英语听力文摘 English Digest 603、听诊器是怎么发明出来的？

 　　In the early 1800s, a French physician named René Laennec had a dilemma¹. He needed to listen to the heart sounds of a young woman with signs of heart disease. But the only method of listening to heart sounds known to Western medicine at the time was simply to press an ear to the patient’s chest. Laennec just couldn’t bring himself to get that close and personal with this ample young woman.

 

　　How could he make a diagnosis²?

 

　　The story goes that Laennec grabbed a piece of paper and rolled it into a cylinder³. With the cylinder between his ear and the young woman’s chest, Laennec saved himself and his patient from embarrassment⁴. But he was also surprised to find that the heart sounds conducted through the cylinder were louder and clearer than he’d ever heard before.

 

　　Laennec named his invention the stethoscope, from the Greek words for “chest” and “to view,” because it opened a new window into what was happening in the heart and lungs.

 

　　After experimenting with different materials, Laennec decided⁵ that wood cylinders⁶ conducted sound best. He spent the rest of his life interpreting heart and lung sounds, conducting autopsies⁷ when possible to confirm the diagnoses he’d made by sound.

 

　　Although the stethoscope revolutionized Western medicine, it met with great resistance at first. In the 1820s, many physicians felt that listening through the cylinder would be too time consuming, inconvenient⁸, and well, even silly! But soon the value of Laennec’s modest invention became clear. And today, the stethoscope is a nearly universal symbol of medicine and health care.

1 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

2 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

3 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

4 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 cylinders   

n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 )；圆柱；汽缸；（尤指用作容器的）圆筒状物

参考例句：

• They are working on all cylinders to get the job finished. 他们正在竭尽全力争取把这工作干完。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• That jeep has four cylinders. 那辆吉普车有4个汽缸。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 autopsies   

n.尸体解剖( autopsy的名词复数 )；验尸；现场验证；实地观察

参考例句：

• Autopsies cannot be performed and thus no recent histological examinations have been reported. 不能进行尸体解剖，因此没有新近的组织学检查的报道。 来自辞典例句
• I told you to supervise autopsies, not to set up a lot of fancy rules. 我叫你监督解剖室，不是去制定一些空想的规定。 来自辞典例句

8 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？