VOA慢速英语:Ketamine Rapidly Eases Depression without Side Effects

Ketamine is a drug that puts people and animals into a deep sleep. Doctors inject it into patients so they can be operated on. Unofficially, Ketamine is a street drug,  which means it is sold and used illegally. However, Ketamine may prove useful as a medicine to treat sickness too.
氯胺酮是一种让人和动物进入深度睡眠的药物。医生将其注入病人体内，使他们给病人做手术。非正式的话，氯胺酮是一种街头毒品，意味着它被非法出售和使用。但是，氯胺酮作为药物可能对治疗疾病非常有用。

A new study shows the drug may help people who suffer from depression. Researchers in Britain studied 28 patients suffering from severe depression. Some of them reported feeling better, like a weight had been lifted from them soon after receiving injections of the drug.
一项新的研究表明，这种药可以帮助那些患有抑郁症的人们。英国研究人员对28位严重抑郁症患者进行了研究。他们中有些人在接受这种药物注射不久后报告说感觉良好，仿佛如释重负。

Rupert McShane led the study. He says eights of the 28 patients injected got good results. Doctor McShane reported that three of those eights said they felt better just hours after getting one injection of Ketamine.
Rupert McShane负责这项研究。他说这28位接受注射的患者中，有8人取得了良好的效果。McShane医生报告说，这8人中有3人表示他们在注射氯胺酮几个小时后感觉好多了。

"Typically by about six hours, people are saying, 'Gosh, I am feeling like a weight is lifted from me. I can think more freely.'" he said.
他说，“通常情况下是约6小时后，他们说，‘天啊，我感觉如释重负，我可以更自由地思考。”

The drug's apparent effects lasted one to six months. Researchers are looking for ways to make these effects last longer.
这种药物的明显效果可以持续一到六个月。研究人员正在寻找各种方法来使这些效果持续时间更长。

Researchers in the United States have carried out 6 larger studies on Ketamine and depression. They found the drug to be helpful in quickly easing the effects of depression that are usually difficult to treat.
美国研究人员已经就氯胺酮和抑郁症进行了6次更大规模的研究。他们发现，这种药物可以迅速缓解抑郁症影响，抑郁症通常难以治疗。

Carlos Zarate is a researcher with U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. He says there are 30 different kinds of antidepressant drugs on the market. But he says, they do not help all the signs of depression.
Carlos Zarate是美国国家研究院的研究人员。他说，市面上有30种不同类型的抗抑郁药。但他说，它们无助于一次缓解抑郁症的全部症状。

One drug may help the extreme tiredness that can come with depression. However, the same drug may not ease the feelings of deep sadness. Another drug may improve a depressed person's ability to think clearly, but it may not help stop thoughts of suicide.
一种药物可能有助于缓解抑郁症伴随的极度疲劳，然而，同样的药物可能无法缓解感觉深度悲哀。另一种药可以改善人们清晰思考的能力，但它可能无助于阻止自杀的念头。

So Mr Zarate says most depression patients are treated with more than one drug. The reason Ketamine is so effective could be that it goes directly to a brain chemical linked to depression. He says traditional antidepressants target that chemical only indirectly.
所以Zarate先生称，大多数抑郁症患者用多种药物治疗。氯胺酮如此有效的原因可能是它直接针对和抑郁症有关的大脑化学物质。他说传统抗抑郁药是间接针对该化学物质。

"What takes about a couple of hours with ketamine [which] would take approximately six weeks with our standard antidepressants," said Zarate.
Zarate说，“食用氯胺酮几个小时的疗效大约相当于服用六个星期的传统抗抑郁药。”

Research is now focused on how to safely treat patients with Ketamine, and how to make them feel better longer.
目前他们的研究重点是如何用氯胺酮安全地治疗患者，以及如何让疗效持续更长时间。

The British study of Ketamine was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Psycho meaning dealing with the mind, Pharmacology meaning the study of drugs. Psychopharmacology is the study of drugs on the mind.
英国就氯胺酮的这项研究发表在《精神药理学》杂志上。Psycho意味着和大脑打交道，pharmacology意味着药物研究。Psychopharmacology是指大脑药物研究。