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  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2025-01-30  8
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] The passage indicates that advances in medical science during the modern era of pharmacology might have been delayed by______.
选项 A、an inaccuracy in pharmacy preparation
B、a lack of good understanding of the origins of diseases
C、an overemphasis on the mental causes of diseases
D、a shortage of chemical treatment of disease
答案 B
解析    归因推理。题干问的是医学进步迟缓的原因。现代医学进步出现在最后一段，根据“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”可知，导致医学进步缓慢的主要原因之一是医生没有意识到存在致病的病原体(pathogens)，即选项B所说的the origins of diseases。【知识拓展】本题题干有两个语法现象值得重视：indicates是一般现在时，问的是原文隐含的观点；might have been delayed用的好像是虚拟语气，但这里其实针对的是原文中的one major reason，所以意思是“可能是……”，是一种委婉表达。这给选择判断设置了一些障碍。不过反观原文，与原因有关的表达就是“解析”部分所列句子，基于此，原因分析就比较清楚了。
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