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

◆ 张 蕊

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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.

阅读理解

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?

答案与解析

1.B。细节理解题。文章的第一段第一句告诉读者这种药在开发阶段，选项A、C把将来的事情用了完成时态，而D选项与文章意思相悖。

2.D。推理判断题。文章的第二段最后一句和D项吻合。

3.C。词义猜测题。根据本句中的globally和下文中超重和肥胖给各种疾病带来的负担比例等信息可以看出C正确。

4.D。推理判断题。第四段的开头两句意思是“这种兴奋与一种名为fexaramine的药物有关。经试验，fexaramine能让食用高脂肪食物的肥胖老鼠不再长胖。”故A、B两项错，第四句“它还能加速新陈代谢，将腰部多余而有害的白色脂肪转化为健康的棕色脂肪。”故C错，最后一句“它甚至能让你在大吃薯条、蛋糕等高脂肪食物的情况下依旧保持苗条身材。”可以推断D正确。

5.A。篇章结构题。本文的第一段是个topic paragraph引出话题, 二、三段介绍研制这种新药的缘由，四、五段是fexaramine这种药物的工作原理，故A正确。

长难句分析

1.The drug, which tricks the body into believing it has eaten, also cuts cholesterol and keeps blood sugar levels under control.这种药不但能够骗过身体，让它以为你已经吃过了，还能降低胆固醇和控制血糖含量。

这是个复合句。句中带了个which引导的非限制性定语从句，从句的谓语动词是个很有用的短语，trick sb.into doing sth“欺骗某人做某事”。类似动词短语还有：

(1) 表示语言的动词，如 talk（劝说）、persuade（劝说）、argue（争辩）、reason（说理）、nag（唠叨）等。例如：

We cannot give you a defi nite answer until we have talked him into giving up the dangerous attempt.要等到我们说服他放弃这一危险企图后才能给你确切的答复。

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

一个优柔寡断的人很容易被说服改变主意，接受他人的想法。

(2) 表示采用某种手段的动词，如force（强迫）、deceive (欺骗)、trick (欺骗)、cheat (欺骗)、fool(欺骗)、frighten（恐吓）、intimidate（威胁）、tempt（诱惑）、induce（诱使）、bribe（贿赂）、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.各人有各人的兴趣爱好，不要强迫别人做他们不想做的事。

We were deceived into buying a house that was scheduled for demolition.我们被欺骗购买了即将拆迁的房子。

2.The drug also sped up metabolism and turned harmful white fat that wobbles around the waist into healthy brown fat.它还能加速新陈代谢，将腰部多余而有害的白色脂肪转化为健康的棕色脂肪。

这是个复合句。句中that引导的定语从句修饰white fat，主句的谓语动词是两个并列的谓语sped up和turned…into…，类似这两个动词短语的有：

up 在speed up（加快速度）中表“由小变大”之意，这样含义的短语还有：speak up （大声点说）；bring up（抚养大）；turn up（开大声音）；grow up（长大成人）；warm up（加热）； build up（逐步建立）。

和turned…into…相似结构的短语有：change…into 把……变成，divide…into 把……分成，put/translate…into 把……译成，send sb to/into sleep使进入睡眠状态。例如：

If the sentence is turned into Chinese, it is easier for me to understand.如果这个句子被译为中文的话，对我来说就更好理解了。

Water can be turned into vapor when (it is) heated.经过加热，水可以变成水蒸气。

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.如果这种药对人体同样有效的话，那可能意味着肥胖者可以不改变饮食习惯的情况下将体重保持在可控范围内。

这是个复合句。除了if引导的条件状语从句之外，mean后面还有一个宾语从句。句中as much as在表示数量时通常有两种用法。一是具体数量，意思是“……之多”“多达”“整整”，强调“多”。例如：

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

She trained hard for the race, sometimes running as much as 60 miles a week.为了比赛，她拼命地训练，有时一个星期要跑60英里。

注： as much as 用于表示具体的数量时，其后接的可能是可数名词，但由于它们意义上仍然为不可数，故用as much as，不用as many as。如100 dollars，60 miles，尽管其中的dollars和 miles为可数名词的复数形式，但是表达“钱和距离”的不可数概念，仍是不可数的。下面这句是错的：I read as much as 100 articles today.因为这里的100 articles表示的是可数概念，故应改为：I read as many as 100 articles today.

二是模糊的数量，意思是“与……一样多”，有时much后可接被修饰的名词(不可数)。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.需要花多少钱，我就花多少钱。