美国国家公共电台 NPR With Heavy Drinking On The Rise, How Much Is Too Much?

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

If one glass of wine or one beer takes the edge off, why not have a few more? Well, this thinking may help explain new findings published in The Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry¹. As NPR's Allison Aubrey reports, the study finds that a growing number of Americans are drinking more than they should.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE²: To assess drinking trends in the U.S., researchers did face-to-face interviews with tens of thousands of adults. They went into people's homes and asked a series of questions. Study author Deborah Hasin of Columbia University says the questions get at both how much people are drinking and whether alcohol is becoming a problem.

DEBORAH HASIN: One question is if they ever drank five or more drinks on an occasion and, if so, how often?

AUBREY: Hasin says that compared to previous surveys, they found that over the last decade, the number of high-risk drinkers has increased from about 10 percent of adults to about 13 percent.

HASIN: We found that both alcohol use and high-risk drinking, which is sometimes called binge drinking, increased over time and with some particularly large increases found in women and individuals with lower incomes.

AUBREY: Now, it's not clear what's behind the increase. The new study doesn't answer that question. But Hasin says people do use alcohol to cope.

HASIN: Increasing numbers of people feel pessimistic about their economic chances.

AUBREY: And she says changes in how alcohol is marketed may play a role, too.

HASIN: Looking at the increases among women, I can tell you just looking sometimes in the display windows of liquor stores, you see everything's pink. It's all rose. And you know, it really seems designed to appeal to women.

AUBREY: Some beer makers³ have sharpened their pitch to female drinkers, too. This is a Coors Light campaign.

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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: What would we be without our mountains?

AUBREY: The ad shows women doing yoga, marathon running and hiking.

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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Because every climb deserves a refreshing⁴ finish.

AUBREY: The new study results suggest that many people may either ignore the risks of alcohol or not realize when they're drinking too much.

BOB BREWER⁵: Excessive alcohol use is a huge public health problem in the United States.

AUBREY: That's Bob Brewer. He's a physician who studies alcohol use at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BREWER: We estimate there are about 88,000 deaths due to excessive alcohol use in the United States each year.

AUBREY: That's more than the number of people who die from opioid overdoses or in car crashes. So when does drinking become excessive or risky⁶?

BREWER: Ninety percent of people in the United States who drink to excess are binge drinkers.

AUBREY: Binge drinking may sound like an all-night bender, but Brewer says here's the reality.

BREWER: Binge drinking we would define as four or more drinks within an occasion for a woman or five or more drinks within an occasion for a man.

AUBREY: So for an evening out, if you start with a cocktail⁷ or two and then have beer or wine with dinner, it soon adds up.

BREWER: It can be tricky⁸ sometimes for people to really keep track of the actual number of drinks that they're consuming.

AUBREY: He points out one drink is a small, five-ounce serving of wine. And a shot of liquor counts as one drink, too. But oftentimes cocktails⁹ have more than that. Then there's beer.

BREWER: A lot of beer now, particularly craft beers, may have higher alcohol content. So if you have 12 ounces of beer that has, let's say, a 9 percent alcohol content, you're really drinking the equivalent of close to two drinks.

AUBREY: And Brewer says it's worth reminding people that U.S. guidelines recommend that women limit alcohol to no more than one drink a day and no more than two for men. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

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1 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

5 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

6 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

7 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

8 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

9 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句