SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - High Hopes Travel with Newest Flight t

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - High Hopes Travel with Newest Flight to Explore Mars
By Jerilyn Watson, Caty Weaver¹ and Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Tuesday, August 23, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty².

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. On our program this week, we will tell about the man who first confirmed a link between smoking and lung cancer. We also will talk about a large study of vaccines⁴ – those medicines used to protect against disease.

VOICE ONE:

But first, we report on a flight to the planet Mars.

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VOICE ONE:

 
 

An American spacecraft is traveling to Mars to collect information about the red planet. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter left Cape⁵ Canaveral in Florida on August twelfth. An Atlas⁶ V launch rocket sent the orbiter on its trip to Mars. The space vehicle is expected to arrive in March of next year. It is to orbit the planet for at least four years.

The orbiter was designed to tell scientists about the weather, climate and surface of Mars. The American space agency hopes to get as much information from it as from all earlier trips to Mars combined.

VOICE TWO:

Space agency scientists praised the launch. The huge rocket that lifted the orbiter from Earth dropped into the Atlantic Ocean after about four minutes. Less than an hour after the launch, the orbiter separated from the upper rocket, as planned. Then the vehicle quickly established radio communication with its controllers.

The launch came two days after the space shuttle Discovery returned safely to Earth. Space agency officials had planned to launch the orbiter on August tenth. But technical problems caused delays.

VOICE ONE:

The orbiter's operations are costing more than seven million dollars. The space vehicle will do two main kinds of work. Each will last about two years. Its first job is to study ice on Mars. Scientists say they believe that long ago, the planet was warm and wet. As such, Mars might have supported living things. Now it is dry and cold. There are large areas of frozen water at the opposite ends of Mars. Scientists hope to learn if people could survive conditions there.

Instruments on the orbiter are to examine the atmosphere, surface and below-surface areas of the planet. Two cameras will show images and provide maps of Martian weather. A device called a spectrometer will identify minerals on the ground. Another device, a radiometer, is to measure dust in the atmosphere. Radar⁷ that can show areas under the surface of ice and rocks also will be used. The Italian Space Agency supplied the radar.

VOICE TWO:

The orbiter's second job is to communicate messages between Earth and mechanical devices on Mars. The American space agency has two robotic explorers operating on the planet. The robots Spirit and Opportunity were launched in two thousand three. They can send information to Earth and also receive messages. They do this with the help of satellites placed in orbit around the planet.

Information from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is expected to help the space agency decide where to land two more robot-explorers. A device called the Phoenix⁸ Mars Scout⁹ will search for organic chemicals. It will be launched in two thousand seven. The Mars Science Laboratory is to be launched two years later.

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VOICE ONE:

Researchers in Denmark say a large study of Danish children shows that vaccines do not weaken a child's natural defense¹⁰ system against disease. Doctor Anders Hviid of the Statens Serum¹¹ Institute in Copenhagen led the study.

The scientists examined medical histories of more than eight hundred thousand children. The boys and girls were born in Denmark between nineteen ninety and two thousand one. They all took part in a national vaccination¹² program to prevent common childhood diseases. The program provides children with protective medicines every few months for their first eighteen months of life. Then they receive additional vaccines each year until they are five.

VOICE TWO:

Some health experts had questioned whether the large number of vaccinations¹³ could damage the body's natural defense system. There was special concern about combination vaccinations, like the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine³. These are three vaccines mixed together in one injection.

Some people have been concerned that the vaccinations might make the immune system work too hard and weaken it. They thought this could leave a child more at risk for diseases not targeted by the vaccines.

VOICE ONE:

The Danish researchers looked at the children's rates of hospital admissions for treatment of infectious diseases not targeted by the vaccines. Such diseases included diarrhea and the lung infection, pneumonia¹⁴.

The researchers say they found no increased risk for hospitalizations in the weeks following vaccinations. They found that none of the six kinds of vaccines the children received increased the risk for seven other major infectious diseases.

Some children's health experts say the study provides more evidence that vaccines are safe. They say the results should make parents feel sure about getting their children vaccinated¹⁵. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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VOICE TWO:

 
 

For years, scientists have warned that smoking tobacco is bad for your health. Many studies have linked smoking to lung cancer. One of the British scientists who first confirmed the link died last month. Richard Doll was ninety-two years old. Officials at Oxford¹⁶ University say he died after a brief sickness.

Professor Doll has been praised as one of the most important medical scientists of the twentieth century. His work has been recognized around the world. His studies into the health effects of smoking are said to have saved the lives of millions of people.

The United Nations World Health Organization estimates that one thousand three hundred million people worldwide use tobacco products. Officials estimate that tobacco use is responsible for about five million deaths a year.

VOICE ONE:

William Richard Shaboe Doll was born in nineteen twelve in Hampton, England. He began studying medicine after failing a mathematics test. He studied at Saint Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London.

Richard Doll served in the Royal Army Medical Corps¹⁷ during World War Two. After the war, he started work at Britain's Medical Research Council. While there, he was asked to investigate why a growing number of people had developed lung cancer.

At first, Professor Doll thought that gasses released from automobiles¹⁸ was the cause. He and other research scientists questioned hundreds of lung cancer patients to find a common link. They found that the only thing the patients had in common was smoking.

VOICE TWO:

Professor Doll worked with Austin Bradford Hill of the Medical Research Council. They showed that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer. They also showed the risk of developing lung cancer was directly linked to the number of cigarettes smoked.

Their findings were announced in nineteen fifty-one and confirmed in a study published three years later. In nineteen fifty-seven, the Medical Research Council officially accepted the direct causal connection between smoking and lung cancer.

VOICE ONE:

Professor Doll said he himself stopped smoking because of the findings. He would later produce more evidence of the direct link.

He also showed that smoking could cause many other kinds of cancer and diseases. He investigated evidence linking alcoholic¹⁹ drinking with breast cancer. He studied the harmful effects of radiation. He also wrote papers on electric power lines and peptic ulcers²⁰.

Professor Doll was named the top professor of medicine at Oxford University in nineteen sixty-nine. Ten years later, he helped to create Green College, a college for the study of medicine.

VOICE TWO:

Professor Doll received many awards throughout his life. The World Health Organization honored him for his work. In nineteen seventy-one, Queen Elizabeth made him a knight²¹, one of Britain's highest honors.

Last year, Sir Richard Doll released a follow up study to the one published more than half a century earlier. The study showed that as many as two thirds of people who begin smoking when they are young will later die as a result of the activity.

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VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Cynthia Kirk, Jerilyn Watson and Caty Weaver. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Join us again next week at this time for more news about science in VOA Special English.

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

6 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

7 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

8 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

9 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 serum   

n.浆液，血清，乳浆

参考例句：

• The serum is available to the general public.一般公众均可获得血清。
• Untreated serum contains a set of 11 proteins called complement.未经处理的血清含有一组蛋白质，共11种，称为补体。

12 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

13 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

15 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

16 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

17 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

18 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

19 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

20 ulcers   

n.溃疡( ulcer的名词复数 )；腐烂物；道德败坏；腐败

参考例句：

• Detachment of the dead cells produces erosions and ulcers. 死亡细胞的脱落，产生糜烂和溃疡。 来自辞典例句
• 75% of postbulbar ulcers occur proximal to the duodenal papilla. 75％的球后溃疡发生在十二指肠乳头近侧。 来自辞典例句

21 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。