雅思词汇课文（30）· Ancient Medicine and Modern Science 古代医学与现代科学

历史与医学主题，约 350 词，融入 30 个雅思核心词。

🎧 课文朗读音频（约 1 分钟）

📖 课文 Text

Ancient Medicine and Modern Science

The Edwin Smith Papyrus, written in Egypt around 1600 BC, describes 48 surgical cases with remarkable accuracy. It distinguishes injuries that can be treated from those that cannot, and prescribes bandages, sutures and splints. It is, in effect, the world's first surviving medical textbook. Three and a half millennia later, modern archaeologists are discovering that some ancient remedies contain genuinely active ingredients.

The most famous example is honey. Egyptians used it to treat wounds, and modern clinical trials have confirmed that honey inhibits certain bacteria and promotes healing. The ancient Greeks chewed willow bark to reduce fever. Nineteenth-century chemists isolated the active compound and synthesised it as aspirin. Traditional Chinese medicine, built on herbal remedies and acupuncture, is now the subject of rigorous scientific investigation.

Yet ancient medicine was not always effective. The theory of the four humours, dominant in Europe for 1,500 years, led to treatments such as bloodletting that killed more patients than it cured. Trepanation — drilling holes in the skull — was practised from Peru to Paris, presumably to release evil spirits. Many remedies relied on magic, ritual and superstition rather than observation.

The turning point came in the seventeenth century. William Harvey demonstrated the circulation of blood through careful experiments. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observed microorganisms through early microscopes. The scientific method — hypothesis, experiment, peer review — replaced tradition as the basis for medical knowledge.

Modern medicine has been spectacularly successful. Smallpox has been eradicated. Antibiotics once made infections a minor inconvenience. Life expectancy in wealthy countries has more than doubled since 1800.

The lesson is not that ancient wisdom should be discarded or blindly worshipped. Some ancient remedies work; others do not. The challenge is to test every claim, ancient or modern, with the same rigorous method.

📝 生词表 New Words and Expressions

🧠 课文理解 Comprehension

1. The Edwin Smith Papyrus is...

• A. a medieval text
• B. the world's first surviving medical textbook
• C. a novel
• D. a religious document

2. Willow bark was used by the Greeks to...

• A. cure cancer
• B. reduce fever
• C. treat wounds
• D. anaesthetise

3. The theory of four humours led to treatments that...

• A. cured most diseases
• B. often killed more patients than they cured
• C. were based on experiments
• D. are still used today

4. The scientific method replaced...

• A. experiments
• B. tradition as the basis for medical knowledge
• C. peer review
• D. observation

5. The writer concludes that ancient remedies should be...

• A. all discarded
• B. blindly worshipped
• C. tested with the same rigorous method as modern claims
• D. ignored

✏️ 词汇练习 Vocabulary Practice

Fill in the blanks with the correct word from the list. Change the form where necessary.

| accurate / remedy / inhibit / compound / rigorous / hypothesis / eradicate / discard |

1. The clock is not perfectly ______; it loses two minutes a day.
2. There is no simple ______ for the problem of traffic congestion.
3. Certain drugs ______ the growth of cancer cells.
4. Water is a chemical ______ of hydrogen and oxygen.
5. The study was based on ______ statistical analysis.
6. The experiment confirmed our original ______.
7. The government aims to ______ malaria within a decade.
8. Please ______ any waste material in the bins provided.

✅ 答案 Answers

Comprehension

1. B　2. B　3. B　4. B　5. B

Vocabulary

1. accurate　2. remedy　3. inhibit　4. compound　5. rigorous　6. hypothesis　7. eradicate　8. discard