分析和研究近年来国外各类医学刊物上的论文,虽然研究项目、阐述内容以及推导结论等均有所不同,但是,在撰写的方法上却有其自身的特点和格式。观察结果表明:所采用的格式有渐趋近似之倾向。其排列的项目和顺序通常为:(1)TITLE,(2)AB-STRACT,(3)INTRODUCTION,(4)METHODS,orEQUIPMENTAND TEST(EXPERIMENT)PROCE-DURE,(5)RESULTS AND DISCUSSION,(6)CONCLUSIONS(SUMMARY),(7)ACKNOWL-EDGEMENTS,(8)REFERENCES。笔者认为:了解、熟悉并掌握运用这些特点及其编写格式,无论对阅读和撰写英语论文,捕捉论着的原意,还是中英互译等均具有颇为重要的应用价值,特别是对撰写医学论文,具有一定的指导意义。
1、TITLE标题
既然是标题,不言而喻,就要力求新颖、简明、扼要,例如以下几个例子。Advances in Control of Cancer Pain控制癌肿疼痛方法的进展。Semiquantitatie Analysis of the Autoradiographs放射自显影半剂量分析The Higher the Diffusion Rate,the Higher thdChance of Each NewlyIodinated Tgb Molecule Cominginto Repeated Contact with the Peroxidase Site at theApical Membrane弥散率越高,新碘化的Tgb分子与实膜过氧物酶部位所接触的机会越多。
有些杂志,某些作者除采用正标题之外,还采用副标题,这种情况在国外刊物上的各类论文中可谓俯拾即是。采用副标题,一般是在正标题过于简单、笼统的情况下,起到补充和系统说明正题等的作用,或是要强调某一个方面或几个方面,以其引起读者注意等等。Ultra-Low-Volume Administration:SystemsEvaluation and Date Analysis超低量用药一系列评价和数据分析(补充正题)。Medical News:Adjuvant Chemotherapy Works forBreast Cancer with Involved Nodes医学新闻:辅助性化学疗法对伴有淋巴结转移的乳腺癌奏效(说明上题)。Unresolved Issue:Do Smokers Catch Less LungCancer?尚未解决的问题:吸烟者患肺癌少吗?(提醒人们注意吸烟者患肺癌的数量增加)。
有时,为了避免标题太长而使用缩写词。Effect of LATS(=Long-Acting Thyroid Stimula-tor)and LATS Protectoron HTACA(=Human Thy-roid Adeny Cyclase Activity)长效甲状腺刺激素和长效甲状腺刺激素保护物对人体甲状腺甙酸环化酶活性的作用。考虑文章较长,可在统一的标题下,用不同的副标题分成若干相对独立的篇章。例如:Factors Influ-encing one's Ability to Adopt to Chronic Illness影响个人对慢性疾病适应能力的因素(1)CARE保健;(2)TECHNOLOGY技术学;(3)FAMILY RELATION-SHIPS家庭关系;(4)DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL发展水平(研究标准);(5)CULTURAL VALUESAND BELIEFS文化价值和信仰。
2、ABSTRACT(SUMMARY)摘要、提要
这部分是对整篇文章的高度概括或浓缩,故要简单、明了。常用的词汇和句型有:Somebody studied(examined investigated,determined,found,reported,interviewed,measured,documented,considered,though evaluated,observed,…)。运用这些动词,所采用的时态通常是一般过去时和现在完成时。被动语态也屡见不鲜,常见有:This study was taken to ex-amine… ;Patients with…were followed up for+时间;It is showed that… ;It is concluded that… ;Indicationswere obtained that… ,等。结尾时常用的表达方法有:The results indicate(show,state,suggest,demon-strate,conclude,express…)that… ;These findingshave special importance in showing that… ;The find-ings have general significance in that… ;This possibilityis strengthening by the observation that… ,等等。例:
Enzyme Linkel Immunosorbent Assay(ELISA)isused to the detection for antibody of anti-thy oglobulinin normal human serum,cord serum,and amniotic flu-id.The results demonstrate that it seemed to be an cer-tain rule that the lower appeared in the amniotic fluid,the highest in cord serum.Antibody is decreasing for anormal level with the grown-up age after birth.It isthus concluded that antibody of anti-thyroglobulin wemeasured may play a certain significance in diagnosis ofcretinism by ELISA.作者采用ELISA对正常人的血清、脐带血清和羊水中的抗甲状腺球蛋白抗体进行了测定。其结果有一定规律:抗体在胎生期首先出现,分娩时浓度达高峰,而后随年龄增长逐渐降至正常水平。故测定该抗体对地方克汀病之诊断有一定意义。
3、INTRODUCTION引言
本项除课题意义外,主要涉猎前人研究情况的评述及本研究的目的,后两者有时分别列出。兹分述如下:
3.1、REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK
以往研究评论 还有用其它题目的,例如:REVIEW OF LITER-ATURE(文献评述),LITERATURE CITED(文献引述),PRIOR RESEARCH(以前的研究),SOMEPAST DESIGNS(过去的某些设计),BACK-GROU-ND(背景材料),等等。而这些资料引文的重点要放在引述与本文有关的以往研究的结果,否则会喧宾夺主。句式常有Sb.et al.tested(reported,gave,car-ried out experiment on… ;Sb found(showed…)that… .还有若干不同的其它表达方法,写在下边:our exper-iments show that… ;The present study was undertakentoidentify… ,Date are presented that suggest… ,Ourresults supported… ;The distribution has reported by… ;Our laboratory has undertaken a reexamination of… ;This article(paper)documents… ;We trace(evi-dence)…This model extends… ;Our findings demon-strate… ;We reasoned that… ;The effect…were evalu-ated by means of… ;The present results add some fur-ther elements to… .A recent study analyzed he effect of aspirin(ASA)on primaryhemostasis in uremia,measuring bleedingtime(BT).It was found that the same dose of ASA pro-longed BT more in uremic that in control subjects,sug-gesting platelets were more susceptible to the inhibitory-of ASA.This might be due to different ASA pharma-cokinetics and bioavailability that might be influenced bythe uremic condition.新近一项研究分析了乙酰水扬酸对尿毒症第一期出血的影响,测定了出血的时间。我们发现,同样剂量的ASA均可延长出血时间,而尿毒症受验者比对照受验者要多。这提示尿毒症的血小板对ASA的抑制更具敏感性。这可能是由于ASA的药物动力学和生物可用性不同所致。
3.2、OBJECTIVES目的
这一条还可写作OBJEC-TIVES OF STUDY(研究的目的),有时OBJEC-TIVES不列在INTRODUCTION之内,而独立列为一项。多采用开门见山,直接点出目的方式。常见的用语有:The(major main,overall,broad,primary…)objectives(purpose goal,aim…)of this study(research,article,paper,project,experiment),were(was)… ;The study aims at doing something…。例:The objec-tive of this article was to suggest that pulmonaryimpedance rheograph is one of the methods for differen-tial diagnosis of early pulmonale cor and hyperthyroi-dism。本文的目的在于提示肺阻抗图是早期肺心病和甲状腺机能亢进的鉴别诊断方法之一。
4、METHODS or EQUIPMENT AND TEST(EX-PERIMENT)PROCE DURI方法、设备和试验程序
这一部分内容须视论文的类别而有所不同,但就该题目而论,则多系试验研究和技术报告一类。还可以用以下名称等:TEST AND EQUIPMENT(试验与设备),MATERIALS AND METHODS(材料及方法),EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE(试验过程),DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIMENT(试验描述),或者只写PROCEEDURE(过程),及METHODS(方法),较常见的句式有:Sb or Sth was(were)tested at… ;Sb or Sth participated in this study;或者The equip-ment which was used(consisted of,constructed from,furnished to…by,…)is… .例:Three groups of sub-jects participated in this study:(a)18 patients(10 menand 8 women with a medianage of 46 year,range 24～69)with chronic renal failure with anuria…参加本研究的有:(a)18例无尿慢性肾衰竭患者,其中男性10人,女性8人,平均年龄为46岁,年龄范围为24～69岁… …。The test equipment which was used consisted of acupboard complete with temperature measuring trans-ducers and recording equipment.所有的试验装置由一个配有测温传感器和记录器的小柜组成。
5、RESULTS AND DISCUSSION结果和讨论
这个项目是全文的重点,其篇幅约占整个文章的一半或三分之二。它将对研究、试验、观察等结果加以分析和讨论,其中包括曲线、图表和照片等。大都采用分题逐一讨论的方法。常用语有:The test(experi-mental)results presented(obtained)show(indicate,con-firm)…that… ;It should be noted that…等。例:Ourresults have shown that T-cell deplection iseffective inthe prevention of acute and chronic GVHD.我们的结果已经说明,T细胞缺失对预防GVHD有效。
6、CONCLUSION结论
其它的表达方法还有:SUMMARY AND CON-CLUSIONS(小结及结论),CONCLUSIONS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS(SUGGESTIONS)(结论与建议)。常用语有:From(On the basis of)… ,the fol-lowing conclusions can(may)be made(drawn,reached)…或者The following recommendations(SUGGES-TIONS…)may be made(PUT FORWARD)…。例:The following recommendations may be made for theimprovement of the method of this kind of operations…对这类手术方法的改进可作下述改进…7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS感谢。
这项的常用语是:We acknowledge with… ;Thisstudy was supported by… ,We thank…for… ;Thisstudy was supported grants from…。例:We wish tothank profeor F.J.Kezdy for his valuable suggestionsand discussions.We thank also Mrs.A.Abram for herassistance at the initial stage of this work and Ms,Be-better wilkerson for typing the manuscript.通常,thank和support均可用以人和单位,而前者多用于人,后者多用于单位。有时,在这一项之后还有一行内容:Correspondence should be addresed toL.S.F MRC Cancer Trials office,Medical ResearchCouncil Centre,Hills Road,Cambridge CB22 QH这是表示致函的地点和单位。
8、REFERENCES参考文献
参考文献的写法有多种,但都有一定格式。无论采用哪一种,前后要一致。众所周知,列出参考文献是为了查看或查证与文章叙述或引用部分有关的资料。通常的办法是在论文中的引用部分按出现的先后顺序编上号码。参考文献要按号码顺序排列。每一条书目要包拓以下几个内容:作者姓名、书名、出版者和出版年份、页数等。也可以不按文中引用先后编号,而按作者姓氏的字母顺序排列,而出版年份紧跟在姓名之后。例:
文章正文:The capillary tube is used in such appli-ances ashousehold refrigerauors,small freezers and roomair conditioners,usually up to three ton system[1].Cen-tral air conditioning systems insmall residence,small ice-making machins and small beverage cooler also use thecapillary tube.It is not practicle in large commercial-systems because of its lack of sensitivity to loadchanges。
如上所述,我们把参考的文献,按照作者的姓氏的字母排序,写在下面:REFERENCES1.Althouse,A.D(1978)Modern Refrigeration andAir Conditioning.In Michael Wallace,et al.(eds)New Developments in Ari-coditioning.Cambridge University Press2.Black,Max(1976)Selected Writings of MaxBlack in Modern Air-conditioning Engineering(ed.David G.Mandelbaum).Oxford University Press3.Nelson,C.W(1972a)Principles of Refriger-stion.New York:McGra-wHill(1972)Commercialand Industrial Refrigeration.In Science,May1972,PP.52～68,(1972b)ibid,PP.72～74注意:(1)若文章选自一本论文集,则先写作者姓名、篇目,然后另起一句注明该文集的编辑者姓名及文集名称。如不另起一句,中间要用逗号。ed,eds分别为editor和editors的缩写。(2)作者姓名和书名一般不用逗号隔开。而书名和出版社之间用句号分开。每条书目的最后用逗号,也可不用。(3)出版年份指的是所引出书籍或文章的印刷年份,不是第一版的出版年份。(4)P、PP分别是page和pages的缩写,ibid意为“同上”。(5)若论文多次引出同一篇文章,则可以引文后面写上作者的姓名和文章、书籍的出版年份,并注上页次,前后用括号括上,如(Nelson,1972,P.123)。如果出现引用同一作者,同一年份的几本着作,要在印刷年份加上a,b… ,以示区别,如(Nels on,1972a,P.123),(Nelson,1972b,PP.52～68)。
9、APPENDIX附录、补遗
这一项包括LIST OF SYMBOLS AND DEFINI-TIONS(符号及定义表),NOME NCLATURE(技术术语表),等。如何用英语撰写医学论文,笔者认为,对很多作者来说,耗时最多的工作不是本文所谈及的,而应是扎扎实实地搞好平时的英语学习和阅读;加强文学修养及本专业知识的学习、提高和更新等。如果做好这些工作,用英语撰写医学论文,并且撰写较高水平论文的问题便会迎刃而解。
