时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:2013年VOA慢速英语(六)月


英语课

 


Rx: Why It Means "Take Your Medicine"



Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.


Every week at this time, the Voice of America tells about popular words and expressions used in the United States. Some of these words and expressions are old. Some are new. Together, they form the living speech of the American people.


Our story today is very old. It goes back about 5,000 years. It is about a sign that is used to represent some words.


We see this sign on drug stores and whenever we visit a doctor to get an order for medicine. It also appears on bottles of pills and other medicines.


The sign is formed by a line across the right foot of the letter “R.” It represents the word “prescription.” It has come to mean “take this medicine.”


The sign has its beginnings 5,000 years ago in Egypt. At that time, people prayed to Horus, the god of the Sun. It was said that when Horus was a child, he was attacked by Seth, the demon 1 of evil.


The evil Seth put out the eye of the young Horus. The mother of Horus called for help. Her cry was answered by Thoth, the god of learning and magic. Thoth, with his wisdom and special powers, healed the eye of Horus. And the child was able to see again.


The ancient Egyptians used a drawing of the eye of Horus as a magic sign to protect themselves from disease, suffering and evil. They cut this sign in the stones they used for buildings. And it was painted on the papyrus 2 rolls used for writing about medicine and doctors.


For thousands of years, the eye of Horus remained as a sign of the god’s help to the suffering and sick.


Long after the fall of the ancient Egyptian civilization, doctors and alchemists in Europe continued the custom of showing a sign of the gods’ help and protection. But over the years, the sign changed from the eye of Horus to the sign for Jupiter 3, the chief god of the Romans. Jupiter’s sign looked much like the printed number “four.”


That sign changed, also. Today, it is the easily-recognized capital “R” with a line across its foot.


The sign no longer offers heavenly assistance to the sick. It now means “take this medicine.”


This VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrator was Maurice Joyce. I’m Warren Sheer 4.




1 demon
n.魔鬼,恶魔
  • The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
  • He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。
2 papyrus
n.古以纸草制成之纸
  • The Egyptians wrote on papyrus.埃及人书写用薄草纸。
  • Since papyrus dries up and crumble,very few documents of ancient Egypt have survived.因草片会干裂成粉末所以古埃及的文件很少保存下来。
3 Jupiter
n.木星
  • Jupiter is unlike the Earth in almost every way.木星与地球几乎完全不同。
  • The astronomers were taking an observation of Jupiter.天文学家们正在观测木星。
4 sheer
adj.绝对的,全然的,峻峭的;v.躲开,躲避,使...避开; adv.完全,全然,峻峭
  • He achieved his aim by sheer strength of will.他纯粹靠意志力达到了目的。
  • I guess It'sheer waste of time arguing about it.看来争论这件事纯粹是浪费时间。
学英语单词
-tropoism
accensors
after peak
amended
Andok
ankylodactyly
anti-achr antibody
aristoquin
astrospectrometer
Bangsamoro
brownnesses
buffer level
capgras
centrocinetic
cerianite-(Ce)
chalifour
chromosomal sterility
claims co operation clause
Clematis fasciculiflora
corversion angle
cretans
debt of nature
defeated suit
desmosine
diabetin
dibatag
dry essay
Dryden, John Fairfield
Ekimchan
end user license agreement
ethylins
eutypella sydowiana
existing stock
factory leg
faint heartedly
federal job safety law
FNAL
genus Pterospermum
genus Syzygium
Glyconormal
glyoxalic acid
goyt
hedge-row
high variety
highway tractor
Hinigaran
Hitab
Hydrangeaceae
i-smoothed
isoamyl phenylacetate
Isoproteronol
Jos Plateau
Kumzār
leakfree
lezion
list-oriented system
majalis
minute steak
modern hotel
monolayerlike
multileptons
multiplying arrangement
Nosema bombycis
parts library
paterfamiliar
Place where Statement is Drawn up
postfoundationalism
power dispatching of hydropower plant
power-equipment
prereduced
proportionated sample
proteopepsis
quarter evil
rare earth cobaltmagnet
reverse floater
rumour mills
Rūpnārāyan R.
scheduling system
sebates
semi-polar double links
sheared coefficient
sheet seismic facies
side chairs
Siebel Systems
speed-power margin
spike sb.'s guns
steam-roll
steel lagging
STR (synchronous transmit/receive)
Titus Groan
transverse maxillary fracture
Triebel-Lizorkin spaces
universal identity
upper valve seat
vibration measurement
volcan
Warr.
Wendlandia subalpina
Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen
Willow Grove
wood sandpiper
working co-operative society