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1、17-A. Panic and Its EffectsOne afternoon while she was preparing dinner in her kitchen, Anne Peters, a 32-year-old American housewife, suddenly had severe pains in her chest accompanied by shortness of breath. Frightened by the thought that she was having a heart attack, Anne screamed for help. Her
2、husband immediately rushed Anne to a nearby hospital where her pains were diagnosed as having been caused by panic, and not a heart attack.More and more Americans nowadays are having panic attacks like the one experienced by Anne Peters. Benjamin Crocker, a psychologist at the University of Southern
3、 California, reveal that as many as ten million adult Americans have already experienced or will experience at least one panic attack in their lifetime. Moreover, studies conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States disclose that approximately 1.2 million adult individua
4、ls are currently suffering from severe and recurrent panic attacks.These attacks may last for only a few minutes; some, however, continue for several hours. The symptoms of panic attacks bear such remarkable similarity to those of heart attacks that many victims believe that they are indeed having a
5、 heart attack.Panic attack victims show the following symptoms: they often become easily frightened or feel uneasy in situations where people normally would not be afraid; they suffer shortness of breath, experience chest pains, a quick heartbeat, sudden fits of trembling, a feeling that persons and
6、 things around them are not real; and most of all, a fear of dying or going crazy, A person seized by a panic attack may show all or as few as four of these symptoms.There has been a lot of explanations as to the causes of panic attacks. Many claim that psychological stress could be a logical cause,
7、 but as yet, no evidence has been found to support this theory. However, studies show that more women than men experience panic attacks and people who drink a lot as well as those who use drugs are more likely to suffer attacks.It is reported that there are at least three signs that indicate a per-s
8、on is suffering from a panic attack rather than a heart attack. The first is age. People between the ages of 20 and 30 are more often victims of panic attacks. The second is sex. More women suffer from recurrent panic attacks than men. The third is the multiplicity of symptoms. A panic attack victim
9、 usually suffers at least four of the previously mentioned symptoms, while a heart attack victim often experiences only pain and shortness of breath.It is generally agreed that a panic attack does not directly endanger a persons life. All the same, it can unnecessarily disrupt a persons life by maki
10、ng him or her so afraid of having a panic attack in a public place that he or she may refuse to leave home and may eventually become isolated from the rest of society. Dr. Crockers advice to any person who thinks he is suffering from a panic attack is to consult a doctor for a medical examination to
11、 rule out the possibilities of physical illness first. Once it has been confirmed that he or she is, in fact, suffering from a panic attack, the victim should seek psychological and medical help.【课文译文】恐慌症及其影响一天下午，安妮彼得斯，一位32岁的美国家庭主妇，正在厨房准备晚饭的时候，突然胸口一阵剧烈的疼痛，伴着呼吸急促。由于担心自己患了心脏病，安妮尖叫着呼救。她的丈夫迅速把安妮送到附近一家医院
12、。经诊断，她的痛疼是由恐慌引起的，而非心脏病发作。现在，愈来愈多的美国人都遭受过像安妮彼得斯所经历过的疼痛的袭击。据本杰明克罗克一位美国南加利福尼亚大学的心理学家透露，多达一千万的成年美国人，在他们的一生中已经经历过或至少会经历一次恐慌症的发作。而且，由美国心理健康协会所进行的研究表明，近来大约有一千二百多万成年人患有严重的复发性恐慌症。这种病症也许只持续几分钟，但是，有些却能持续几个小时。恐慌症的症状和心脏病的症状有着明显的相似之处，这使得许多受害者以为他们真的患有心脏病。恐慌症受害者表现出以下症状：他们常常轻易就会害怕，或者当身处人们通常情况都不会感到担心的环境时，他们却表现得心神不宁，呼
13、吸急促，胸痛，心跳加速，突然间阵阵颤抖，对周围的人和物有不真实感等，最严重的是害怕会死去或者发疯。恐慌症发作的人可能会出现所有这些症状或仅仅其中的四种。有关引起恐慌症的说法有许多。许多人声称心理压力是一种逻辑上的原因，但是，却找不到能够支持这种理论的证据。然而，研究表明得恐慌症的女性多于男性，并且大量酗酒和吸毒的人更有可能患上恐慌症。据报道，至少有三种迹象表明一个人所患的是恐慌症而不是心脏病。第一是年龄，2030岁之间的人通常是恐慌症患者，第二是性别，患有复发性恐慌症的女性多于男性。第三是症状的多样性。恐慌症患者通常至少会出现以上所提到的四种症状，而心脏病患者常常只会出现痛疼和呼吸急促的症状。
14、总体上说，恐慌症不会直接影响人的生命。尽管如此，它却能毫无必要地搅乱一个人的生活，由于担心会在公共场合出现恐慌，人们也许会拒绝出门，由此可能最终使自己和社会隔绝开来。对此克罗克博士对那些患有恐慌症的人所提的建议是：首先请医生作体检，从而排除生理疾病的可能性，然后确信一旦他们真的患有恐慌症，应寻求心理和药物治疗。18-A. Why Are Maps Drawn with North at the Top?Now it is hard to visualize a map that does not feature north at the top, but this was not always
15、 so.The oldest known map in the accepted sense of the word was drawn about 3, 800 BC, and represents the river Euphrates flowing through northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. This, and others that followed it, were little more than rough sketches of localized features; it was not until many centuries later th
16、at the ancient Greeks placed the science of map-making on a sound footing.At the forefront of the pioneers in the field was the Greek mathematician and philosopher Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. AD 90 ?168), more popularly known to history as Ptolemy. The last great scientist of the classical period, he was the first to draw a map that was based on all available knowledge, rather than guess or imagination. Earlier, t
