2. 职称英语
  3. Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purificatio

Because early man viewed illness as divine punishment and healing as purificatio

游客2025-01-28  38
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 BC, 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] In the last paragraph, the author makes the observation about scientific discovery that _____.
选项 A、chance events have led to the discovery of many modern drugs
B、trial and error is the best way to scientific discovery
C、most of the important discoveries have been made inattentively
D、many cures for common diseases have yet to be discovered
答案 A
解析 根据末段最后一句的“即使在今天，医学取得了长足的进步，但药架上增加的最新高级药物有很多种依然是偶然发现的(accidental finds)”，可知A“许多现代药物的发现，都是基于概率事件”正确。注意A的chance events与原文的accidental finds语义一致。B“试错法是科学发现的最佳方法”中的the best way不对，因为文章未指出最佳的方法。C“许多重大发现都是无意发现的”，最后一段提到意外发现的是药物，C不如A确切。D“许多常见疾病还没有治疗方法”，最后一段提到common drugs“常见药物”，D利用此信息作干扰，说成common diseases，错误。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.tihaiku.com/zcyy/3933175.html
相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)