Technically, any substance other than food that alters our bodily or mental functioning is a drug. Many people mistakenly believe the term drug refers only to some sort of medicine or an illegal chemical taken by drug addicts. They don't realize that familiar substances such as alcohol and tobacco are also drugs. This is why the more neutral term substance is now used by many physicians and psychologists. The phrase "substance abuse" is often used instead of "drug abuse" to make clear that substances such as alcohol and tobacco can be just as harmfully misused as heroin and cocaine.
We live a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves. When do these socially acceptable and apparently constructive uses of a substance become misuses? First of all, most substances taken in excess will produce negative effects such as poisoning or intense perceptual distortions. Repeated use of a substance can also lead to physical addiction or substance dependence. Dependence is marked first by an increased tolerance, with more and more of the substance required to produce the desired effect, and then by the appearance of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the substance is discontinued.
Drugs (substances) that affect the central nervous system and alter perception, mood, and behavior are known as psychoactive substances. Psychoactive substances are commonly grouped according to whether they are stimulants, depressants, or hallucinogens. Stimulants initially speed up or activate the central nervous system, whereas depressants slow it down. Hallucinogens have their primary effect on perception, distorting and altering it in a variety of ways including producing hallucinations. These are the substances often called psychedelic (from the Greek word meaning "mind manifesting") because they seemed to radically alter one's state of consciousness.
1."Substance abuse" (Line 5, Para. 1) is preferable to "drug abuse" in that_______.
A.substances can alter our bodily or mental functioning if illegally used
B."drug abuse" is only related to a limited number of drug takers
C.alcohol and tobacco are as fatal as heroin and cocaine
D.many substances other than heroin or cocaine can also be poisonous
2.The word "pervasive" (Line 1, Para. 2) might mean_______.
A.widespread B.overwhelming C.piercing D.fashionable
3.Physical dependence on certain substances results from_______.
A.uncontrolled consumption of them over long periods of time
B.exclusive use of them for social purposes
C.quantitative application of them to the treatment of diseases
D.careless employment of them for unpleasant symptoms
4.From the last paragraph we can infer that_______.
A.stimulants function positively on the mind
B.hallucinogens are in themselves harmful to health
C.depressants are the worst type of psychoactive substances
D.the three types of psychoactive substances are commonly used in groups
5.Which following substances are excluded by "drugs" according to this article?
A.Some kind of wine. B.Coffee. C.Cigarette. D.Penicillin.
長難例句分析
［長難例句］Technically, any substance other than food that alters our bodily or mental functioning is a drug.
［結(jié)構(gòu)分析］本句中，主干是any substance other than food is a drug。副詞Technically是插入語，例如generally speaking。other than的意思是“而不是”。由that引導的定語從句修飾food。
［參考譯文］從技術(shù)上說，除食品外，任何能改變我們生理和心理機能的物質(zhì)均是藥物。
全文參考譯文
從技術(shù)上說，除食品外，任何能改變我們生理和心理機能的物質(zhì)均是藥物。很多人誤解“藥物”這個詞僅指某些藥品或嗜毒者服用的違禁化學品。他們沒有意識到像酒精、煙草這些熟悉的物質(zhì)也是藥物。這也就是為何很多醫(yī)生和心理學家現(xiàn)在使用了一個更為折中的詞——物質(zhì)，他們經(jīng)常用“物質(zhì)濫用”而不是“藥物濫用”來明確表明濫用酒精和煙草這樣的物質(zhì)的害處同濫用海洛因和可卡因是一樣的。
在我們居住的社會里，物質(zhì)（藥物）被廣泛地應用于社交場合和治療方案中：服用阿司匹林來減輕頭痛，喝點兒酒來社交，早晨喝咖啡來提神，吸支煙緩解緊張的神經(jīng)等。這些物質(zhì)的使用得到了社會認可，而且明顯具有積極的一面，可何時變成濫用了呢？首先，大多數(shù)物質(zhì)使用過量都會產(chǎn)生副作用，例如中毒或反復使用一種物質(zhì)可引起上癮或?qū)υ撐镔|(zhì)（藥物）產(chǎn)生依賴。依賴的起初癥狀為耐受性增強，用量愈來愈大才能達到預期效果，一旦停用就會產(chǎn)生不舒服的癥狀。
通過影響中樞神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)來改變感覺、情緒及行為的藥物（物質(zhì)）被稱為精神活性物質(zhì)。這類物質(zhì)一般分為興奮劑、鎮(zhèn)靜劑或致幻劑。興奮劑主要有加速或刺激中樞神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)活動的效用，而鎮(zhèn)靜劑剛好與之相反：使其活動減緩。致幻劑主要作用于人的感覺，以多樣的方式對感覺加以扭曲和變形，其中包括產(chǎn)生幻覺。這些物質(zhì)常被認為能“迷幻藥（psychedelic）”該詞源自希臘語，意思是“精神顯現(xiàn)”。因為它們似乎從根本上改變了人的意識狀態(tài)。
題目答案與解析
1.“物質(zhì)濫用”（第一段第五行）比“藥物濫用”更可取的原因是，________。
A.如果非法使用，物質(zhì)能夠改變我們的身體和心理機能
B.“藥物濫用”只指有限的服藥者
C.酒精和煙草同海洛因和可卡因一樣致命
D.除了海洛因和可卡因以外，許多物質(zhì)也可能有毒
【答案】D
【解析】本題可參照文章的第一段。從中可知，從技術(shù)的角度講，除了食物外，任何改變我們身體和心理機能的物質(zhì)都是藥物；許多人錯誤地認為，藥物這個詞只指某類藥品或癮君子服用的非法化學藥品，他們不知道像酒精和煙草這類常見物質(zhì)也是藥物；人們經(jīng)常用習語“物質(zhì)濫用”取代“藥物濫用”，是為了闡明像酒精和煙草這樣的物質(zhì)也能像海洛因和可卡因一樣因濫用而造成危害。D項與文中的意思相符；只有D項為正確答案。
2.單詞“pervasive”（第二段第一行）可能意為________。
A.普遍的 B.壓倒性的 C.敏銳的 D.時髦的
【答案】A
【解析】本題可參照文章第二段的第一句話。從中可知，在我們生活的社會，物質(zhì)（藥物）在醫(yī)療和社交方面的使用很廣泛——服用阿司匹林以減緩頭痛，喝點酒以增進友誼，早上喝咖啡以提神，吸煙以消除緊張情緒。據(jù)此可知，阿司匹林、酒、咖啡和煙等都是常用物品，因此pervasive的意思應該是“使用廣泛的”。因此A項為正確答案。
3.對某些物質(zhì)的生理依賴的原因是________。
A.長時期對這些物質(zhì)無節(jié)制的使用
B.出于社交目的而專門使用這些物質(zhì)
C.為了治病而定量使用這些物質(zhì)
D.為了消除令人不愉快的癥狀而草率地使用這些物質(zhì)
【答案】A
【解析】本題可參照文章第二段的倒數(shù)兩句話。從中可知，反復使用一種物質(zhì)也會導致對該物質(zhì)的生理上癮或?qū)λ幬镆蕾?；依賴性起初表現(xiàn)為耐受性不斷增強，需要越來越多的藥物才能獲得所需的效果，于是，當停止使用該藥物時，會出現(xiàn)令人不愉快的斷癮癥狀。據(jù)此可知，對某些物質(zhì)的生理依賴，是由于人們長時間、大量使用這些物質(zhì)所造成的。A項與文章的意思相符，因此為正確答案。
4.我們從最后一段可以推知，________。
A.興奮劑肯定對智力有影響 B.致幻劑本質(zhì)上對健康有害
C.鎮(zhèn)靜劑是心理活性物質(zhì)中最壞的一種物質(zhì) D.三種精神活性物質(zhì)通常一起使用
【答案】B
【解析】從文章最后一段的內(nèi)容可知，致幻劑主要對知覺產(chǎn)生影響，能夠以多種方式（包括制造幻覺）扭曲和改變知覺；這些就是通常被稱作迷幻劑的物質(zhì)，因為它們似乎徹底改變了一個人的意識狀態(tài)。據(jù)此可知，在三種心理活性物質(zhì)中，興奮劑和鎮(zhèn)靜劑影響人的中樞神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)，而致幻劑卻改變?nèi)说闹X、情緒和行為，顯然對人的身體更有害。B項與文中的意思相符，因此為正確答案。
5.按照文中意思，下面的哪種物質(zhì)不屬于麻醉藥？
A.某種白酒?！.咖啡?！.香煙?！.盤尼西林。
【答案】D
【解析】本題考查細節(jié)問題。第二段的開頭部分描述了一些我們沒有意識到能上癮的物質(zhì)，如生活中的煙、酒、咖啡和部分藥片等。
