英语文化随身带

Take-Away English

I have always enjoyed black pudding[黑香肠] for breakfast. Nothing can 1. _ with the taste of the rich black sausage[香肠] made of pigs’blood. However， even I might draw the line at making black pudding 2. _ my own blood. That’s exactly what the BBC’s Michael Mosley has done. It’s part of an investigation[调查研究] into the incredible[不可思议的] power of blood to protect and regenerate our bodies.

For thousands of years people have believed in the power of blood to make us young. In Roman times， the sick were encouraged to drink the blood of freshly killed gladiators to 3. _ their illnesses. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula， Count Dracula is transformed from a little old man 4. _ a super athlete when he drinks human blood.

Recent research seems to back up these ideas. Scientists in California have looked at what happens to old mice when you inject them with the blood of young mice. After the infusion， the mice perform 5. _ in memory tests， and their brains start to sprout new connections making them more like young brains. This could be used for people with Alzheimer’s disease[阿尔茨海默病].

Another treatment is called PRP （platelet[血小板] rich plasma）， also known as the Vampire[吸血鬼] Facelift. This involves taking your own blood， extracting the plasma and then injecting it back into your 6. _. Popular with stars such as Tiger Woods and Kim Kardashian， PRP has been proved to be 7. _ for wound repair. After two weeks’ treatment， Michael’s face did feel like a baby’s bottom.

So 8. _ we all be eating blood， and possibly rubbing it onto our skin？ Maybe， but scientists such as Dr. Saul Villeda of the University of California have a less extreme vision.“My hope，” Villeda says， “is that we can identify the youthful factors in blood that we want to 9. _ and the ageing factors we have to 10. _. And I think that’ll be a much better way， a much more controlled way.”

我一向喜欢拿黑香肠（血肠）当早餐，再没有什么能媲美由猪血制成的黑香肠的浓郁香味了。不过，就连我这样喜欢黑香肠的人，也接受不了用自己的血来做黑香肠―而这正是英国广播公司（BBC）的迈克尔・莫斯利做的一项试验。血液对于保护和促进身体再生具有不可思议的作用，这项试验则是研究血液作用的一部分。

千百年来，人们都相信血液具有使我们保持青春的力量。在罗马时代，人们鼓励病人喝刚刚丧生的角斗士的血来治疗疾病。在布拉姆・斯托克的恐怖小说《吸血鬼》里，德古拉伯爵在喝了人血之后，就会从一个瘦小的老头变成一个超级健壮的人。

最近的研究似乎也支持这些观点。（美国）加利福尼亚州的科学家们做过一项研究，他们往年老的老鼠体内注入年轻老鼠的血液，然后观察会出现什么现象。输血之后，年老老鼠的记忆力测试成绩有了提高，其大脑也开始生长出新的连线，变得更像年轻老鼠的大脑。这个发现可应用于治疗阿尔兹海默病患者。

另一种疗法被称为PRP（富血小板血浆），也叫“吸血鬼拉皮术”。这种疗法要从你自己的血液中提取血浆，然后重新注射到脸上。PRP很受如老虎・伍兹和金・卡戴珊等明星的欢迎，并已证明对创伤修复确有疗效。迈克尔的脸经过两个星期的治疗，摸起来的确就像婴儿屁股一样光滑了。 那么，我们都要开始吸血吗？或者还要用血涂抹皮肤？也许吧，但有些科学家的见解没有那么极端，比如加利福尼亚州大学的索尔・维莱达博士。他说：“我希望我们能够识别出血液中令人保持青春以及令人衰老的因素，前者是我们想增加的，而后者是我们想减少的。我认为这是一种更好、更可控的方式。”

重点词汇

draw the line 划清界限，拒绝

regenerate [rI5dVenEreIt] v. 使再生

gladiator [5^lAdIeItE] n.（古罗马）角斗士

transform [trAns5fC：m] v. 转变

back up 证实、支持（某种说法或观点）

inject [In5dVekt] v. 注射

infusion [In5fju：VEn] n. 输入

sprout [spraJt] v. 涌现出，发出

plasma [5plAzmE] n. 血浆

facelift [5feIslIft] n. 去皱整容手术

extract [Ik5strAkt] v. 提取

identify [aI5dentIfaI] v. 辨别，找出

Quiz小测验

阅读短文并回答问题。

1. What is black pudding usually made of？

2. Who was encouraged to drink human blood？

3. What do old mice do better after blood infusions？

4. What is another name for PRP？

5. What happened to Michael Mosley’s face after injecting blood？