第一单元翻译 医学英语

看前需注意：

1.这个翻译整理过一遍，有些明显的错误的都已经改了。但难以保证这篇翻译全对。所以仅供参考。若有翻译不对的地方可以与我商量。------------------伟大的学委

Unit 1

Reading A The Human complex— A Never –failing Source of Wonderment

(人类的复杂性——一个永远不会失去惊叹的话题)

― In my view, ‖ wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1814 ,―no knowledge can be more satisfactory to a man that of his own frame, its parts, their functions and actions. ‖ Distinguished thinkers before and since Jefferson have held this belief, but curiously, it is not one that the average person wholeheartedly

s hares.Man’s attitude toward his own body—his single most precious possession—is decidedly ambivalent. At one and the same time he is

fascinated by it and fearful of it, partly in echo of ancient taboos, partly in the conviction that the body is too complicated to understand.

( ―在我看来，‖托马斯杰佛逊于1814年写道：―对人来说，没有什么知识会比了解自身的架构、部件、功能和作用更能使他满足。‖

包括杰佛逊在内的杰出思想家均持有这个观点，但有趣的是，这个观点并不为普罗大众所由衷地接受。人们对自己的身体，这个对他自身来说最为宝贵的财富，态度其实是充满矛盾的。一方面，人们被肉体的奥妙所深深着迷，另一方面，却又对其深感敬畏，这在一定程度上与远古的忌禁遥相呼应，也在一定程度上反映了人们确信肉体过于复杂而难以理解。)

The possible approaches to a study of the body are legion.To the cynic, the body is no more than a tenement of clay; to the poet, a palace of the soul; to the physician, an all-too-ailing hulk. The psychiatrist sees it as a housing for the mind and personality. The geneticist sees it as a perpetuator of its own kind.The biologist sees it as an organism which can alter the future as a result of the experience of the past.

( 研究人体的途径可谓纷繁多样。对愤世嫉俗者来说，人体贱为粘土陋室；对吟诗作赋者来说，人体尊为灵魂的宫殿；对救死扶伤者来说，人体悲为脆弱多病的躯壳。精神病学家视其为思想和性格的居所。遗传学家当其为自我繁衍的机器。生物学家视其为能借过往的经验来改变未来的生命体。)

All the specialized scientific views of the body are valid. All, however, must start from the same premise: an awareness of the body’s basic structure and functions—its anatomy and physiology. And the bedrock principle of our present

understanding of the body is that all living matter is composed of cells basically similar in structure and function.

（所有有关人体的专业科学的观点都是有根据的，然而，所有的这些都必须从同一个前提开始：那就是对研究人体的基本结构和功能的解剖学和生理学的认识。我们对身体的了解的基本原则是，所有生物都是由结构和功能基本相似的细胞构成的。）

A Swarm of Tiny Specialists

(一帮微缩的专家)

Studies of the cell—what it is , what it does and how it reproduces itself —have revealed it to be a fantastically complex world in itself. One of the major wonders of the cell is the disparity between its minuteness and the prodigiousness of its activity. Each cell is so tiny that millions of them may be found in a half-inch cube of human body tissue. Yet each comprises an almost unimaginably busy chemical laboratory with a highly ordered division of labor.

（关于细胞的研究——细胞是什么，它是干什么的和如何复制的——已经显露出细胞本身那令人难以置信的复杂世界。细胞的一大精妙之处在于体积之微与活动能力之强之间的反差。每个细胞是如此渺小，以至于数以万计的细胞有可能被发现在一个半英寸立方体大小的人体组织中。然而，每个（细胞）构成了一个秩序井然、分工明确、忙碌得几乎难以想象的化学实验室。）

The cell has two main parts: a nucleus, containing the genetic material deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and a surrounding semifluid cytoplasm.

Bounding the cytoplasm is the cell membrane, which keeps the cell contents in and undesirable material out, yet permits passage of both proper nutrients and wastes. The nucleus—cell headquarters—governs the major activities of the cytoplasm; its finest hour, however, comes at reproduction time, when chromosomes containing DNA split. It is in the cytoplasm, that the cell’s day to day business is carried on. Each of its various components, or organelles, is a specialist of surpassing skill. one type breaks down the food given entry by the cell membrane and converts it into energy .Another provides the site for the synthesis of protein—along with reproduction, a major function of most

cells. Another packages the manufactured protein for transport wherever needed in the body.

（细胞有两个主要部分：含有遗传物质脱氧核糖核酸（DNA）的细胞核，以及周围呈半流质的细胞质。包裹着细胞质的是细胞膜。它将细胞内容物包容于细胞之内，将不需之物排斥于外。而又允许适当的营养物和废物通过。细胞核——细胞的指挥部——调控细胞质的主要活动；然而，它最重要的时候是当细胞分裂，染色

体内的DNA分裂时。细胞日复一日的工作就是在细胞质中完成的。各种组件或细胞器，都是一个个卓越的技术专家。其中细胞器的一种功能是分解进入细胞膜的营养物质，并将其转化成能量。另一个功能是提供结合蛋白质的场所——伴随着细胞复制的始终，大多数细胞的主要功能。另一个将制成的蛋白质加以整理，并将其运输到身体的各个所需部位。）

To operate efficiently, the cell thus requires specific help from the body as a whole: food to provide raw material for the release of energy, oxygen to help break down the food, water to transport inorganic substances like calcium and sodium.Once its needs are satisfied, the cell itself provides the intricate mechanism for maintaining the balance essential to keep it in kilter—in short, to keep the body alive and healthy.

（为了高效的运转，因而细胞需要得到身体的帮助：食物提供可释放能量的原材料，氧气帮助分解食物，水分转运无机物，比如钠、钾。一旦这些需要得到满足，细胞本身就会提供复杂的机制，使其维持正常运作必须的平衡状况——总之，能保持身体的活力和健康。）

Cells share certain common characteristics, but most of the body's cells develop specialized features and abilities. The cells that form bone collect calcium salts; these cells are locked together in solid chunks, immobile. By contrast, the white cells

of the blood, which fight off invading bacteria, roam freely about the body.Other cells make special chemicals for the body's use—the hormones produced in the endocrine glands, or the digestive enzymes poured into the intestine from the pancreas. Still other cells from the

incredibly thin membranes in the lung or kidney that permit the filtering or exchange of dissolved body fuels and wastes.

（细胞共享某种相同的特性，但是大部分的人体细胞发展出了特殊的特征和能力。那些构成骨的细胞能收集钙盐；这些细胞聚集在一起形成稳定的块状固体。相反的，血液中那些可以抵抗侵略细菌的白细胞，却能在身体内自由流动。其它细胞能产生特殊的化学物质供身体使用——内分泌腺产生激素，而胰

腺产生的消化酶注入肠道。还有在肺或肾里形成非常薄的膜，使其它细胞可以被允许过滤或交换已被溶解的身体燃料和废物。）According to their particular features and their intended functions, cells form different types of tissue: bone, muscle, blood, nerve tissue, connective tissue and epithelium. The cells that make up each of these are not identical, but belong together by reason of underlying similarities.

(根据它们独自的特点和所要求的功能，细胞构成了不同类型的组织：骨组织，肌肉组织，神经组织，结缔组织和上皮组织。构成这些组织的细胞是各不相同的，但因潜藏的相似点而同属一类。)

For example, the cells of bowel muscle are rounder and shorter than the long, spindly cells of leg muscle, yet both kinds contract forcefully when stimulated by a chemical or electrical impulse.The cells that make up bone tissue differ sufficiently to make brittle bone in one place and spongy, resilient cartilage in another, yet all store the salts which give bone its calcified structure.The loose network of cells that supports the fatty padding under the skin and the dense capsule of cells that holds the knee joint in place are both forms of connective tissue. All nerve cells, varied as they may be, receive and conduct electrochemical impulses. All blood cell, varied as they may be, float freely in a circulating fluid, plasma.

（例如，肠道肌肉的细胞，比长而细的腿部肌肉的细胞更圆、更短，当受到化学或电刺激时两种细胞都会有力地收缩。构成骨组织的细胞有相当程度的不同，可在一处形成脆骨，而在另一处形成疏松而有韧性的软骨；然而，所有储存盐类的细胞，使骨成为钙化的结构。在皮下的支持脂肪垫料的疏散网络状细胞和保持膝关节在对应的地方的密集胶囊状细胞，都参与构成了结缔组织。所有的神经细胞，尽管可能有所不同，接受和传导电化学冲动。所有的血细胞，尽管可能有所不同，在循环流体——血浆中，自由地漂浮。）

The most versatile cells are those of the various kinds of epithelium.

Forming the body’s external coating—the skin—epithelial cells protect things inside from things outside. They also form the lining of the mouth, stomach and bowel, the inner surface of blood vessels, and the membranes that permit the lungs to breathe and the kidneys to excrete. Over the cornea of the eye they become a sort of transparent windshield, to permit the free entry of light to the retina. Other epithelial cells secrete a protective mucus to keep intestines, lungs and nasal passages from drying out.Still others

manufacture powerful hormones that regulate the body’s chemical reactions.

（最万能的细胞是那些各种各样的上皮细胞。构成人体的外套—皮肤，上皮细胞保护里面的物质不受外界侵害。它们还构成嘴巴、胃、肠的黏膜、血管的内表面和允许肺呼吸和肾排泄的膜。眼睛的角膜，它们变成一种外部的挡风玻璃，允许光束自由地进入到视网膜。其它一些上皮细胞分泌一种具有防护性的粘液使肠道、肺、鼻道保持湿润。另外一些能大量产生作用强大的激素调节身体的化学反应）

Interlock and Overlap

(连锁和重叠)

The tissues comprise the structural materials of the body’s organ systems. These, in turn, may be compared to a number of corporations with interlocking directorates. Indeed the interdependence of the organ systems has led to some disagreement over how many there are. The venerable Gray’s Anatomy—used by medical students for more than 100 years—lists 10 systems: nervous, digestive, respiratory, vascular, urogenital, endocrine, skeletal, muscular, joints and external covering. Other authorities categorize joints and bones together because they are so closely related, or separate the sense organs from the nervous system, or lump all the internal organs respiratory, digestive, endocrine and urogenital—under the resounding title of splanchnological system.

（组织构成了人体器官系统的结构物质。相应的，也许可以将他们比作一些有连锁董事会的公司。器官系统的互相依赖性引起了一些争论超出了已有的争论。令人崇敬的格雷先生的解剖学——在过去被医学生使用了超过一百年——列出了十个系统：神经的，消化的，呼吸的，血管的，泌尿生殖的，内分泌的，骨骼的，肌肉的，关节和表皮的。而另一些权威则是因为关节与骨的紧密联系而将其划归在一类，或将感觉器官从神经系统中分出单列，或干脆把所有内脏器官合在一起，冠以内脏系统这一声势浩大的名称。）

Far more important than their labels is the fact that the systems interact; the breakdown of one can damage or destroy the others. Ideally, of course, all systems would do their jobs perfectly all the time. Unfortunately, nature permits no such perfection. All of them suffer from malfunctions at one point or another. The wonder is that breakdowns are the exception rather than the rule.

（比起它们的分类远为重要的事是这个系统之间的相互影响；一个系统的故障能够破坏甚至毁坏其它系统。当然，最理想的是所有的系统都能一直完美地完成它们的工作。不幸的是，大自然不允许如此完美。它们总在一方面或其它方面发生功能障碍。好在这些故障的出现只是例外而不是常规。）

Within the healthy body itself there is no absolute criterion for "normal". Variations occur not only between individuals, but within the individual himself, sometimes from hour to hour, depending on his activity at the time.Doctors privately joke that even a baboon could get through medial school if he

learned to say, with enough profundity, "It varies."One of the practitioner’s major headaches is to determine whether a patient’s condition reflects an actual illness or merely a variation within a broad range of normal. The

breadth of this range may be indicated by a few statistics. The weight of the healthy heart is considered to be anywhere between 240 and 360 grams; the weight of the healthy liver, between 1,000 and 2,000 grams; the level of sugar in the blood, between 70 and 130 milligrams.

（在健康的身体内，对“正常”并没有绝对的标准。变化不仅发生在个体之间，而且发生在个体内部，时不时都要变化，这要取决于他那时的活动。医生们私下开玩笑说，甚至一只狒狒都能从医学院混到毕业，假如它学会深沉地说，―看情况‖。令医者最为头痛的一点是决定病人的情况是反映了真实的疾病，还是正常范围内的较大波动。这个范围的广度从一些数据中多少得到一定的印证。健康心脏的重量被认为是在240~360克之间；健康的肝的重量在1000~2000克之间；血糖水平在70~130毫克之间。）