晨读伴侣Passage30：开发新药与高价卖旧药

本文选自吴应时主编的《大学英语六级阅读真题精读——晨读伴侣》。本书对历年国家大学英语六级考试（CET-6）的仔细阅读部分进行了详尽而精准的分析、翻译和注释，对四六级考生有着事半功倍的效果，对提升整体英语能力也很有帮助。

学习导读：

医疗问题历来为人们所关心，而药品的研发需要大量的资金和科研人才的投入，全靠政府资助显得不切实际。那么制药厂倘若要研发新药，其科研成本势必从已有的药品利润中来，于是为了支持开发新药而高价卖旧药是否恰当呢？到头来没有医保的患者是否是最大的受害者呢？围绕这个问题，看看文章作者是如何展开讨论的吧。

You’re in trouble [if you have to buy your own brand-name prescription 1  drugs.] [Over the past decade], prices leaped [by more than double the inflation rate]. Treatments [for chronic conditions 2   ] can [easily] top $2,000 a month – no wonder that one in four Americans can’t afford to fill their prescriptions. The solution? A hearty chorus 3 of “O Canada.” 4 [North of the border], ^where price controls reign 5^, those same brand-name drugs cost 50% to 80% .

如果你要自己购买大牌处方药，那你就麻烦了。在过去的十年里，药价是通货膨胀率的两倍还多呢。治疗慢性疾病一个月很容易就会花到2000美元以上——难怪每四个美国人中就有一个买不起处方所列之药。该如何解决呢？人们或许会异口同声地说：“加拿大呗”。在北部边界——价格统一控制区——同样牌子的药可以少花50%至80%。

注：1. prescription n. 处方, 指示, 命令。例：

The doctor gave me a prescription for pain-killers.

医生给我开了个止痛药方。

2. condition n. 疾病。这是熟词生意，可理解成disease，最常用的意思是条件。例：

I received several compliments on the condition of my skin.

我得到好几次有关我皮肤的状况的夸赞。

[这里指健康方面的状况]

Stephen's condition was diagnosed by accident, after going to the doctor with a persistent cough.

史蒂芬的疾病是在他持续咳嗽不止而去看医生时意外诊断出来的。

[be diagnosed by被诊断出][选自：BBC: NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | My life with coeliac disease]

3. chorus n. 合唱; 齐声; 合唱队

v. 合唱; 一齐说, 异口同声地说; 齐声朗诵; 合唱; 异口同声地说话; 齐声朗诵。例：

The proposal was greeted with a chorus of approval.

大家对该建议异口同声表示赞成。

4. 这里可理解成将“The solution is a hearty chorus of O Canada.”拆成了自问自答的两句话。

5. reign n. 统治; 在位期间, 统治时期; 支配

v. 君临; 支配; 统治; 盛行, 占优势。原文中price controls是物价管制，作名词理解，所以后面的reign作动词，表明该地区施行物价管制。例：

The revolution was followed by a reign of terror, ie a time of violence.

革命之後随即出现了恐怖统治。

He wants to reign in regulatory excess and restore the plain meaning of the Constitution?

他想以强权进行统治，并且恢复宪法的本意？

[选自：FORBES: Book Review: This Is Herman Cain!]

The Canadian option is fast becoming a political wake-up call. “[If our neighbors can buy drugs [at reasonable prices],] why can’t we?” [Even to whisper] that thought provokes 1   anger. “Un-American!” And – the propagandists’ 2trump card – “wreck 3 our brilliant health-care system.” Supersize drug prices, they claim, fund the research (that sparks the next generation (of wonder drugs).) [No sky-high drug price [today],] no cure [for cancer tomorrow]. So shut up and pay up.

选择到加拿大买药正迅速成为政治上的诉求。“如果我们的邻居能够以合理的价格买到同样的药品，为什么我们不能？”哪怕私下说说也令人怒火中烧。“这些非美国人啊！”以及——宣传家们的王牌——“破坏了我们卓越的卫生保健系统”。宣传家们声称，超高的药价资助了下一代特效药的研制。没有今天的高药价就没有明天的抗癌药。所以少废话，买买买。

注：1. provoke v. 激怒, 煽动, 挑拨。例：

He was provoked by their mockery to say more than he had intended.

他受到他们嘲笑恼羞成怒, 说了一些过头的话。

Why do some Newsnight reports provoke storms of controversy and others barely cause a ripple?

为什么有些晚间新闻报道会激发起暴风骤雨般的争议，而其它报道则无法激起一丝涟漪？

[选自：BBC: A cat]

2. propagandist n. 宣传者, 传道者。例：

He never ceased from his activities as a propagandist.

作为宣传员他的活动从未停止过。

3. wreck n. 失事, 破坏, 残骸

v. 使失事, 使瓦解, 拆毁; 毁灭, 营救失事船只, 船失事。例：

His life has been wrecked by the tragedy.

他的生活被这场悲剧给毁了。

You know a train wreck will occur, but you can't turn your eyes away of it.

你明明知道火车即将失事，但你无法移开双眼。

[选自：CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS]

Common sense tells you that’s a false alternative. The reward (for finding, ^say^, a cancer cure) is so huge that no one’s going to hang it up. [Nevertheless], [if Canada-level pricing came to the United States,] the industry’s profit margins 1 would drop and the pace (of new-drug development) would slow. [Here] lies the American dilemma 2. Who is all this splendid 3 medicine for? Should our healthcare system continue its drive [toward the best of the best], [even though rising numbers of patients can’t afford it?] Or should we direct our wealth [toward letting everyone in on today’s level of care]? [Measured by saved lives], the latter is [almost] [certainly] the better course.

常识告诉你这（通过高价药来补贴抗癌药的研发）是一个错误的替代方案。攻克癌症的回报是如此丰厚以致于没有人会将其搁置不理。不过，如果美国也是加拿大的药价水平，制药行业的利润率将减少，而新药的研发步伐也将放缓。这就是美国的困境。所有的这些灵丹妙药是给谁用的呢？我们的医疗体系应该力臻完美，哪怕置越来越多的病人买不起药于不顾吗？或者我们应该把财富致力于，在现今的医疗水平下，让每个人都能吃得起药？按被救治的生命来算，后者理应是更好的道路。

注：1. margin n. 页边的空白; 极限; 边缘 ；【经济学】margin在经济学中可以采用marginal来表示边际的意思，比如边际成本marginal cost。原文中profit margin是利润率的意思。例：

As a result, it trimmed its profit margin forecast to about 60% from 62%.

于是，这将其预计利润率削减至60-62%。

[选自：BBC: NEWS | Business | Intel sales get mobile phone lift]

而边缘的含义则司空见惯，例：

She added her comments in the margin.

她在页边空白处加上了她的评语。

2. dilemma n. 困境, 进退两难; 两难推理。词组be caught in a dilemma 陷入进退两难之境。例：

Nevertheless, the government is still caught in a dilemma about how to address this downturn.

然而，政府仍旧为如何表述这次衰退而犯难。

[选自：BBC: Gloomy forecast for Irish economy]

3. splendid adj. 光亮的, 了不起的。例：

The peacock spreads its splendid tail.

孔雀开屏，灿烂夺目。

[To defend their profits], the drug companies have warned Canadian wholesalers 1 and pharmacies [by mail 2], and are cutting back 3supplies [to those who dare].

为维持利润，制药公司已警告加拿大的批发商和药房，要求他们不要通过邮购的方式售药给美国人，如无视警告则削减其药品供货。

注：1. wholesaler n. 批发商。而wholesale则为批发的名词和动词。例：

Buying a loose diamond from a wholesaler can save you hundreds of dollars.

从批发商那里买一颗切割不那么精密的钻石可以节省数百美元。

One leather goods wholesaler from Bournemouth, who asked not to be named, agreed.

一位不愿透露姓名的伯恩茅斯皮革制品批发商表示赞同。

[选自BBC: Shoppers split over VAT increase]

2. by mail，在这里是作方式状语，表明是通过邮寄的方式来卖药品的。随着淘宝等电子商务平台的兴起，网购日渐频繁地出现在生活之中，寄快递就可以用这个短语表示，也可以用send by post来表达。例：

I bought a new iPhone 6 in Tmall, and the saler send it by post last week.

我在天猫上买了个新的苹果6手机，店小二上周发快递了。

You can either take the course on the Web site, download it, or, for a small fee, order it by mail.

你既可以在线上课或者下载修读，再或者付一点费用来邮购。

[选自：CNN: Site-Seer: See the future in these sites]

3. cut back削减，可接经费，使用时也可加on。例：

We shall have to cut back on our spending.

我们将不得不削减我们的经费。

[在翻译中可以去掉“将”字，因为中文并不需要单独把时态写出来。]

Rugby teams have to cut back on their training because the ground is so hard.

因为场地太干了，橄榄球队不得不缩减训练。

[选自BBC: NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Living with Australia's drought]

[Meanwhile], the administration is playing the fear card. Officials (from the Food and Drug Administration) will argue that Canadian drugs might be fake, mishandled 1, or even a potential threat to life 2   .

同时，政府正在打恐惧牌。美国食品和药品管理局[即FDA]的官员认为加拿大的药物可能是假冒伪劣产品，严重的可能会危及生命。

注：1. mishandle v. 粗鲁地对待; 错误地处理; 虐待。例：

He mishandled the meeting badly and lost the vote.

他没有主持好会议, 结果落选。

Companies still mishandle hacking incidents, of course.

公司仍旧对黑客事件理所当然地错误处理。

[选自：WSJ: Firms Adjust to Hacks]

2. a threat to sb./sth. 对某人某物有威胁，在新闻报道中经常用到。例：

In America, this was widely seen as a threat to the country's dominance of space.

在美国，这被普遍认为对国家的太空优势构成了威胁。

[选自：ECONOMIST: China's space programme]

Do bad drugs fly [around the Internet]? Sure – and [the more] we look, [the more] we’ll find. But I haven’t heard of any raging 1 epidemics 2 [among the hundreds of thousands of people] (buying cross-border).

不合格的药品在互联网上四处横飞？是的，而且我们越看就会发现越多。但是我还没听说过有任何传染病在千千万万跨国买药的人中传播蔓延。

注：1. rage v. 发怒, 怒斥; 流行, 盛行; 猖獗, 激烈进行, 肆虐。例：

A flu epidemic raged through the school for weeks.

流感在这所学校里蔓延了几个星期。

2. epidemic n. 传染病, 流行病

adj. 流行的, 传染性的。例：

Despite a spreading AIDS epidemic, many countries spend more money servicing debt than on health.

尽管艾滋病流行开来，很多国家仍旧将经费用在偿还债务上而非投入到健康领域。

[serve one’s debt 偿还债务][选自：CNN: African leaders to meet Annan, discuss flash points]

Most users (of prescription drugs) don’t worry about costs [a lot] 1. They’re sheltered [by employee insurance], [owing just a $ 20 co-pay]. The financial blows 2   rain, [instead], on 3 the uninsured, [especially] the chronically 4   ill (who need expensive drugs [to live].) This group will [still] include middle-income seniors [on Medicare], (who’ll have to dig [deeply] into their pockets 5 [before getting much from the new drug benefit] (that starts [in 2006].))

大多数服用处方药的患者不太担心药价。他们得益于员工保险的庇护，个人只需支付20美元。金融风暴反倒如雨般淋在那些没投保的人身上，尤其是慢性病患者，他们更依赖高价药来维持生命。这一群体中仍然包括依赖医保的老年中产阶级，他们在享受到从2006年起实施的新药改福利之前仍需自掏腰包。

注：1. 这里的a lot是程度状语，从about后面接的是costs而非costing可知，这里cost作名词，花费，句中指药价，所以这里特别注意不是在说不担心花太多钱，而是不太担心花钱。例：

Of course, that became a lot less practical last winter, when I moved to London.

当然，去年冬天，当我搬去伦敦之际，那里变得明显不那么实用了。

[选自：BOINGBOING: Another chance to have Cory's books signed and shipped to your door]

2. financial blow，金融危机。blow作名词，有坏事情发生之意。例：

The demise of MF Global represents a financial blow.

环球曼氏金融的破灭表明了经济危机。

[选自：WSJ: Jon Corzine and J. Christopher Flowers Friendship Tossed in MF Global Storm]

3. rain on使大量降下来。在分析成分时，将其作为动词短语充当谓语，所以the uninsured和the chronically ill均作其宾语。这里引申一个习语，rain on someone's parade，通过破坏或批评某人的计划或抱负而让其失望和受挫 (idiomatic) To disappoint or discourage someone by ruining or criticising their plans or aspirations. 例：

Democrats hope to rain on Bush's pre-convention parade.

民主党员想让布什总统感到难堪。

[选自：CNN: /AllPolitics.com - On campaign trail, Bush touts his wife's Monday night convention]

4. chronically adv. 慢性地; 长期地; 习惯性地。例：

In this mountainous country with little arable land, food is chronically in short supply.

在这个可耕种土地稀少的多山国家（根据全文，该国指朝鲜），食物长期供应不足。

[选自：NPR: NKoreans Stock For Cold, Build To Kim Anniversary]

5. dig into one’s pocket自掏腰包。例：

And he is having to dig into his pocket at this point to make sure that some of them are able to deal with the economic impact.

而且，奥巴马总统在这个时刻也自掏腰包，以确保他们中的一些人能够经受得起经济冲击。

[选自：WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Assesses BP Oil Spill Response]