part1
"Don't Drink Alone" Gets New Meaning(不要在就餐時間以外飲酒有了新含義)
In what may be bad news for bars and pubs, an European research group has found that people drinking alcohol outside of meals have a significantly higher risk of cancer in the mouth and neck than do those taking their libations with food. Luigino Dal Maso and his colleagues studied the drinking patterns of 1,500 patients from four cancer studies and another 3,500 adults who had never had cancer.
一定程度上，這對酒吧可能是一個壞訊息，歐洲的一個研究小組發現人們在就餐時間以外飲酒會使患口腔和頸部癌症的機率比就餐時飲酒更高。Luigino Dal Maso和他的同事們研究了取自四項癌症研究的1,500個病例的飲酒習慣模式和另外3,500個從沒患癌症的成年人的飲酒習慣模式。
After the researchers accounted for the amount of alcohol consumed, they found that individuals who downed a significant share of their alcohol outside of meals faced at least a 50 to 80 percent risk of cancer in the oral cavity, pharynx, and esophagus, when compared with people who drank only at meals. Consuming alcohol without food also increased by at least 20 percent the likelihood of laryngeal cancer. “Roughly 95 percent of cancers at these four sites traced too smoking or drinking by study volunteers,” Dal Maso says. The discouraging news his team reports, is that drinking with meals didn’t eliminate cancer risk at any of the sites.
在研究者分析了飲酒的總量後，他們發現和只在就餐時飲酒的人相比，在就餐時間以外灌下大量烈酒的人面臨至少50%~80%的患口腔癌、咽癌和食道癌的危險。在就餐時間外飲酒也會使患喉癌的可能性增加至少20%。“被研究者的情況說明大約95%患以上四種癌症的原因就是抽菸或飲酒。”Dal Maso說。他的研究小組提供的報告令人沮喪的訊息是就餐時飲酒不會消除患以上任何一種癌症的危險。
For their new analysis, the European scientists divided people in the study into four groups, based on how many drinks they reported having in an average week. The lowest-intake group included people who averaged up to 20 drinks a week. The highest group reported downing at least 56 servings of alcohol weekly for an average of eight or more per day. Cancer risks for the mouth and neck sites rose steadily with consumption even for people who reported drinking only with meals. For instance, compared with people in the lowest-consumption group, participants who drank 21 to 34 alcohol servings a week at least doubled their cancer risk for all sites other than the larynx. If people in these consumption groups took some of those drinks outside meals, those in the higher consumption group at least quadrupled their risk for oral cavity and esophageal cancers.
為了進行新的分析，歐洲科學家根據每星期平均飲酒量將被研究者分為4組。飲酒量最少的一組包括每週平均飲酒量達20杯的人，飲酒量最高的一組每週飲酒至少56杯，平均每天8杯以上。患口腔癌和喉癌的危險隨著飲酒量而穩定上升，即使是那些只在就餐時飲酒的人。例如，和低飲酒量的人相比，每週飲酒21~34杯的人患除喉癌以外其他部位的癌症的危險增加了一倍。如果這幾組中的人在就餐時間以外飲酒，那些屬於高飲酒量組的人會使他們患口腔癌和食道癌的危險至少增加3倍。
People in the highest-consumption group who drank only with meals had 10 times the risk of oral cancer, 7 times the risk of pharyngeal cancer, and 16 times the risk of esophageal cancer compared with those who averaged 20 or fewer drinks a week with meals. In contrast, laryngeal cancer risk the high-intake, with-meals-only group was only triple that in the low-intake consumers who drank with meals.
和每週只在就餐時平均飲酒至多20杯的人相比，高飲酒量組的人在就餐時間飲酒患口腔癌的危險是低飲酒量組的10倍，咽癌是其7倍，食道癌16倍。相反，酒精高攝入且僅在就餐時飲酒的人患喉癌的危險是酒精低攝入且僅在就餐時飲酒的人的3倍。
“Alcohol can inflame tissues. Over time, that inflammation can trigger cancer.” Dal Maso says. He suspects that food reduced cancer risk either by partially coating digestive-tract tissues or by scrubbing alcohol off those tissues. He speculates that the reason laryngeal risks were dramatically lower for all study participants traces to the tissue’s lower exposure to alcohol.
“酒精能使組織發炎，一段時間後，炎症可引發癌症。”Dal Maso說。他認為食物降低了患癌症的危險，或是通過覆蓋在消化道組織上或是通過將酒精從那些組織上擦除。他推測所有被研究者患喉癌的機率比其他癌症低很多的原因是組織被酒精侵害到的部分少。
1. Researchers have found that the risk of cancer in the mouth and neck is higher with people
A. who drink alcohol outside of meals.
B. who drink alcohol at meals.
C. who never drink alcohol.
D. who drink alcohol at bars and pubs.
2. Which of the following is NOT the conclusion made by the researchers about “drinking with meals”?
A. It has a lower risk of cancer than drinking without food.
B. It may also be a cause of cancer.
C. It increases by 20 percent the possibility of cancer in all sites.
D. It does not eliminate cancer risk at any of the sites.
3. Approximately how many drinks do the lowest-intake group average per day?
A. 3 drinks.
B. 8 drinks.
C. 20 drinks.
D. 50 drinks.
4. Which cancer risk is the lowest among all the four kinds of cancer mentioned in the passage?
A. Oral cancer
B. Laryngeal cancer(喉癌)
C. Pharyngeal cancer
D. Esophageal cancer
5. According to the last paragraph, tissue's lower exposure to alcohol
A. explains why inflammation triggers cancer.
B. accounts for why food can coat digestive-tract tissues.
C. is the reason why food can scrub alcohol off tissues.
D. reduces the risk of laryngeal cancer.
參考答案：ACADB
part2
"Life Form Found" on Saturn's Titan(土衛六上發現了生命跡象)
Scientists say they have discovered hints of alien life1 on the Saturn's moon2. The discovery of a sort of life was announced after researchers at the US space agency，NASA3，analyzed data from spacecraft Cassini4,which pointed to，the existence of methane-based form of life on Saturn's biggest moon.
科學家們說，在土衛六上發現了外星生命跡象並宣佈了這一發現。美國國家航空航天局(NASA)的研究者們對卡西尼號探測器所傳回來的資料進行了分析，資料表明，土星衛星中最大的一顆衛星有以甲烷為基礎的生命的存在跡象。
Scientists have reportedly discovered clues showing primitive alien beings are "breathing" in Titan's dense atmosphere filled with hydrogen.
據報道，科學家們已經找到了在土衛六高濃度氫氣大氣層裡“呼吸”的原始外星生命的線索。
They argue that hydrogen gets absorbed before hitting Titan's planet-like surface covered with methane lakes and rivers. This，they say，points to the existence of some"bugs"5 consuming the hydrogen at the surface of the moon less than half the size of the Earth.
他們認為，氫氣在到達佈滿甲烷河流湖泊的土衛六類似行星一樣的表層前就已經被吸收了。這就證明在這個不及半個地球大小的衛星表面有某種微生物在依靠氫氣生存。
"We suggested hydrogen consumption because it's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan，similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth，"says NASA scientist Chris McKay."If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life，it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth."
美國國家航空航天局的科學家Chris Mckay說，“我們提出有氫氣的消耗，是由於它是土衛六上生命賴以生存的顯而易見的氣體，就像我們地球上用氧氣呼吸一樣。如果這些跡象最終證明是生命的跡象，它會加倍令人興奮，因為它會代表完全不同於地球上水基生命的第二種生命。”
To date，scientists have not yet detected this form of life anywhere，though there are liquid-water-based microorganisms on Earth that grow well on methane or produce it as a waste product. On Titan, where temperatures are around 90 Kelvin6(minus 290 degrees Farenheit) ，a methane based organism would have to use a substance that is liquid as its medium for living processes, but not water itself. Water is frozen solid on Titan's surface and much too cold to support life as we know it.
時至今日，儘管地球上的依賴液體水的微生物在甲烷裡生長良好或把它作為廢物排出，科學家在任何地方都沒有探測到這種生命的形式。在土衛六上，絕對溫度達到90度(相當於攝氏-273.15度)，依賴於甲烷的微生物不得不用某種液體物質作為生存的介質，這種液體不是水，水在土衛六上會凍成冰塊，不能融化。我們知道，冰塊太冷不能維持生命。
Scientists had expected the Sun's interactions with chemicals in the atmosphere to produce a coating of acetylene on Titan's surface. But Cassini detected no acetylene on the surface.
科學家們原指望太陽與大氣層中的化學物質相互作用會在土衛六上產生一層乙炔。但卡西尼號在它的表面沒有探測到乙炔。
The absence of detectable acetylene on the Titan's surface can very well have a non-biological explanation，said Mark Allen，a principal investigator7 of the NASA Titan team.
Mark Allen是美國宇航局土衛六專案組的主要負責人，他說道，既然在土衛六的表面沒有探測到乙炔，那就充分說明上面沒有生物。
"Scientific conservatism suggests that a biological explanation should be the last choice after all non-biological explanations are addressed，"Allen said. "We have a lot of work to do to rule out8 possible non-biological explanations. It is more likely that a chemical process，without biology，can explain these results."
Allen說：“科學界的保守主義者們建議，要做出土衛六上有生物的結論，首先必須對土衛六上所有沒有生物的觀點做出迴應;要排除土衛六上可能沒有生物的觀點，我們任重道遠。極為可能的是，一種化學過程而非生物學能解釋這些結果。”
詞彙：
Saturn /'sætən/ n.土星 methane/'mi:θein/ n.甲烷，沼氣
Titan/'taitən/ n.土衛六 acetylene/ə'setili:n/ n.乙炔
alien/'eiljən/ n.外星人;adj.外星球的;相異的
conservatism/kən'sʒ:vətizəm/ n.保守主義,守舊
註釋：
s of alien life：外星生命跡象。
Saturn's moon：指土衛六(Titan) 。土衛六又稱泰坦星，是土星衛星中最大的一顆。
：美國國家航空航天局的縮寫，全稱是： National Aeronautics and Space Administration。
ecraft Cassini：卡西尼號探測器，以出生於義大利的法國天文學家卡西尼的名字命名，其任務是環繞土星飛行，對土星及其大氣、光環、衛星和磁場進行深人考察。1997 年10 月15日，重六噸的“卡西尼”號星際探測器被髮射飛往土星的軌道。這是上世紀發射的最後一艘行星際探測的大飛船。“卡西尼”號用了將近七年時間，在2004 年7月1日飛達土星軌道。
：微生物。非正式口語表達，所以使用了引號。
in：可翻譯成“絕對溫度”。Kelvin Scale ，絕對溫標，開氏溫標，是由Kelvin 勳爵於19世紀中葉發明的`溫度計量方法，其零度相當於攝氏一273. 15" C ，被認為是宇宙中最低溫度。這種溫度計量方法多為科學家使用。
cipal investigator：研究專案負責人
out：排除……的可能性
