环球英语 — 182：Poison

　　Voice 1
Hello, I’m Marina Santee.
Voice 2
And I’m Ruby¹ Jones. Welcome to Spotlight². This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
It was the year 1751 in England. Mr. Blandy slowly ate his food. He was not feeling well. His daughter Mary sat quietly with him. She was his only child. Mr. Blandy was an important lawyer and town official in Henley, a town about fifty-five [55] kilometres west of London. But he was not strong enough to work. He had severe pains in his head. His stomach hurt. He was very weak. And he kept getting worse. His condition was a mystery - until a servant discovered the problem. This servant found some white dust-like substance in her master’s food. She took this powder to a medicines expert. The expert believed the powder was a poison, arsenic³. The servant was shocked. Mary was the person who prepared her father’s food. However, Mr. Blandy did not believe that his daughter would harm him. Sadly, a short time later he died.
Voice 2
For thousands of years criminals have used poisons to harm other people. Some poisons cause a quick violent death. Others cause a slow painful death. But poisons are not always bad. Some poisons can even save lives. In today’s Spotlight we look at how poisons can be used for evil and for good. In particular we examine arsenic. But first we tell more of Mary Blandy’s story.
Voice 1
Many people believed Mary was guilty of murdering her father. Her case went to court. Four doctors spoke⁴ at her trial. These were the doctors who examined Mr. Blandy’s body. They tried to prove that he died from arsenic poisoning. But they could not. In 1751 the science of poisons was not well developed.
Voice 2
Mary began to think she would go free. But the trial was not finished. The servant spoke to the court. She told the jury⁵ about the powder in the food. Then the jury learned more about the facts of the case. Mary was in love with William Cranstoun - a man that her father did not like. Her father told her to stop seeing Cranstoun. But Cranstoun was not happy about this. He wanted to marry Mary. It seemed that Cranstoun simply wanted Mary’s money. He gave Mary arsenic to put in her father’s food. He told her that it was a drug that would make her father like him. Then Cranstoun and Mary could be together. The jury listened to all the evidence. And they believed the servant’s story. They found Mary Blandy guilty. On the sixth of April 1752 Mary was hanged. Cranstoun escaped to France.
Voice 1
Many countries have a history with poison. Egyptians kept records about how to prepare poison from plants. Indians had great knowledge about how to treat poisonous snakebites. Persians, Chinese, Greeks - all these cultures knew how to use poisons. The ancient Greeks used poison as a form of capital punishment - a way of executing criminals. The famous philosopher Socrates died in this way. He studied knowledge and morals. A jury found him guilty of not worshiping the gods of Athens, and of spreading his ideas to young people. His punishment was death by drinking Hemlock⁶.
Voice 2
In fifteenth [15th] and sixteenth [16th] century Europe killing⁷ with poison was common - especially in Italy and France. At this time Arsenic was the most usual poison. People would mix small amounts of it into food - the way Mary Blandy did. They knew the poison had no taste or smell. And their victims would get sick little by little.
Voice 1
There are stories that even royal babies were murdered with arsenic. An older son of a king would secretly kill his baby brothers. He would do this to make sure he would follow his father to be the next king. But he would do it in a very tricky⁸ way. He would put arsenic in the food of the woman who breast fed the baby brother. So the breast milk was poisonous. And the baby would die. For this reason people called arsenic the poudre de succession⁹. This French term is loosely translated “the powder to become king”. Finally, scientific methods improved enough to prove arsenic poisoning was a cause of death. This stopped people from using it to kill their enemies.
Voice 2
But arsenic was not always used to kill. It was also used to heal. Two thousand four hundred [2,400] years ago, the famous Greek doctor Hippocrates used arsenic. He gave it to people with ulcers¹⁰. Ulcers are skin sores that take a long time to heal. Later, arsenic was used in medicines such as Fowler’s solution. This medicine was popular in Europe in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds [1700-1800s]. People used it to treat many sicknesses like asthma¹¹ and cancer. In fact, arsenic was one of the first treatments for syphilis. Today doctors use arsenic to treat African sleeping sickness. And they use arsenic to treat severe forms of leukemia - cancer of the blood. In this case arsenic is part of chemotherapy - a drug treatment used to kill cancer cells in the body.
Voice 1
Most chemotherapy treatments do not include arsenic. But they do include other harmful substances. Mike Gallo is an expert in poisons. He is a toxicologist at the Cancer Institute in New Jersey¹², the United States. Toxicologists study the effect of poisons on living things, such as people. In 2004, Mike Gallo heard some bad news. He had a type of cancer - non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His doctor decided¹³ he needed chemotherapy. From his work as a toxicologist, Mike knew the risks. He understood that chemotherapy is poisonous to cancer cells. But it can also harm healthy cells.
Voice 2
Toxicologists are trying to improve chemotherapies all the time. They are combining different chemicals to make new kinds of chemotherapy. They are trying to find chemicals that only kill cancer cells - not healthy cells. But every person’s body is different. Finding the right combination of chemicals for each person is difficult. The chemicals in Dr. Gallo’s chemotherapy were very poisonous. But Dr. Gallo knew about the risks. He was prepared for his treatment.
Voice 1
Thankfully, Mike Gallo’s chemotherapy worked. He says he is alive today because of the right combination of poisons. He strongly believes in the science of toxicology. He believes it is important in saving lives.
Voice 3
“I could have been a dead man. Thank God for toxicity¹⁴.”
Voice 2
The history of poisons is very interesting. Many crime books tell stories about poisoning. It is easy to fear poisons. But too much of almost anything can kill a person - even water! Like many substances poisons can kill or save. It all depends on how they are used.
 

1 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

2 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

3 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 jury   

n.陪审团，评委会；adj.临时用的；vt.挑选

参考例句：

• These twelve men are believed to compose the jury.据信，陪审团是由这12人组成的。
• The members of the jury were discharged from their duties.陪审员们被解除了职务。

6 hemlock   

n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉

参考例句：

• He was condemned to drink a cup of hemlock.判处他喝一杯毒汁。
• Here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,with three pines at hand.这儿有株山毛榉和一株铁杉长在一起，旁边还有三株松树。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

9 succession   

n.连续，一连串，一系列；v.接替，继任

参考例句：

• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
• His succession as headmaster was not in any doubt.他继任校长是确定无疑的。

10 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

11 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

12 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 toxicity   

n.毒性，毒力

参考例句：

• The hoarse grunt or squeal is characteristic of toxicity.嘶哑的哼声和叫声是中毒的特征。
• Dieldrin is related to aldrin,and its toxicity to earthworms is similar.狄氏剂与艾氏剂有关，对蚯蚓的毒性是相似的。