[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.36]From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
[00:05.92]Bananas are often called the perfect food.
[00:10.08]They are nutritious, a good source of all kinds of vitamins and minerals.
[00:16.40]They can help fight depression and ward off muscle cramps.
[00:21.08]They can lower blood pressure and protect against heart attacks.
[00:26.04]To most people, bananas taste great.
[00:28.96]They add natural sweetness to some baked goods and health drinks.
[00:34.36]And bananas come in their own protective, biodegradable packaging.
[00:39.75]So, there are many reasons to eat bananas.
[00:43.28]And now there is another.
[00:46.04]Bananas, it turns out, have a secret weapon.
[00:49.80]And this secret weapon could protect against viruses.
[00:54.52]Scientists are now taking a protein found in bananas
[00:58.80]and turning it into a drug that may someday fight viral infections.
[01:05.08]The secret weapon is called banana lectin, or BanLec.
[01:10.48]BanLec is a protein that attaches to sugar molecules
[01:14.64]and keeps viruses out of cells.
[01:18.08]A virus cannot infect what it cannot enter.
[01:22.28]The team of researchers published their study in the journal Cell.
[01:27.28]In their article, the researchers say it could be one of the first antiviral agents
[01:33.40]to treat a wide-range of viruses.
[01:37.00]These viruses include HIV, hepatitis and even the common flu virus.
[01:43.88]Senior co-author of the study
[01:46.32]is David Markovitz at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
[01:51.84]He warns that you can't get the benefits of BanLec
[01:55.48]simply by eating a bunch of bananas.
[01:59.00]Stomach acids, he explains,
[02:01.36]will chew up the protein before it has a chance to fight infections in the body.
[02:07.52]BanLec is a modified, or changed, protein.
[02:12.08]Markovitz explains.
[02:14.24]"Remember, when you are eating the banana, then the
[02:16.52]protein which, by the way, is not our modified protein,
[02:19.80]it is an actual protein;
[02:21.60]it is probably going to be chewed up by the stomach acid.
[02:26.20]So, we very much doubt that eating bananas will help you."
[02:31.32]Markovitz says researchers investigated the banana protein for a very special use.
[02:37.96]Women could use a type of the protein
[02:40.84]before sex to protect them against HIV infection.
[02:46.28]But the researchers found that the protein fought off a number of viruses.
[02:52.24]Viruses simply die if they can't infect cells.
[02:57.40]At this point, Markovitz says, there are no plans to test the BanLec protein on humans.
[03:03.72]He says he and the other researchers are ambitious,
[03:07.64]meaning they want to be successful with this drug.
[03:11.68]But, Markovitz adds, they also need to be careful,
[03:15.68]or be cautious, to avoid doing any harm. It's early days, he says.
[03:22.04]"We're trying to help people with their health, not harm them.
[03:27.68]And so it's good to be cautious about where we are going.
[03:31.08]You know, we're also very ambitious to make things work well,
[03:35.12]but we're not there. You know, we're early on still."
[03:38.21]It may be early on, but these researchers may want to hurry.
[03:43.12]The world's banana supply in currently in serious trouble.
[03:47.36]A deadly fungus, now called Tropical Race 4,
[03:51.24]has been killing banana crops around the world.
[03:54.92]TR4 started in Malaysia in the 1990s
[03:59.16]and in 2013 moved across Southeast Asia and into Australia.
[04:05.64]Now the fungus has moved into Africa
[04:08.44]and is killing banana crops in Mozambique.
[04:11.92]Today, bananas are grown in more than 100 countries.
[04:16.34]As of 2013, many websites
[04:19.28]rank India as the world's top producer of bananas.
[04:24.08]Bananas are ranked fourth among the world's food crops in monetary value.
[04:30.16]Mozambique officials say bananas bring in more than $70 million per year.
[04:36.56]We Americans eat more bananas than apples and oranges combined.
[04:42.37]I'm Anna Matteo.
[04:44.16]Are bananas part of your diet?
[04:46.56]Do you have a special recipe or do you just peel and eat?
[04:51.44]Let us know in the Comments Section.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
ENTER NUMBET 0015www.yudall.org.cn
www.yuely.com.cn
debeike.com.cn
www.joe924.com.cn
zjbskj.com.cn
www.caviall.com.cn
www.czqcz.com.cn
czsytr.net.cn
chinapig.net.cn
bubin.com.cn