Lead-in Questions

 

1. How can we prevent AIDS according to your knowledge?

2. What do you think we can do to improve public awareness of AIDS?

 

 ( Text 1I ) AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)

1. The disease known as AIDS is a complicated illness that may involve several phases. It is caused by a virus that can be passed from person to person. AIDS impairs the human body’s immune system – the system responsible for warding off disease – and leaves thevictim susceptible to various infections.

2. AIDS was first conclusively identified in the United States in 1981, when 189 cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control.Within a decade the disease had spread to virtually all populated areas of the world. In the United States alone there are about 65,000 new cases every year.The origin of the AIDS virus is uncertain, but it may have originated in Central Africa.

3. The first AIDS patients in the Americas and Europe were almost exclusively male homosexuals. Later patients included those who used unsterilized intravenous needles to inject illicit drugs; hemophiliacs (persons with a blood clotting disorder) and others who had received blood transfusions; females whose male sexual partners had AIDS; and the children of such couples. However, since 1989, heterosexual sex was found to be the fastest growing means of transmission of the virus, with 90% of new cases originating from heterosexual sex.

4. Public awareness of the disease gradually built up as high-profile victims began to die: actor Rock Hudson (1985), clothes designer Perry Ellis(1986), choreographer Michael Bennett (1987), photographer Robert Mapplethorpe(1989), and Oscar-winning director Tony Richardson (1991). When basketball superstar Magic Johnson announced in 1991 thathe had contracted the AIDS virus, the feeling spread quickly that anyone, notjust particular groups of people, could be at risk. This was again confirmed as tennis legend Arthur Ashe announced in 1992 that he had been infected with the virus for several years.

5. The AIDS virus. American researchers initially named the virus that causes AIDS the human T-lymph tropicvirus, type III or HTLV-III. After researchers discovered in the late 1980s that there were several forms of the AIDS virus,the original virus was renamed the human immunodeficiency virus type I, orHIV-I.

6. The virus enters the bloodstream and destroys certain white blood cells, called T-lymphocytes, that play a key role in the functioning of the immune system. The virus can also infect other types of cells in the body, including the immune-system cells known as macrophages. Unlike T-lymphocytes,h owever, macrophages are not killed by the virus. In fact, research has suggested that macrophages may carry the AIDS virus to healthy brain cells, tothe lymphatic system, and to other healthy cells in the body.

7. What happens after infection. Most people recently infected by AIDS virus look and feel healthy. In some people the virus may remain inactive, and these people act as carriers, remaining apparently healthy but still able to infect others. After a few years, some people may develop AIDS-related complex, or ARC. Its symptoms may include fever, fatigue, weight loss, skin rashes, a fungal infection of the mouth known as thrush, lack of resistance to infection, and swollen lymph nodes. Sometimes the symptoms of ARC disappear,but the condition frequently goes on to become AIDS. Though it can take up to 20 years after the virus is contracted for AIDS to fully manifest itself, the average time is one to two years.

8. The AIDS virus causes so much damage to the immune system that the body becomes susceptible to avariety of opportunistic infections – infections that are less harmful topeople with normal immune system but take advantage of the breakdown in an AIDS sufferer’s immune system to produce devastating and eventually lethal diseases.Among the most frequently occurring opportunistic infections are tuberculosisand a type of pneumonia caused by micro organism Pneumocystis carinii. AIDS sufferers are also more likely to develop certain tumors, particularly Kaposi’s sarcoma, a rare form ofcancer. The AIDS virus may also attack the nervous system and cause brain and eye damage. The average life expectancy for an AIDS victim from the onset of symptoms is one to five years.

9. How AIDS is spread. AIDS is transmitted by direct contamination of the bloodstream with body fluids that contain the AIDS virus, particularly blood and semen from an HIV-infected person. The virus is usually transmitted through various forms of sexual intercourse, the transfusion of virus-contaminated blood, or the sharing of HIV-contaminated intravenous needles.

10. The AIDS virus cannot penetrate intact bodily surfaces, such as skin, and quickly perishes outside the human body. Consequently, AIDS is not spread by casual physical contact orby sneezing. The virus has been found in tears and saliva, but it exists there in such low concentrations that transmission from these body fluids is extremely rare. There are no known cases of AIDS transmission by insects such as mosquitoes or by domestic animals. Studies show that the virusis usually passed to an infant close to or during delivery, rather than moving across the placenta during pregnancy. Recently infected mothers can transmit the virus to their children via breast milk. TheUnited States Congress approved guidelines recommending that health care workers who perform invasive procedures betested for the AIDS virus but the testing and disclosure of results would bevoluntary; no restrictions would be placed on those who tested positive.

11. There are several ways to reduce the spread of AIDS through sexual contact. These include practicing abstinence – no intercourse – or practicing safe sex. Practicing safe sex means either participating only in a monogamous , or mutually exclusive, relationship in which both people are free of HIV infection, or using latex condoms whenever engaging in intercourse.

   

Notes

 

 1. Centers for Disease Control (Paragraph2): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the UnitedStates Public Health Service.

 

2. intravenous needles (Paragraph 9): needles used for the injection into a vein

 

3. hemophiliacs (Paragraph 3): 血友病患者

 

4. Rock Hudson (Paragraph 4): American actor noted for his good looks and movie roles during the 1950s and 1960s and popular television series in the 1970s. Hudson was one of the first known Hollywood celebrities to die of AIDS-related complications.

 

5. Magic Johnson (Paragraph 4): byname of Earvin Johnson, Jr., American basketball player. In the fall of 1991 Johnson announced that he had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS.

 

6. Arthur Ashe (Paragraph 4): American tennis player, the first black winner of a major men’s singles championship. InApril 1992 he revealed that he had become infected with the virus that causes AIDS, probably through a tainted blood transfusion.

 

7. HTLV (Paragraph 5): acronym forhuman T-cell lymphotropic virus 艾滋病病毒

 

8. macrophages (Paragraph 6): 巨噬细胞

 

9. thrush (Paragraph 7): 鹅口疮

 

10. Pneumocystis carinii (Paragraph 8): 卡氏肺袍子虫

 

11. Kaposi’s sarcoma (Paragraph 8): 卡波济氏肉瘤：一种多病灶恶性新生血管增值症

 

12. semen (Paragraph 9): reproductive fluid of males 精液

 

13. saliva (Paragraph 10): colorlessl iquid secreted into the mouth by glands 唾液

 

14. placenta (Paragraph 10): organ in the womb of pregnant mammals nourishing the foetus (胚胎，胎儿) through umbilicalcord (脐带) and eliminating its waste products胎盘

 

15. invasive procedures (Paragraph 10): aseries of actions in which the surgeon make usually large incisions

 

16. abstinence (Paragraph 11): the state of refraining from food, alcohol, etc., but in this text esp. from sex

 

17. monogamous (Paragraph 11): in the practice or state of being married to one person at a time

 

18. latex condoms (Paragraph 11): contraceptive sheaths made of rubber and worn by men

 

Questions for Discussion

 

 1. What is the function of the human body’s immune system?

2. What fact about the disease AIDS is the public aware of?

3. How does the virus damage the human immune system?

4. What happens after one contracts the AIDS virus?

5. What is an opportunistic infection?

6. How is AIDS spread?

7. Why should health care workers who perform invasive procedures be tested for the AIDS virus?

8. What should we do to protect ourselves from AIDS?

 

Key to Questions for discussion

1. The system is responsible for fighting disease-causing substances that have entered the body.

2. The disease is spreading quickly and anyone can be at risk.

3. It destroys central white blood cells that are essential for human immune system.

4. Some people may act as carriers, remaining healthy but still able to infect others.The average time for AIDS to fully manifest itself is one to two years.

5. An infection that normally does not cause diseases but produces devastating and eventually lethal diseases when the body is unable to fight off infection, as in AIDS and certain other diseases.

6. Scientists have identified three ways that HIV infections spread: sexual intercourse with an infected person, contact with contaminated blood, and transmission from an infected mother to her child.

7. Since their part of the body is entered, they are more likely to contract disease.

8. (This is an open question for students to answer.)

 

 

Memorable Quotes

Appreciate the rhetoric device used in “Joy and Temperance and Repose Slam the door on the doctor’s nose.”  

Guidance: Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) founded the Christian Science movement. She advocated Christian Science as a spiritual practical solution to health andmoral issues. According to Christian Science, mortal mind refers to a belief that life,substance, and intelligence are of matter. In the sentence “Joy and Temperance and Repose Slam the door on the doctor’s nose”, personification is applied.Here “Joy and Temperance and Repose” is the subject of the sentence whicha ctually describes a state of mind that helps one to keep healthy.

  

1. Disease is the experience of so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the body.                                                                              

                                                

                                                               — Mary Baker Eddy

 

Paraphrase: Disease is the expression of thought externalized which believes that the mind  would eventually die. The fear of the death is shown in the form of disease on the body.

manifest: to show or demonstrate clearly

e.g. The problem of governance manifested itself in the economic crisis.

 

 

2.  Joy and Temperance and Repose Slam the door on the doctor’s nose.

                                    

                                                               — Elizabeth C. Stanton

 

Paraphrase: To keep joyful,self-restrained and peaceful is to keep doctor away.

slam the door in someone's nose: (slam the door in someone's face) an idiom with the figurative meaning of suddenly withdrawing an opportunity from someone.

e.g. His bad manners in the interview effectively slammed the door in his face for future employment.

 

       Further Enhancement of English Writing （写作巩固提高训练）              

 

                                      1、 英语微课视频： 

                   Repairing Stringy Sentences （修改英语冗长句） 

         

                     

      2、 课前自主学习任务单 & 教学视频规划说明 & 课堂学习任务单  

            

                  

              3、 课前自主学习与课堂互评中可参考的微课知识点清单 

            

                                              

                                  4、微课课后任务及参考答案          

           

           

          

          

                                                    

                                      5、微课配套学习资源