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問題は【1】~【4】まである。答えは各問題の指示に従って別紙の解答用紙に書きなさい。
【1】次の英文を読んで設問に答えなさい。
Headaches are a big problem. Each year, millions of people suffer from severe headaches that affect
their enjoyment of life, (1) not to mention their productivity at work.
estimate, headaches cost individuals and businesses more than (2) $50 billion each year! (3) This is
one of the reasons research into headaches has become a worldwide effort.
Although he did not know much about how headaches work, Hippocrates was the first doctor to find
a way to treat them. By 400 BC, Hippocrates had discovered that the *bark from willow trees was
useful in treating pain. He made a white powder from the tree's bark and gave it to his patients.
Hippocrates did not know it, but he was actually prescribing a natural chemical in willow bark called
salicin. Whena person eats salicin, the chemical is changed inside his or her body into (4) salicylic
acid. It turns out that salicylic acid is good for stopping pain, including headache pain, but it is bad for
a person's stomach. In the 1800s, a chemist in Germany slightly changed
easier for people to take.
commonly known as aspirin.
Aspirin was used throughout most of the 1900s to treat headaches, but doctors had little idea about
what really caused headaches. When doctors can *diagnose the cause of a disease, they can find better
ways to treat it. Therefore, as medical technology developed, doctors began to use it to learn more
about the human brain and about headaches.
In fact, according to one
m to make it
This new form of the chemical was called acetylsalicylic acid, now
acid's
Now doctors classify headaches ( A ) two general types: primary and secondary. A primary
headache is a condition ( B) as only the headache itself.
one caused by another physiological condition, such as an *infection or a *tumor.
For primary headaches, doctors have determined three possible causes.
headache is caused by stress.
characteristically felt on both sides of the head as a dull, steady pain.
Another kind of primary headache is the *migraine headache. Exactly what causes these headaches
is not well understood, but many experts believe it could be abnormal brain activity causing changes in
the brain's chemistry and blood flow. For many people, migraines are caused by certain (5) stimuli,
such as poor sleep or particular foods or smells. A sufferer usually feels intense pain on one side of the
head and becomes sensitive to light and noise. If the migraine is severe, the sufferer may *vomit
repeatedly.
The third kind of primary headache is known as the cluster headache. Cluster headaches typically
occur around the same time each day for weeks or months at a time. The person ( C)from this kind
of headache usually feels pain on one side of her or his head, and the pain is centered around one of the
eyes. Doctors do not know much (6) at present about cluster headaches, but they seem to be more
common among men and could be related to alcohol or other things that affect a person's blood flow.
Using computers and more advanced medical equipment, doctors continue to learn more about what
happens in the brain before and during headaches. Especially in the case of migraines, some doctors
believe they have found the part of the brain that sets off the reaction for severe attacks. With these
insights into brain processes, doctors hope new ways will be discovered to stop headaches before they
begin.
On the other hand, a secondary headache is
One kind of primary
Doctors usually call these tension headaches, and they are
注: bark 樹皮
diagnose ~を診断する、~を突き止める
感染症·伝染病
migraine (headache) 偏頭痛
infection
tumor 腫場
vomit
食べたものを吐く
(出典:READING FOR THE REAL WORLD 3rd edition, Compass Publishing より)
