科学家们声称饮酒与吸烟似乎密切相关

Drink and Smoke Go 'Hand-in-Hand,' Scientists Say 科学家们声称饮酒与吸烟似乎密切相关

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Many people who drink alcohol also like to smoke cigarettes. Drinking and smoking seem to be closely linked. Some people might even say they go together hand-in-hand.

But this may be more than just a mixing of two fairly common activities.

New research has looked more closely at the relationship between cigarettes and alcohol. And the relationship is one of equal dependence¹. Smoking and drinking seem to feed on each other.

These are the exact words of Mahesh Thakkar. He is head of research in the Department of Neurology at the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine.

Thakkar explains that when a person drinks alcohol they get sleepy. He says a drug in cigarettes fights that sleepy feeling. That drug, nicotine², can be addictive³; smokers⁴ need more cigarettes because of their body’s growing dependence on the drug.

So, if a person smokes, then he or she is much more likely to drink alcohol, and vice⁵ versa. Thakkar says, “They feed off one another."

Researchers already knew that people who use alcohol often smoke. In fact, earlier research shows that more than 85 percent of alcohol-dependent American adults also depend on nicotine.

Thakkar's earlier research showed that nicotine combined with alcohol stimulates⁷ what he calls the "reward center" of the brain. However, the new study shows a dependent relationship between the substances.

Thakkar says his team "found that nicotine weakens” the sleep-causing effects of alcohol. It does this by activating⁸ an area of the brain called the basal forebrain. According to the Psychology⁹ Definition website, that area is responsible for memory, learning and attention.

For this new experiment, Thakkar and his team used equipment that measures brain activity in rats. They injected the rats with both nicotine and alcohol, and then studied brain activity in the animals as they slept. The researchers found that nicotine goes through the basal forebrain and cancels out the sleep-causing effects of alcohol.

So, why is this new research important?

The World Health Organization says 7 million people die every year from alcohol and nicotine use.

Mahesh Thakker and his team identified why alcohol use and smoking are often linked. He says this knowledge may help people break their addictions¹¹ to alcohol and nicotine.

The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Neurochemistry.

Words in This Story

addiction¹⁰ – n. a strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as a drug) or do something (such as gamble) : addictive – adj.

vice versa – adv. used to say that the opposite of a statement is also true  

stimulate⁶ – v. to make (something) more active : to cause or encourage (something) to happen or develop

reward center – n. any of multiple different regions of the brain which have been involved in generating satisfaction : also called the “pleasure center” (http://psychologydictionary.org/pleasure-center/)

cancel out – phrasal verb to cause (something) to end or no longer produce a certain effect : to stop (something) from being effective or valid

1 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

2 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

3 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

4 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

7 stimulates   

v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用

参考例句：

• Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 activating   

活动的，活性的

参考例句：

• "I didn't say we'd got to stop activating the masses! “我并没说就此不发动！ 来自子夜部分
• Presumably both the very small size and activating influence of fluorine atoms contribute to this exception. 这大概是由于氟原子半径小和活性高这两个原因的影响，氟原子对这种例外做出了贡献。

9 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

10 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

11 addictions   

瘾( addiction的名词复数 )； 吸毒成瘾； 沉溺； 癖好

参考例句：

• He has removed the stigma of drug addictions. 他已经洗去吸毒的污点了。
• Intelligent people are good at using reason to control excessive addictions. 智慧的人善于用理性来控制过度的嗜欲。