高中英语拓展性阅读

3-D Color X-Rays Might Help Reduce Diagnostic Surgery（诊断性手术）

Researchers in New Zealand have captured three-dimensional color Xrays of the human body（人体的三维彩色x射线）. Using an innovative tool（创新性工具，新工具）that may eventually help diagnose cancers and blood diseases without invasive surgery（侵入式手术，开刀手术）.

innovative：创新的，革新的，富有创新精神的

The new scanner has its origins in a tool that contributed to research into the universe’s fundamental particles(宇宙中的基本粒子) and functions much like a camera. It counts subatomic particles（亚粒子）as they meet pixels（像素）when its electronic shutter（电子快门）is open. That allows it to generate high-resolution （高分辨率的）images of soft tissues, including minute disease markers.

minute adj. （科技）微小的

“We can make out details of various tissues, like bones, fats, water and cartilage（软骨）, all functioning together inside the human system”said Anthony Butler, a radiologist 放射科的医生at Otago University in New Zealand, who developed the scanner with his father, Phil Butler, a physicist.

“It really is like the upgrade from black-and-white film胶卷to color. It’s a whole new X-ray experience.”

In traditional computed tomography计算机断层扫描, or CT scans, X-ray beams are measured after passing through human tissue. The resulting image appears white where dense bone tissue has absorbed the beams, and black where softer tissues have not.

dense adj. 稠密的；浓厚的；愚钝的density n.

The new scanner matches individual X-ray photon wavelengths 光子波长to specific materials, such as calcium. It then assigns a corresponding color to the scanned objects. The tool then translates the data into a three-dimensional image.

match ....to 把...与...相搭配

assign ...to 指定到，分配给

correspongding adj. 相当的，相应的；一致的；通信的

The researchers have generated images of ankles and wrists, but eventually plan to scan full human bodies.

The technology could contribute to advances in cancer drug development and to understanding heart disease and bone health. Its creators hope it will help doctors design personalized treatment plans involving targeted drug therapies or less invasive surgeries.

targeted drug therapies：靶向治疗，是在细胞分子水平上，针对已经明确的致癌位点的治疗方式(该位点可以是肿瘤细胞内部的一个蛋白分子，也可以是一个基因片段)。

可设计相应的治疗药物，药物进入体内会特异地选择致癌位点来相结合发生作用，使肿瘤细胞特异性死亡，而不会波及肿瘤周围的正常组织细胞，所以分子靶向治疗又被称为"生物导弹"。

The new tool could serve as “a diagnostic road map to a destination,”according to Dr. Gary E. Friedlaender, an orthopedic surgeon骨科医生at Yale University who treats bone cancers found in complex locations such as inside the pelvis（骨盆）.

orthopedic [,?:θ?'pi:d?k] adj. 整形外科的，骨科的

“It’s about being able to first find the explanation for somebody’s symptoms, like a

tumor, and then find the best way to reach it with the least amount of detours and misadventures, ”he said. “We want to minimize the damage to normal tissues.”

The device was adapted from友...改造而成a pixel-detecting tool 像素监测工具that physicists use at the Large Hadron Collider大型强子对撞机, the underground tunnel with a circumference 周长of nearly 17 miles at the European Organization for Nuclear Research 欧洲和研究组织, known as CERN. It was originally designed to track particles as they moves through the accelerator tube加速管.

“This is the beauty of it: Technology that was first intended for the field of high-energy physics 高能物理学is being used to improve society,”said Aurelie Pezous, an engineer at CERN who promotes outside application of the research center’s technologies. “It’s very exciting for CERN.”

A clinical trial 临床实验to test the new scanner will enroll orthopedic and rheumatology patients in New Zealand in upcoming months.

rheumatolog [,ru?m?'t?l?d??] 风湿病