万花筒 2012-04-10&04-12 煮中药和冲速溶咖啡一样简单？

 As quick and easy as making a cup of instant coffee, a Chinese company has developed a new machine which dispenses² traditional medicine with a simple push of a button.  Once a prescription³ is provided, staffs dispense¹ the medicine and the machine does the rest. It’s a far cry from the medicinal practices of old where Ginseng, fungi⁴, dried sea horses, and other mysterious ingredients are carefully sorted before being steeped for hours in hot water. Now those ingredients can be prescribed and dispensed⁵ almost instantly, according to Sun Yougang of the Sichuan Neo-Green Pharmaceutical⁶ Company, the machine’s developer.

The biggest advantage is that our machine is able to dispense medicine accurately⁷, every patient’s illness is different, a doctor might prescribe different amounts of medicine to a 30-year-old patient compared to a 50-year-old patient. Also some doctors might give you three doses, others might give you five. The new machine though provides one pack, containing six individual servings, all patients need to do is open one of the sections, mix it with hot water, and drink. For Wei Ting, it makes a big difference. It can take around two hours to brew⁸ Chinese medicine, two hours is a lot of time for working professionals to spare. If it’s like making instant coffee, that’s the first thing we do when we get to the office, it’s simple and it saves a lot of time. The Chengdu No. 1 People’s Hospital is one of the dozens in China where the machine has been installed, eventually, the manufacturer wants to export them,in the hope that China’s age-old remedies can win greater acceptance in the west. Tara Cleary, Reuters.

1 dispense   

vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施

参考例句：

• Let us dispense the food.咱们来分发这食物。
• The charity has been given a large sum of money to dispense as it sees fit.这个慈善机构获得一大笔钱，可自行适当分配。

2 dispenses   

v.分配，分与；分配( dispense的第三人称单数 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• The machine dispenses a range of drinks and snacks. 这台机器发售各种饮料和小吃。
• This machine dispenses coffee. 这台机器发售咖啡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

4 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

5 dispensed   

v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

7 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

8 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。