去听写专区一展身手

英语学习论坛的“听力练习区”正式与大家见面啦。欢迎大家来这里练习听力，交流经验，共同进步。

本练习区的音频文件选自英语点津的“听中国日报”、“VOA常速”、“流行金曲”及“名人演讲”等栏目，题材丰富，难度各异，适合不同阶段的英语学习者。

英语点津会定期发布音频材料，大家可以在跟帖中贴出自己听写出的音频文字稿。每个音频材料的标准文字稿会在帖子发布两天后公布。

进入该文章的听写练习页面

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Counterfeit medicines are a widespread problem in developing countries. Like other counterfeits, they look like real products. But counterfeit drugs may contain too much, too little or none of the active ingredients of the real thing.

People do not get the medicine they need. And in some cases the counterfeits cause tragic problems of their own.

About a year ago, more than 80 children in Nigeria died after being given medicine for teething pain. And more than 20 children in Bangladesh died last year after being given acetaminophen. In both cases, the medications contained ingredients that looked, smelled and tasted like the real thing.

But the medicine in Bangladesh was produced by a local drug manufacturer that used a dangerous substitute to save money. And in the case in Nigeria, an illegal chemical dealer sold counterfeit glycerin to a drug company. That company then used the chemical to make the teething medicine.

The World Health Organization says the problem with counterfeit medicines is especially bad in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The W.H.O. estimates that up to 30 percent of the medicines on sale in many of those countries are counterfeit.

Counterfeit medications are also a problem in the Middle East and in many countries of the former Soviet Union.

The problem is less widespread among industrialized countries. The W.H.O. says counterfeits represents less than one percent of the illegal drug market in countries like the United States, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand.

But the agency also says as much as 50 percent of the medicine sold on the Internet is counterfeit.

Most people have no way to tell if medications are what they seem.

The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest is a group in New York supported in part by the drug industry. It predicts counterfeit sales will reach 75 billion dollars worldwide this year -- nearly double the level of 2005.

Substandard medicines are also a widespread problem in the developing world. How are they different from counterfeits? The legal difference is that counterfeit drugs are made with the purpose of misleading people. Substandard drugs are just poorly made.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. Next week, learn what is being done to fight counterfeit medicines. Transcripts, podcasts and captioned videos of our reports can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

（来源：VOA 编辑：陈丹妮）