VOA标准英语2011--Rare Pancreatic Cancer Caused Steve Jobs

Rare Pancreatic Cancer Caused Steve Jobs' Death

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' death at the age of 56 followed a seven-year battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer - the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The disease is hard to treat because it is difficult to diagnose. The pancreas is embedded¹ deep in the abdomen², and often, symptoms of cancer become evident at a very late, advanced stage of the disease.
In 2004, Jobs announced he had undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer -- a mild and rare form of the disease called an islet-cell neuroendocrine tumor³.
That form makes up about five percent of all of pancreatic cancers. It affects the cells that produce hormones⁴ that control blood sugar levels. The more deadly, and common, form appears in the exocrine cells of the pancreas that produce digestive enzymes⁵.
The pancreas is a 15-centimeter-long gland⁶ tucked behind the stomach and below the liver. Pancreatic cancer can be hard to diagnose, since the early stages have no visible symptoms.
“Neuroendocrine tumor, when its detected early, it is curable with surgery alone," explained Dr. Khaled el-Shami, a cancer specialist at George Washington University Medical Center, in Washington. "And when it is advanced, meaning that it has spread from the pancreas to the liver, typically, or other organs - [then] this is [an] incurable⁷ disease.”
In 2009, five years after his cancer surgery, Jobs received a liver transplant.
"About five months ago I had a liver transplant. So I now have the liver of a mid-20's person,” Jobs said.
Dr. el-Shami says a liver transplant is an aggressive way of dealing⁸ with cancer, but it's no “magic bullet".
“It’s a balance between removing a big chunk⁹ of cancer in the liver and the risk of having a weakened immune system, which can encourage not only the original cancer to come back but also the emergence¹⁰ of other cancers,” the doctor explained.
While he never treated Steve Jobs and does not know the details of his case, Dr. Matthew Walsh, chairman of General Surgery at Cleveland Clinic says Jobs' cancer was never likely to be cured.
“Having gone through all the treatment, most patients might think that they are cured of the cancer. When it comes back, there is still a great uncertainty¹¹ [about] what the length of your life will be. It tends to be a disease that does come back - does spread - does take your strength away sort of have all the cancer-associated symptoms and people still die from this type of cancer.”
Few details of Steve Jobs' health have ever been made public, but experts speculate that his cancer may have been a case of late diagnosis¹².

1 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

2 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

3 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

4 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

5 enzymes   

n. 酶，酵素

参考例句：

• It was said that washing powders containing enzymes remove stains more efficiently. 据说加酶洗衣粉除污更有效。
• Among the enzymes which are particularly effective are pepsin, papain. 在酶当中特别有效的是胃朊酶、木瓜酶。

6 gland   

n.腺体，(机)密封压盖，填料盖

参考例句：

• This is a snake's poison gland.这就是蛇的毒腺。
• Her mother has an underactive adrenal gland.她的母亲肾上腺机能不全。

7 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

10 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

11 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

12 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。