上海大学英语网上阅读2-3.docx

Part One Read the following articles before answering the corresponding questions.Herbal HealingFeeling a little depressed? You could get a prescription for Prozac or try psychotherapy. But 7.5 million Americans in the past year have instead gulped down an extract made from a bright yellow flower called St. Johns wort-available without a prescription at health-food shops and some big retail stores. Fear the onset of cold and flu season? You could get a flu shot. Or, like 7.3 million Americans, you could swallow a capsule made from Echinacea, a purple-petaled daisy native to the Midwest. Worried that your memory is fading? Then write down this name: ginkgo biloba. Its made from the fan-shaped leaf of a tree found from China to South Carolina, and 10.8 million Americans regularly remind themselves to take it.Whether they seek to brighten their moods, stave off disease, rev up their sex lives or retain their youth, more and more people are supplementing and replacing prescription medicines with a profusion of pills and potions that contain various medicinal herbs, vitamins and minerals. Some are proven safe and effective; many are not. Americans spent more than $12 billion on natural supplements last year-nearly double the amount spent in 1994, and sales continue to grow by more than 10% a year.The frantic expansion of the market for herbs and other supplements, though, comes at some risk to consumers. These products are not regulated in the U.S. nearly as strictly as over-the-counter drugs or even foods-in sharp contrast to countries like Germany, where the government holds companies to strict standards for ingredients and manufacturing. Experts say that while the top U.S. and European producers pay close attention to the safety, effectiveness and consistency of their products, parts of the industry resemble a Wild West boomtown, where some 800 lightly regulated U.S. companies compete ferociously with fly-by-night hucksters. When you open a bottle of nutritional supplements, you dont know whats inside, says Jeffrey Delafuente, a pharmacy professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. There may be some ingredients not listed. You do not know how much active ingredient is in each tablet. They can make all kinds of claims that may not be accurate. The U.S. government is aware of the problem and is taking steps to ensure that consumers are better informed. Last week the federal Trade commission issued guidelines stipulating that advertisements cannot mislead potential buyers and that firms must be able to back up their claims.Whats behind the sudden revival of thousand-year-old remedies? At root, its the fears and desires of 80 million aging baby boomers who are eager to seize control of their medical destinies. The perceived coldness and remoteness of conventional medicine and red-tape-tangled managed care make readily available herbs and other supplements seem particularly appealing. Consumers value them as preventive measures, as something distinct from potent pharmaceutical drugs that are prescribed only after disease strikes. Doctors are getting more and more inaccessible, says Leda Jean Van Stedum, 45, a Denver, Colorado secretary who was shopping in a Vitamin Cottage chain store for preparations of black cohosh and dong quai to head off premenstrual discomfort.Americas rediscovery of the healing power of plants marks a return to an ancient form of medicine that was medicine for thousands of years-and that remains so for 80% of the worlds people. Herbal remedies are common throughout Asia and Europe, particularly in Germany, France and Italy.In Chicago, marathoner Tom Smithburg works out daily and, in place of morning coffee, downs a mega dose of ginseng: 1,000 mg, versus the recommended maximum of 600 mg. Coffee is a drug, says Smithburg, a Chicago Bulls public-relations representative. I hear more people complaining that they have headaches over the weekend from not getting their caffeine.That herbal preparations are marketed as natural, as distinct from synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, adds to their appeal. A lot of people feel comforted by taking something they regard as a natural substance, says Dr. Sidney Bogardus, who directs Yale Universitys Geriatric Assessment Clinic. Of course, the substances in an herb are chemicals just as they ate in medicine made by pharmaceutical companies. But it seems more gentle and safe, and people are reassured by that.With consumer interest rapidly spreading, the medical profession is gradually and sometimes grudgingly learning the benefits and pitfalls of nutritional supplements. More than 50% of U.S. medical schools now offer courses in unconventional medicine such as homeopathy (a system that uses highly diluted remedies) and acupuncture. Says Dr. Woodson Merrell, who has taught nutrition and herbal medicine to practicing physicians at New Yorks Columbia University: The point is that this is not alternative but complementary medicine.Which herbs work, and which ones dont ? Recent scientific research-and fresh attention to practical evidence that sometimes stretches back millenniums-is beginning to give guidance. In Germany, where the government has supervised studies of 279 herbs approved for sale in the countrys strictly regulated pharmacies, remedies that enjoy the greatest popularity (including ginkgo, kava and St. Johns wort) are generally those that have been the most thoroughly investigated.The German findings are collected in a 685-page tome called The Complete German Commission E Monographs, which the American Botanical Council in Austin, Texas recently published in English. It tells which herbs have proved safe and beneficial but warns against side effects and other risks. It advises pregnant and nursing women not to take kava, for example, and notes that some people may become sensitive to sunlight when using St. Johns wort. It approves standardized doses of ginkgo extract but rejects nonstandard preparations made from whole leaves as untested and potentially hazardous. At the same time, it turns thumbs down on folk remedies like nutmeg for upset stomachs, noting scant evidence that it works and warning that large doses can cause hallucinations.Similarly, last week the Archives of Family Medicine, a sister publication of J.A M.A., reported a study suggesting that echinacea was no better at preventing colds than a placebo (a pill with on active ingredients). But the researchers conceded that their sample size, 302 volunteers, may have been too small to detect modest differences and concluded that more study was needed. The researchers didnt test whether Echinacea alleviates colds already in progress.In considering the effectiveness of any medicine, conventional or herbal, its important to remember that the placebo effect, or the patients desire to believe in a cure, can have a powerful influence. Recent studies show, for instance, that while 86% of men taking a baldness remedy reported that it worked, so did 42% of men taking a placebo.The history of diet supplements is rife with fads that fizzled of proved dangerous to health. Melatonin, a hormone used to prevent insomnia, became a craze a few years ago, when on the basis of studies with mice and rats, some researchers hailed it as a miracle cure for aging. But when later reports cast doubt on the findings, sales of melatonin went back to sleep. Last year a tea made from the Chinese kombucha mushroom that was promoted as a remedy for cancer caused four people to be hospitalized for conditions ranging from jaundice to headaches and nausea.Research on herbs has lagged in the U.S. because companies have little incentive to spend $500 million on 10 to 15 years of tests-as pharmaceutical firms typically do to check out new medications. Unlike drugs, most herbal preparations cannot be patented, so the testing company would not be rewarded for its efforts. The FDA, meanwhile, would have to prove that a supplement is unsafe before yanking it off the market, yet it has no authority to test nutritional supplements. The result is that there are a lot of products on the market that little is known about, says FDA deputy commissioner for policy William Schultz.With the invasion of pharmaceutical companies, the entire supplements industry is braced for a shakeout. In the long run, the new arrivals could bring more testing and standardization to the market. But in the interim, their presence may pressure some companies to cut corners by diluting potency and quality. The newcomers are bringing marketing dollars and some thing very important to the industry-consumer awareness and legitimacy, says Matthew Patsky, managing director of the investment bank Adams, Harkness and Hill. What youre going to see is a dramatic increase in consumer awareness of what these products are for.That will happen naturally as the newcomers slug it out with big-bucks ad campaigns. Bayer and Whitehall-Robins are spending a total of $75 million between them to launch their herbal brands. Bayer, sensing the publics confusion about such products, decided not to cite herbs in the names of its new One-A-Day preparations but to use tags like Cold Season and Memory and Concentration instead. Says brand manager Michaela Griggs:We found that consumers dont fully understand what herbs do.Such rival brands are emphasizing their quality to health seekers like Shirley Palmer, 66, a Los Angeles writer who pops ginkgo and ginseng and a handful of vitamins on the say-so of friends and news reports. I have no evidence that these things really work, Palmer says. I take them on faith. But they keep her away from the doctor, she says, and thats good because I dont have time to sit around waiting in doctors offices. Like Palmer, millions of Americans are using ancient remedies to broaden the range of modern health-care choices. And these flowering gifts from the past can be powerful medicine-but handle with care.1.Some of the medicinal herbs, vitamins and minerals are proven safe and effective; many are not.TrueFalse2.The U.S. government is aware of the problem and is taking steps to ensure that consumers are better informed of the quality of the herbal medicines.TrueFalse3.The herbal products are regulated in the U.S. nearly as strictly as over-the-counter drugs.TrueFalse4.Herbal preparations are marked as natural, as distinct from synthetic pharmaceutical drugs.TrueFalse5.Pregnant and nursing women will be sensitive to sunlight when using St. Johns wort.TrueFalse6.The word inaccessible in Doctors are getting more and more inaccessible is most similar in meaning to_.a.unapproachableb.unsuccessfulc.irresponsibled.uninteresting7.Herbal remedies are common throughout _ continents.a.Europe and Americab.America and Asiac.Africa and Australiad.Asia and Europe8.More than 50% of U.S. medical schools now offer course in unconventional medicine such as _.a.Prozacb.psychotherapyc.acupunctured.herbal healing9.The remedy that enjoys the greatest popularity is_.a.ginkgob.kavac.St. Johns wortd.All of the above10.Pregnant and nursing women should not take _a.ginkgob.kavac.nutmegd.St. Johns wort11.All the following EXCEPT _ are German findings collecting in Complete German Commission E Monographs.a.Standardized doses of ginkgo extract should be made from whole leaves as untested and potentially hazardous.b.It turns thumbs down on folk remedies like nutmeg for upset stomachs, noting scant evidence that it works.c.Herbs have proved safe and beneficial without side effects and other risks.d.Large doses of nutmeg can cause hallucinations.12. Bayer decided NOT to cite its herbs in the names of _.a.One-A-Day preparationsb.Cold Seasonc.Memory and concentrationd.None of the above13.Americans use ancient remedies because _a.they like to follow the fadsb.the advertisements of them are attractivec.they think herbs are natural and safe.d.Their doctors ask them to do it14.The stand of the author is _a.neutralb.positivec.negatived.both sides15. It can be inferred from the text that_.a.Herbal medicines are more effective than drugs.b.Herbal medicines should be forbidden.c.People should go to hospital if their diseases are serious which cannot be cured by herbal medicines.d.More researches should be done on the safety and effectiveness of the herbal medicines.Divided We Stand: The Immigration Backlash The United States has been at this crossroads before. Almost every decade in the nations history, a new exodus of immigrants has arrived, and almost every decade there has been a hostile reaction.In the 1840s, Roman Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany were the targets of Protestants who had settled in the country generations earlier. Later in the century, Italians and Jews were greeted with anger. From the time of the Gold Rush through the end of World War II, Chinese and Japanese immigrants endured prejudice that was sometimes legally sanctioned.Today, the number of people on the move is staggering. A United Nations report issued last year estimated that at least 100 million people, or about 2 percent of the worlds population, are international migrants. As the gap has widened between rich nations and poor, migratory pressures have increased, the report found.And although some nations have tried to crack down, the report concluded that where legal channels are closed, migrants will enter by whatever means are available.Between 1982 and 1992, 9.5 million foreigners obtained legal permission to call the United States home, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. An additional 3.2 million reside here illegally, but experts admit that number is an educated guess.Those arriving in the United States these days find their new neighbors offer a cool welcome, or no welcome at all. A Time magazine/CNN poll late last year found that 85 percent of the public wanted tougher federal laws on illegal immigrants. Sixty percent wanted reduced legal immigration. Across the state, polls have found that three of four Californians favor stationing National Guard troops along the U. S. -Mexico border. Said Annelise Anderson, a senior research fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution: We do have relatively more immigrants that are foreign-born than in the 1950s, and people are aware of it because it is Asian and Hispanic, rather than European. Of course, people have always objected to immigrants, she said. But earlier groups have now been absorbed and now are viewed as part of the population that isnt foreign-born and doesnt strike us as different.No single factor explains the profound change in public opinion. Instead, many experts trace it primarily to economic worries, aggravated by news events and political rhetoric. In November, economist Donald L. Huddle of Rice University asserted that legal and illegal immigrants take thousands of jobs away from U.S. citizens. In1992, he concluded, 7.2 million legal and illegal immigrants residing in California cost $18 billion more for public services than they paid in taxes. But in a report released last month, Jeffrey Passel of the Urban Institute in Washington charged that Huddles research was flawed. Passel reported that immigrants in California actually generate net government revenue of more than $12billion. Compounding the disagreement, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute in Virginia reported last week that immigration does not lead to higher unemployment rates and may even reduce joblessness. Many economists admit that, in fact, nobody knows exactly what effect the immigrants have had-for better or for worse. The truth may well be in the middle. But in the debate over immigration, little middle ground exists. Last year, in a time of deep anxiety over the states economy, Governor Wilson took the offensive, he suggested that illegal immigrants cost the state close to $ 3 billion in public education, health, social and law enforcement services. Although the statistics were widely disputed, they struck a chord with the public. Polls showed a dramatic improvement in Wilsons popularity, and the governor has continued to stress the immigration issue. Meanwhile, among some grassroots activists who are pressing for immigration restrictions, another concern may be as important as the economy, but it is far more politically sensitive, the rise of a multicultural society. The melting pot is not only full but overflowing, they say, and the dominant culture cannot assimilate so many people from so many different cultures so quickly. I think every nation is entitled to defend its own culture, says Lynn Young, a coordinator of the Cupertino-based South Bay Citizens for Immigration Reform. It seems weird to me that some countries come under attack for that. If you say youd like to maintain Tibetan culture, everybody says thats wonderful.1. Roman Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany arrived in America earlier than Protestants. TrueFalse2. Prejudice against Chinese and Japanese were even legally allowed. TrueFalse3. According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, there are more illegal immigrants than legal ones in the United States. TrueFalse4. Americans are still expecting more new comers to build the n