最近读到了The Economist关于药物再利用（drug repurposing）的一篇文章：Deploying drugs for new purposes holds great promise 所谓的药物再利用是指用现有的药物治疗一些新的疾病，这种方法可以极大降低治疗费用。文章对这一应用前景进行了分析，并呼吁政府和药企应该多关注这一领域。这篇文章是一篇很优秀的议论文，其中有不少值得我们学习的地方。我选取了其中几段进行分析：

文章小标题Old drugs in new bottles化用了经典说法old wine in a new bottle（新瓶装旧酒）。这一标题起得非常巧妙，因为它准确地表达了药物再利用的精髓：使用旧药来治疗新疾病。

这一段主要介绍了制药行业目前存在的问题：药品价格高昂，这引发了民众和政府的不满。

Big pharma is under fire.

这句话的意思是“大型药企正成为众矢之的”。这里under fire是一个固定搭配，它本来是指“遭受枪击”，可以引申为“遭到猛烈批评”（to be severely criticized for something you have done）。比如这两天埃塞俄比亚客机出事，起因可能与波音737 Max 8机型有关，波音公司遭到了很多人的指责。我们可以说：

Boeing has been under fire since the Ethiopian Airlines crash, the cause of which is believed by many to be technical problems of Boeing 737 Max 8. 

This week the bosses of seven large drug firms were hauled before the United States Congress to answer pointed questions about the cost of their medicines.

这句话的意思是“本周，七家大型制药公司的老板被传讯到美国国会，回答有关药品成本的尖锐问题。”haul具有一词多义现象，最常见的含义是“拖，拉”，句子中含义是“传讯”（officially bring someone to a court of law to be judged），最常见的搭配是：haul somebody (up) before somebody/something，例如：He was hauled up before the local magistrates for dangerous driving. 

Pointed questions 即“尖锐的问题”，类似搭配还有pointed remarks 

The hearings come amid rising bipartisan anger about high drug prices. New laws arethreatened.

这两句话意思是“两党（民主党和共和党）对高药价日趋不满，听证会正是在这样的气氛中举行。新的法律呼之欲出”。

Threaten在这里的意思是“将要发生，将要引起”（to be likely to happen or be in a bad situation），例如：Plants must be covered with a leaf-mould or similarly protected if frost threatens. 如果霜冻来临，植物必须盖上腐叶土或用类似方法加以保护。

Concerns about the affordability of medicines are not peculiar to America; they are global.

从这里可以学到一个句型：Concerns about…are not peculiar to…they are…（对……的担忧并不局限于……这些担忧也……）举个例子，人口老龄化问题不仅在发达国家出现，发展中国家也有这个问题，我们可以说：

Concerns about population ageing are not peculiar to rich countries; they are felt by emerging economies.

In Britain the price of a new drug for cystic fibrosis has provoked fury, as has the government’s refusal to pay it.

这句话的意思是“在英国，一种针对囊性纤维化的新药价格引发了公众愤怒，同样引起愤怒的还有政府拒绝为新药价格买单的决定。”这句话第二部分是as引导的方式状语从句，还原后是：as the government’s refusal to pay it has (provoked fury) 

这一段主要介绍了解决药品价格过高的方法：药物再利用。这能够有效降低治疗费用。

Too rarely raised in this discussion is one promising area where pillmakers and governments alike could do more to fight disease while also saving money.

这是一个倒装句，还原后是：One promising area where pillmakers…saving money is too rarely raised in this discussion. 一般来说，句子进行倒装是为了对句子中某个部分进行强调，这里强调的是”too rarely raised”，用以说明这一新领域被提及的次数之少。

XX and XXX alike是一个很好用的搭配，意思是“两者都，同样地”，例如新概念英语3课文Daniel Mendoza有这样的句子：

In his day, Mendoza enjoyed tremendous popularity. He was adored by rich and poor alike.

Drugs can be “repurposed”. That is, existing drugs can sometimes be used to treat diseases other than the ones for which they were first designed.

目前新药的研发成本很高，而且非常费时，但是通过改变已有药物的用途有时候可以用来治疗新的疾病，这一过程就称为repurpose 

This can be a cheaper way to develop new treatments. It could also help answer another criticism often thrown at drug firms…

第一句开头的This指代的是上一句的内容：That is, existing…were first designed，第二句开头的It也是指代同样的内容。This和It的使用可以实现句子之间的衔接，平时在写作的时候可以多加运用。

thrown at这一说法也非常形象，throw something at somebody即“把……投向某人”，criticism (that is) often thrown at drug firms 即“药企经常遭受的指责”。

Last year saw a record number of new drugs approved. The 59 new arrivals are welcome, but barely scratch the surface of unmet needs.

XX year sees…是一个很实用的表达，意思是“XX年发生了……”。例如“今年道路交通事故大增”可以说：This year has seen a big increase in road accidents.

第二句中scratch the surface of something是一个固定搭配，意思是“仅仅触及了xx问题的表面”（to deal with only a very small part of a subject or problem），这是一个在解决方案类话题中经常用到的表达。举个例子，目前全球很多城市的交通和污染问题很严重，一些人认为应该通过提高汽油价格来解决这一问题。如果你不认同这一观点，那么可以说：

Today major cities around the world are faced with growing traffic and pollution problems. In light of this, some people suggest that governments should increase the price of petrol. However, this only scratches the surface of the problem. A better way to address the issue lies in developing other forms of transportation.

这一段继续展开，对药物再利用这一技术进行介绍，指出这一方法能够降低费用的原因。

Drugmakers have a point when they say that the cost of developing new drugs for non-lucrative ailments is prohibitive.

这句话的意思是：制药商说开发针对“无利可图”疾病的新药，其成本令人望而却步，在这一点上他们说得有道理。Have a point是一个固定表达，意思相当于have made a good point，即“（某观点）有道理”。从这里可以学习一个句型：…have a point when they say that… 

举个例子，目前动物实验是一个存在争议的话题。支持动物实验的人士认为人类很多科学进步都依赖于动物实验，因此，动物实验是有必要的。我们可以说：

Advocates of animal testing have a point when they say that almost all major medical breakthroughs of the past hundred years relied on animal experimentation to a significant degree, and that every human alive has benefited from it.

Prohibitive也是一个值得积累的单词，它可以用来形容商品价格高，让人难以承受。例如：The price of property in the big city is prohibitive.

Drug repurposing is cheaper because the drugs in question have already been tested for safety, which is itself hugely expensive.

in question的含义是“正被讨论的，谈论中的”（the things, people etc in question are the ones that are being discussed），因此句子的意思是：药物再利用会更加便宜，因为所讨论的药物已经通过了安全性测试，而安全性测试本身就非常昂贵。

In question除了上面这层含义外，还可以表示“（对某事物）有疑问，不确定”，例如：

(1) I'm afraid his honesty is now in question.

(2) For the second time in less than five months, a new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has crashed without any survivors. This puts the safety of Boeing’s new aircraft in question.

总结：

今天我们学习了以下几个重点句型和表达：

(1) XX is under fire.

(2) Concerns about…are not peculiar to…they are…

(3) XX and XXX alike

(4) XX year sees…

(5) scratch the surface of something

(6) …have a point when they say that…

(7) in question

感兴趣的同学可以使用这些句型造句以加深印象。