海天考研网

Passage 3

Technically, any substance other than food that alters our bodily or mental functioning is a drug. Many people mistakenly believe the term drug refers only to some sort of medicine or an illegal chemical taken by drug addicts. They don’t realize that familiar substances such as alcohol and tobacco are also drugs. This is why the more neutral term substance is now used by many physicians and psychologists. The phrase “substance abuse” is often used instead of “drug abuse” to make clear that substances such as alcohol and tobacco can be just as harmfully misused as heroin and cocaine.

We live in a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves. When do these socially acceptable and apparently constructive uses of a substance become misuses? First of all, most substances taken in excess will produce negative effects such as poisoning or intense perceptual distortions. Repeated use of a substance can also lead to physical addiction or substance dependence. Dependence is marked first by an increased tolerance, with more and more of the substance required to produce the desired effect, and then by the appearance of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the substance is discontinued.

Drugs (substances) that affect the central nervous system and alter perception, mood, and behavior are known as psychoactive substances. Psychoactive substances are commonly grouped according to whether they are stimulants, depressants, or hallucinogens. Stimulants initially speed up or activate the central nervous sys­tem, whereas depressants slow it down. Hallucinogens have their primary effect on perception, distorting and altering it in a variety of ways including producing hallucinations. These are the substances often called psyche­delic (from the Greek word meaning “mind-manifesting”) because they seemed to radically alter one’s state of consciousness.

59. “Substance abuse” (Line 5, Para. 1) is preferable to “drug abuse” in that _______

[A]  substances can alter our bodily or mental functioning if illegally used

[B]  “drug abuse” is only related to a limited number of drug takers

[C] alcohol and tobacco are as fatal as heroin and cocaine

[D]  many substances other than heroin or cocaine can also be poisonous

60. The word “pervasive” (Line 1, Para. 2) might mean _______

    [A] widespread   [B] overwhelming   [C]       piercing  [D] fashionable

61. Physical dependence on certain substances results from ______

[A]  uncontrolled consumption of them over long periods of time

[B]  exclusive use of them for social purposes

[C]  quantitative application of them to the treatment of diseases

    [D] careless employment of them for unpleasant symptoms

62. From the last paragraph we can infer that ______

[A]  stimulants function positively on the mind

[B]  hallucinogens are in themselves harmful to health

[C]  depressants are the worst type of psychoactive substances

[D] the three types of psychoactive substances are commonly used in groups