Homemade soup may fight malaria

題材文章詞數醫療381 難度 ★★★體裁建議用時新聞7 min

難詞探意

1. malaria /m??le?ri?/ n. 瘧疾

2. parasite /?p?r?sa?t/ n. 寄生生物

3. ingredient /?n?ɡri?di?nt/ n. 成分；原料

4. standardize /?st?nd?da?z/ v. 使標準化； 使合乎標準

5. antimalarial /?nti?m??le?r??l/ adj. 抗瘧的

A new study suggests that some homemade soups—made ofchicken， beef or vegetables—might help fightmalaria.

Jake Baum of the Imperial College London led the research. He asked children at a London school to bring in homemade clear soups that their families would make to treat a fever. The children were from many different cultural backgrounds. The soupswerethenexposed totheparasitethat creates 99. 7 percent of malaria cases in Africa， the World Health Organization， WHO， explained.

Of the 56 soups tested， five were more than 50 percent effective in containing the growth of the parasite. Two were as effective as one drug now used to treat malaria. And four soups were more than 50 percent effective atpreventingparasitesfromaging to the point that they could infect mosquitoes that spread the disease.

Baum and his team reported their results recently in the publication Archives of Disease in Childhood. “When we started getting soups that worked—in the lab under very restricted conditions—we were really happy and excited，”Baum said in an email to Agence France Presse.Baum also noted that it was unclear which foods made the soups effective against malaria. “If wewere serious aboutgoing back and finding theingredient， like good scientists， we'd have to do it in a verystandardizedway，” he said.

The soups came from families from different ethnic histories， including Europe， North Africa and the Middle East. They had several main ingredients， including chicken， beef and green vegetables. Baum said the vegetarian soups showed similar results to the soups with meat.Baum said his aim wasin partto show children that scientific research can turn an herbal cure into a man-made medicine. He noted the research of Dr. Tu Youyou of China. In the 1970s， she found that the herb quinhao was an effectiveantimalarialtreatment. The herb has been used in Eastern medicine for two thousand years. Tu's researchled tothe man-made drug artemisinin （青蒿素）， a drug now widely used to treat malaria. She won the Nobel Prize in 2015.

More and more peoplearebecomingresistantto the drugs that treat the disease， which kills about 400，000 people a year. That means scientists will have to “look beyond chemistry”and find new drugs， Baum adds.

Reading Check

1. Why does the author mention the underlined sentence in paragraph 2?

A. To provide more information.

B. To explore more about soup.

C. To make the study convincing.

D. To describe the process vividly.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A. The cure for malaria.

B. The result of the study.

C. The growth of the parasite.

D. The ingredients of the soups.

3. What may puzzle Baum and his team according to the paragraph 4?

A. To what degree can homemade soups fight malaria.

B. When Agence France Presse will restart the study.

C. Which foods made the soups effective against malaria.

D. How long homemade soups' effect on malaria will last.

4. Why did Baum note the research of Dr. Tu Youyou of China?

A. To prove his idea about scientific research.

B. To stress the significance of homemade soups.

C. To introduce Tu Youyou's special contribution.

D. To inspire more children to be devoted to science.

Language Study

Memorize the following phrases and complete the sentences below with them.

be made of 由……組成

be exposed to 暴露于

prevent...from 防止；阻止；預防

be serious about 對……認真；認真對待

in part 部分地

lead to 導致；與……相通

be resistant to 對……有抵抗力的

1. From my perspective， however， it was a decision made， at least _________， out of pride.

2. The door ________metal，which looked very cool.

3. Let's ________this. This is not a joke.

4. He said the culture of science itself may________this change.

5. Let's just give it a try. You know what they say， all roads ________Rome.

6. Even if you only listen for five or ten minutes each day， you'll still ________the language， and that's what you are trying to do.

7.His disability ________him ________driving.