酷兔英语

章节正文

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 alchohol and tobacco can be just as harmfully misused as herion and cocaine.

We live in 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 sociallyacceptable and apparentlyconstructive 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. Halllucinogens 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.
关键字:考研英语
生词表:
  • bodily [´bɔdili] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.身体的 ad.亲自 四级词汇
  • mistakenly [mis´teikənli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.错误地 四级词汇
  • illegal [i´li:gəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.不合法的,非法的 六级词汇
  • socially [´səuʃəli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.社交上;社会上 六级词汇
  • acceptable [ək´septəbəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.可接受的;合意的 四级词汇
  • constructive [kən´strʌktiv] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.建设性的;推断的 四级词汇
  • dependence [di´pendəns] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.信赖,依赖 六级词汇
  • perception [pə´sepʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.感觉;概念;理解力 四级词汇



章节正文