英语听力精选进阶版 6145

Scientists Pioneer a New Transplant Technique 科学家开辟新的移植技术

Some people are calling it the greatest medical breakthrough so far this century. Surgeons in Spain have successfully carried out the world’s first organ transplant using new stem cell technology.

But what are stem cells? Most cells in our bodies are designed to serve specific purposes – for example, a liver cell develops to work in the liver and cannot become a heart cell.

But stem cells are different. They are very young, and in the laboratory scientists can grow them into different types of cell.

Claudia Castillo needed a new windpipe after contracting tuberculosis¹. Scientists from the University of Bristol in the UK took a donor² windpipe, or trachea, from someone who had recently died.

They used strong chemicals to remove the donor’s cells, leaving a tissue scaffold. This was repopulated with cells from Ms Castillo’s windpipe and nose, and stem cells from her bone marrow³. After four days the cells had grown sufficiently⁴ for the trachea to be transplanted into Ms Castillo.

Currently, transplant patients have to take drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent their bodies rejecting the new organs. These drugs can have bad side-effects, and do not always prevent rejection⁵.

But by using Ms Castillo’s own cells, doctors were able to trick her body into thinking the new trachea was her own organ. Five months on, Claudia Castillo is in perfect health.

This ground-breaking procedure could be used in other transplant operations in the future. Scientists also believe stem cells might be used to treat Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, stroke, arthritis⁶, diabetes⁷, burns and spinal⁸ cord damage.

However, stem cell research is extremely controversial. The most effective stem cells do not come from adults but from embryos⁹ created in laboratories and which are just a few days old. Many people have religious or ethical¹⁰ objections to growing embryos, even if they can be used to cure diseases.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

breakthrough 突破

organ transplant 器官移植

stem cell 干细胞

liver 肝脏

windpipe 气管

tuberculosis 肺结核

donor 捐赠者

tissue scaffold 组织支架

repopulated 重新构成

bone marrow 骨髓

rejecting 排斥

side-effects 副作用

ground-breaking procedure 史无前例的步骤

Parkinson's disease 帕金森氏症

Alzheimer's disease 阿茨海默症（老人痴呆症）片

stroke 中风

arthritis 关节炎

diabetes 糖尿病

spinal cord damage 骨髓损伤

embryos 胚胎

1 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

2 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

3 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

4 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

5 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

6 arthritis   

n.关节炎

参考例句：

• Rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked with the virus.风湿性关节炎也与这种病毒有关。
• He spent three months in the hospital with acute rheumatic arthritis.他患急性风湿性关节炎，在医院住了三个月。

7 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

8 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

9 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

10 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。