
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