Losing weight by eating an “imaginary meal in a pill”

◆ 張 蕊

詞 數：431

閱讀難度：★★★☆☆

建議閱讀時間：5分鐘

A drug dubbed an “imaginary meal in a pill” is being developed by scientists.The pill tricks the body into thinking it has consumed a large amount of calories—as if you have just eaten a substantial meal.The dieter’s dream, it would allow them to continue to enjoy fatty foods without putting on weight.The drug, which tricks the body into believing it has eaten, also cuts cholesterol and keeps blood sugar levels under control.

Researcher Ronald Evans said: “This pill is like an imaginary meal.It sends out the same signals that normally happen when you eat a lot of food, so the body starts clearing out space to store it.But there are no calories and no change in appetite.” British doctors described the US breakthrough as potentially of great importance—but cautioned that much more work needs to be done.The research comes amid growing concern that the world is losing the battle against obesity.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese, according to the World Health Organisation.It warns 44 percent of the diabetes burden, 23 percent of the heart disease burden and between 7 percent and 41 percent of the burden of certain cancers are attributable to people being overweight or obese.And with just one diet drug on the market, growing numbers of people are restoring to going under the surgeon’s knife.

The excitement surrounds a new medicine called fexaramine.Given to obese mice fed fatty food, it stopped them from piling on the pounds.Fat was burnt off, levels of artery-clogging cholesterol fell and blood sugar levels were better controlled.The drug also sped up metabolism and turned harmful white fat that wobbles around the waist into healthy brown fat.Remarkably, it did all this without affecting appetite.If the drug worked as well in people, it might mean fat people could keep their weight under control while eating just as much as usual.They may even be able to keep trim while feasting on chips, cakes and other fatty foods.

Professor Evans, of the Salk Institute in California, said that fexaramine works by making the body believe it has eaten a big meal.When the drug hits the stomach, it kick-starts digestion.Fexaramine also spurs the body into burning off fat to create space to store the incoming nutrients.The medicine doesn’t pass into the bloodstream and circulate round the body but stays in the stomach, which should cut the risk of side-effects.

閱讀理解

1.The RIGHT statement about the “imaginary meal in a pill” is _____.

A.the drug has made many people lose weight successfully

B.the drug is being researched and developed

C.with the drug, the dieter has enjoyed fatty foods without putting on weight

D.the dieter cannot cut cholesterol but keep blood sugar levels under control with the drug

2.The purpose to make the pill is _____.

A.to save more food for hungry people B.to make a change in appetite

C.to lose the battle against obesity D.to conquer global obesity

3.What is the meaning of the underlined word “proportions” in Paragraph 3?

A.Shapes.B.Relationships.C.Ratios.D.Departments.

4.According to the fourth paragraph we can infer that the RIGHT statement is _____.

A.fexaramine can make people excited

B.fatty food stops obese mice from getting fat

C.both white fat and brown fat are bad

D.chips, cakes and fatty foods can increase weight 5.What’s the structure of the passage?

答案與解析

1.B。細節理解題。文章的第一段第一句告訴讀者這種藥在開發階段，選項A、C把將來的事情用了完成時態，而D選項與文章意思相悖。

2.D。推理判斷題。文章的第二段最后一句和D項吻合。

3.C。詞義猜測題。根據本句中的globally和下文中超重和肥胖給各種疾病帶來的負擔比例等信息可以看出C正確。

4.D。推理判斷題。第四段的開頭兩句意思是“這種興奮與一種名為fexaramine的藥物有關。經試驗，fexaramine能讓食用高脂肪食物的肥胖老鼠不再長胖。”故A、B兩項錯，第四句“它還能加速新陳代謝，將腰部多余而有害的白色脂肪轉化為健康的棕色脂肪。”故C錯，最后一句“它甚至能讓你在大吃薯條、蛋糕等高脂肪食物的情況下依舊保持苗條身材。”可以推斷D正確。

5.A。篇章結構題。本文的第一段是個topic paragraph引出話題, 二、三段介紹研制這種新藥的緣由，四、五段是fexaramine這種藥物的工作原理，故A正確。

長難句分析

1.The drug, which tricks the body into believing it has eaten, also cuts cholesterol and keeps blood sugar levels under control.這種藥不但能夠騙過身體，讓它以為你已經吃過了，還能降低膽固醇和控制血糖含量。

這是個復合句。句中帶了個which引導的非限制性定語從句，從句的謂語動詞是個很有用的短語，trick sb.into doing sth“欺騙某人做某事”。類似動詞短語還有：

(1) 表示語言的動詞，如 talk（勸說）、persuade（勸說）、argue（爭辯）、reason（說理）、nag（嘮叨）等。例如：

We cannot give you a defi nite answer until we have talked him into giving up the dangerous attempt.要等到我們說服他放棄這一危險企圖后才能給你確切的答復。

An indecisive man is readily persuades into changing his mind and accepting other’s ideas.

一個優柔寡斷的人很容易被說服改變主意，接受他人的想法。

(2) 表示采用某種手段的動詞，如force（強迫）、deceive (欺騙)、trick (欺騙)、cheat (欺騙)、fool(欺騙)、frighten（恐嚇）、intimidate（威脅）、tempt（誘惑）、induce（誘使）、bribe（賄賂）、provoke（激怒）等。例如：

Everybody’s got their own interests; you mustn’t try and force people into doing things they don’t want to.各人有各人的興趣愛好，不要強迫別人做他們不想做的事。

We were deceived into buying a house that was scheduled for demolition.我們被欺騙購買了即將拆遷的房子。

2.The drug also sped up metabolism and turned harmful white fat that wobbles around the waist into healthy brown fat.它還能加速新陳代謝，將腰部多余而有害的白色脂肪轉化為健康的棕色脂肪。

這是個復合句。句中that引導的定語從句修飾white fat，主句的謂語動詞是兩個并列的謂語sped up和turned…into…，類似這兩個動詞短語的有：

up 在speed up（加快速度）中表“由小變大”之意，這樣含義的短語還有：speak up （大聲點說）；bring up（撫養大）；turn up（開大聲音）；grow up（長大成人）；warm up（加熱）； build up（逐步建立）。

和turned…into…相似結構的短語有：change…into 把……變成，divide…into 把……分成，put/translate…into 把……譯成，send sb to/into sleep使進入睡眠狀態。例如：

If the sentence is turned into Chinese, it is easier for me to understand.如果這個句子被譯為中文的話，對我來說就更好理解了。

Water can be turned into vapor when (it is) heated.經過加熱，水可以變成水蒸氣。

3.If the drug worked as well in people, it might mean fat people could keep their weight under control while eating just as much as usual.如果這種藥對人體同樣有效的話，那可能意味著肥胖者可以不改變飲食習慣的情況下將體重保持在可控范圍內。

這是個復合句。除了if引導的條件狀語從句之外，mean后面還有一個賓語從句。句中as much as在表示數量時通常有兩種用法。一是具體數量，意思是“……之多”“多達”“整整”，強調“多”。例如：

In fact it cost me as much as 100 dollars.事實上，它花了我整整100美元。

She trained hard for the race, sometimes running as much as 60 miles a week.為了比賽，她拼命地訓練，有時一個星期要跑60英里。

注： as much as 用于表示具體的數量時，其后接的可能是可數名詞，但由于它們意義上仍然為不可數，故用as much as，不用as many as。如100 dollars，60 miles，盡管其中的dollars和 miles為可數名詞的復數形式，但是表達“錢和距離”的不可數概念，仍是不可數的。下面這句是錯的：I read as much as 100 articles today.因為這里的100 articles表示的是可數概念，故應改為：I read as many as 100 articles today.

二是模糊的數量，意思是“與……一樣多”，有時much后可接被修飾的名詞(不可數)。例如：

I ate as much as I could.我能吃多少就吃了多少。

I will spend as much as necessary.需要花多少錢，我就花多少錢。