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白血病的真面目

作者: 日期:2009-3-7 12:39:21
　　Cancer is the abnormal growth of body cells that causes you to get sick.Leukemia is one of the most common types of cancer in kids.

　　Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. Usually white blood cells fight infection, but in someone with leukemia they don't work properly. Instead of protecting the body against disease, these abnormal white blood cells multiply(繁殖，增殖) out of control, overcrowd3 the bone marrow(骨髓)and flood the bloodstream. As the cancer grows, other blood cells like platelets (血小板) and red blood cells(carry oxygen in the blood to the body's tissues (组织)) , also get crowded out by the white blood cells, resulting in anemia (贫血症) (low numbers of healthy red blood cells), which makes you pale and feel tired, irritated, dizzy(眩晕的) andlightheaded (神志不清的).

　　 Leukemia is classified4 into acute(rapidly developing) and chronic5(slowly developing) forms. About 98% of childhood leukemias are acute.There are four major types of leukemia, depending on the white blood cells that are involved.

　　 Signs and Symptoms Fevers, chills and other flulike symptoms; weakness and fatigue6; easy bruising(现青肿) and bleeding; pain in the bones or joints; loss of appetite; sweating, especially at night.

　　 Cancer is treated with chemotherapy(化学疗法)and radiation therapy (powerful energy waves like x-rays).Leukemia patients may also have to get a bone marrow transplant(骨髓移植) to allow new, healthy blood cells to grow.After treatment be- gins, the goal is to get you into remission (缓和，减轻),which means there's no evi- dence of cancer in your blood or bone marrow. A complete remission that lasts five years after treatment often means you're cured.

　　The most common type of leukemia in children is Acute Lymphocytic (淋巴细胞的) Leukemia. The good news is that almost all kids who get it are cured!
　　
　　注释：
　　1．lowdown n． [俚]内幕，真相，实情
　　2．leukemia n． [医]白血病
　　3．overcrowd vt．使过度拥挤，把…塞得过满
　　4．classify vt. 把…分类
　　5．chronic a． (疾病)慢性的
　　6．fatigue n. 疲劳，劳累
　　
　　癌症就是由于体细胞的异常增长而导致人患病。白血病则是儿童所患的癌症中最常见的一种。

　　白血病是由白细胞癌变引起的。通常白细胞能够抵抗感染，但是白血病病人体内的白细胞不能正常工作。这些异常的白细胞不受约束地成倍繁殖，它们不仅不能保护人体免于疾病，还在骨髓里挤得满满的，并且像洪水一样涌入在体内循环的血液里。随着癌细胞的增长，其他血细胞如血小板和红血球(通过血液把氧气运送到身体的各个组织)也会被白细胞挤走而导致贫血(即健康的红血球数量偏低)。这会使人脸色苍白，并感觉疲劳、易怒、眩晕和神志不清。

　　白血病分为急性白血病(病情发展迅速)和慢性白血病 (病情发展缓慢)两种。大约98%的儿童患者得的是急性白血病。根据引起疾病的白细胞的不同，白血病有4种主要类型。

　　白血病的征兆和症状发烧、打冷战和其他类似流行性感冒的症状；浑身无力和身体虚弱；身体容易碰伤产生青肿和流血；骨骼或关节疼痛；丧失食欲；特别是在晚上出虚汗。

　　癌症要用化学疗法和放射疗法(诸如X-射线等高能波)来治疗。白血病患者可能还需要进行骨髓移植，以便让新的健康血球得以生长。治疗开始后的目标就是使患者病情缓和，也就是说要使病人的血液和骨髓里不再有癌症的症状。如果治疗结束后，病情持续 5年保持彻底缓和状态，通常表明病人完全康复了。

　　在儿童中最常见的白血病类型是急性淋巴细胞白血病。不过令人高兴的是几乎所有患有这种癌症的儿童都能治愈。