2006年VOA标准英语-Diving Deep for New Drugs

By Paul Sisco
Washington, DC
28 July 2006
 
watch Medical Secrets report 

Submersible in search for rare plant and animals in the deep
   
  
Oceanographers using deep water submersibles believe they are rapidly getting closer to creating drugs that can greatly reduce the pain and suffering of terminally ill patients. 

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Deep-sea researchers are finding scores of unidentified plants and animals they believe can lead to cures for cancer, AIDS and other complex medical conditions.

Amy Wright is a marine¹ medical researcher in Florida. She's looking for a particular sponge just 25 kilometers off the Florida coast. It's pitch black, and there's the sponge she's after!

Medical secrets of the sea
   
  
Amy Wright explains how the sponges can be used. “These sponges, and actually all sponges, don't have the ability to move so that they need to find ways to defend themselves. So they use chemicals to do much of that. So then we can use those same compounds but, for example, to try and kill cancer cells." 

 
Amy Wright 
  
The sponge is picked apart and analyzed² at the lab.  Scientists here believe they are close to isolating³ a certain compound that attacks a protein found in some cancer cells. "Nothing else can do that, and that  would be really great way to treat cancer," Ms. Wright adds.

Prialt is a powerful painkiller⁴ that comes from a snail⁵, plucked from the ocean bottom.  Ocean scientists and medical researchers say there are more mysteries to unravel⁶ in the deep sea that could one day revolutionize the treatment of many diseases.

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• 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。

2 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 isolating   

adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• Colour filters are not very effective in isolating narrow spectral bands. 一些滤色片不能很有效地分离狭窄的光谱带。 来自辞典例句
• This became known as the streak method for isolating bacteria. 这个方法以后就称为分离细菌的划线法。 来自辞典例句

4 painkiller   

n.止痛药

参考例句：

• I shall persuade him to take the painkiller.我将说服他把药吃下去。
• The painkiller only provides him a short respite from his pain.止痛药仅仅让他在疼痛中有短暂的疏解。

5 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

6 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。