Pass the bacteria, please! 
　　Bacteria are terribly good for you. So say the promoters of a rapidly growing industry in “probiotic” products. The title “probiotic” (for life) is technically reserved for those food products containing living cultures of “good” microorganisms. Just how good are they? It depends on to whom you are listening.
　　“Microbic marketing” is highly competitive; many brands of yogurts, many yogurt drinks, and many capsules of live bacteria are on display—all promising to be good for you! Promotions are intense, and the questions are many. Do healthy people need cultures of bacteria when they already have a crowd of fine bacteria at work? How valid are the claims that probiotic products increase the health of intestinal cells, degrade toxins, or prevent cancer? There is yet no scientific consensus, and for now, consumers must decide for themselves.
　　The recent interest in probiotic products has grown out of a concern for the side effects of antibiotics in the 1950s. Since antibiotics are not very selective as to which bacteria they attack, those prescribed for a toothache can quickly wipe out a whole population of intestinal microbes. Bacteria contained in fermented-milk products appeared to be effective in restoring populations of the beneficial bacteria after such a catastrophe. In the development of probiotic products, different species of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria are selected according to their abilities to produce yogurt, to survive passage through the digestive tract, and to establish themselves in their new environment by out�瞔ompeting potentially unfriendly microbes for space and nutrients. This last criterion is not always easy to measure. www.examda.com
　　Cultures of yogurt, according to the National Yogurt Association, must contain at least 100 million live bacteria per gram. (Check to see how many bacteria are in one serving of your favorite yogurt.) It�餾 a big number, but it is impossible to know how many will loiter in your digestive system. Research now is underway to determine whether probiotic products might take the place of controversial antibiotics in livestock feed, or if bacterial/antibacterial compounds might be useful as food preservatives. Probiotics is about using bacteria to control other bacteria!
　　考研單詞：
　　reserve[riˈzə:v]
　　n.①儲(chǔ)備(物)，儲(chǔ)藏量，儲(chǔ)備金;②緘默，謹(jǐn)慎;v.①保留，儲(chǔ)備;②預(yù)定，預(yù)約
　　[真題例句] 58. The author�餾 attitude toward Richard Lamm’s remark is one of_________.[2003年閱讀4]
　　[B] reserved (v.①) consent
　　[例句精譯] 58�弊髡邔�(duì)理查德·拉姆所作評(píng)論的態(tài)度是________。
　　[B] 有保留的贊同
　　display[disˈplei]
　　v./n.陳列，展覽，顯示
　　[真題例句] While talking to you, your could-be employer is deciding whether your education, your experience, and other qualifications will pay him to employ you and your “wares” and abilities must be displayed(v.) in an orderly and reasonably connected manner.[1996年閱讀1]
　　[例句精譯] 在與你談話時(shí)，你未來(lái)的雇主將根據(jù)你的教育、你的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和你其他的資歷來(lái)確定雇用你是否值得，因此你必須把你的“品質(zhì)”和能力以有序、合理且連貫的方式展示出來(lái)。
　　prescribe[priˈskraib]
　　v.①指示，規(guī)定;②處(方)，開(kāi)(藥)
　　[真題例句] George Annas, chair of the health law department at Boston University, maintains that, as long as a doctor prescribes (②) a drug for a legitimate medical purpose, the doctor has done nothing illegal even if the patient uses the drug to hasten death.[2002年閱讀4] 
　　[例句精譯] 波士頓大學(xué)健康法律系主任喬治·安納斯堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，只要醫(yī)生是出于合理的醫(yī)療目的開(kāi)藥，那么即使服用此藥會(huì)加速病人的死亡，醫(yī)生的行為也沒(méi)有違法。
　　ferment[fəˈment]
　　n.酵素, 發(fā)酵, 動(dòng)亂v.(使)發(fā)酵, (使)激動(dòng), (使)動(dòng)亂
　　criterion[kraiˈtiəriən]
　　n.([pl.]criteria)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，準(zhǔn)則
　　[真題例句] Narrowing your criteria, for example, may work against you: “Every time you answer a question you eliminate a possibility.” says one expert..[2004年閱讀1]
　　[例句精譯] 比如，縮小你的要求條件就有可能對(duì)你不利。一位專家說(shuō)：“你每回答一次問(wèn)題你就喪失一次機(jī)會(huì)�！�
　　bacterial[bækˈtiəriə]
　　a.細(xì)菌的
　　[真題例句] The rats (49：develop) bacterial infections of the blood, (50：as if) their immune systems—the self-protecting mechanism against disease—had crashed.[1995年完形]
　　[例句精譯] 老鼠患血液細(xì)菌感染，似乎它們的免疫系統(tǒng)——抵御疾病的自我保護(hù)機(jī)制——已崩潰。
　　背景常識(shí)介紹：
　　細(xì)菌的好處
　　在合適的條件下，細(xì)菌可以生長(zhǎng)得很快。據(jù)估算，如果有足夠的食物，大腸桿菌的一個(gè)細(xì)胞理論上可以在三天內(nèi)產(chǎn)生出一大群細(xì)菌，比地球的體積還要大。所以，我們的糞便中的1/3到1/2是細(xì)菌。這一點(diǎn)也不奇怪。
　　參考譯文：
　　請(qǐng)把細(xì)菌遞給我
　　“益生菌”產(chǎn)品的產(chǎn)業(yè)在迅速發(fā)展，它的倡導(dǎo)者說(shuō)細(xì)菌對(duì)你是大有好處的�！耙嫔�菌”這一名稱是指包含“有益的”微生物培養(yǎng)菌的食品。它們的益處到底有多大呢?這取決于你在聽(tīng)誰(shuí)說(shuō)。
　　“微生物產(chǎn)品”的市場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)非常激烈。許多種品牌的酸奶、酸奶飲料和多種真菌膠囊都在展示之中——它們都被說(shuō)成會(huì)對(duì)你的身體有好處。促銷活動(dòng)密集，而留給人們的疑問(wèn)也是很多的。健康人的體內(nèi)有眾多有益的微生物在活動(dòng)。那么他們是否還需要培養(yǎng)菌呢?有人聲稱“益生菌”產(chǎn)品會(huì)促進(jìn)大腸內(nèi)細(xì)胞的健康生長(zhǎng)，使毒素降解并防止癌癥的發(fā)生。這種說(shuō)法的可靠性有多大呢?對(duì)于這些問(wèn)題，科學(xué)界還沒(méi)有統(tǒng)一的認(rèn)識(shí)。消費(fèi)者必須自己做出決定。
　　人們比較近對(duì)“益生菌”產(chǎn)品的興趣來(lái)源于50年代開(kāi)始的對(duì)抗生素副作用的擔(dān)心。因?yàn)榭股�素�?duì)它要對(duì)抗的細(xì)菌沒(méi)有很大的選擇性，為治牙疼而開(kāi)出抗生素可能會(huì)很快殺死一大批大腸中的細(xì)菌。在這場(chǎng)劫難過(guò)后，發(fā)酵奶產(chǎn)品中的細(xì)菌似乎能有效地恢復(fù)那些有益的細(xì)菌的數(shù)量。在開(kāi)發(fā)“益生菌”產(chǎn)品的過(guò)程中，根據(jù)它們能制造酸奶的能力，人們選擇不同種的乳酸桿菌素和雙線菌素，想使它們通過(guò)消化道后仍然能夠存活下來(lái)，并且在新的環(huán)境里，通過(guò)與可能有害的細(xì)菌爭(zhēng)奪營(yíng)養(yǎng)和空間得以立足。但有害和有益的比較終標(biāo)準(zhǔn)并不是那么好確定的。
　　根據(jù)美國(guó)國(guó)家酸奶協(xié)會(huì)的說(shuō)法，每一克酸奶中的培養(yǎng)菌至少含有一億個(gè)真菌。(查看一下，在你比較喜歡吃的酸奶中，每一份中含多少真菌)。這個(gè)數(shù)字是很大的，但你不可能知道有多少真菌只是在你的消化系統(tǒng)中閑逛。人們現(xiàn)在正在進(jìn)行研究，目的是要確定“益生菌”產(chǎn)品是否能夠取代有爭(zhēng)議的牲畜飼料中的抗生素，或者細(xì)菌或抗菌化合物是否可以用在食物防腐劑當(dāng)中。益生菌學(xué)說(shuō)是研究用細(xì)菌來(lái)控制細(xì)菌的科學(xué)。