美国国家公共电台 NPR Amid Dip In Drug Overdose Rates, Life Expectancy Climbed Slig

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

For the first time in four years, the average lifespan of an American increased - slightly. That's according to new numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The improvement was driven largely by declines in cancer deaths as well as the first-ever decrease in drug overdose deaths in this century. NPR's Rhitu Chatterjee reports.

RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE¹: The annual CDC report lists the latest numbers on life expectancy² and death rates by causes from the year 2018. The average lifespan that year was 78.7 years, about a month longer than the previous year. The CDC's Bob Anderson says that the improvement is due partly to a 4% decrease in drug overdose deaths.

BOB ANDERSON: This is the first time that drug overdose deaths - the number of deaths has declined in 28 years, since 1990.

CHATTERJEE: That decline was mostly for deaths involving natural and semi-synthetic³ opioids.

ANDERSON: This includes drugs like oxycodone, which are commonly available by prescription⁴. We saw declines in deaths involving methadone and even heroin⁵.

KATHRYN MCHUGH: It's certainly good news to see these numbers decrease for the first time in decades.

CHATTERJEE: Kate McHugh is a psychologist at McLean Hospital and Harvard University.

MCHUGH: I think these numbers suggest that some positive news is starting to come out of the many efforts to try to stem the tide on overdoses. But we certainly can't take our foot off the gas.

CHATTERJEE: That's because, she says, the improvement was modest. And more than 67,000 people still died from drug overdoses in 2018.

MCHUGH: Sixty-seven thousand deaths is still a tremendously high number of fatalities⁶.

CHATTERJEE: Many of those deaths were due to synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, which have continued to claim a growing number of lives in recent years. The new report also found rising death rates due to cocaine⁷, methamphetamine and other stimulants⁸. And the CDC's Bob Anderson points out that people are now increasingly using a mix of drugs.

ANDERSON: It's fairly common to see fentanyl and methamphetamine, for example, or fentanyl and cocaine mixed together.

CHATTERJEE: That's a big cause for concern, says Dr. Dan Ciccarone, an addiction⁹ medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

DANIEL CICCARONE: The crisis deepens because of the poly-drug phenomenon.

CHATTERJEE: In order to curb¹⁰ the rise in all overdose deaths, he says, a new approach is needed.

CICCARONE: We have to move away from this understanding that we're just going to treat it as, let's stop the opioid pills; let's stop the excess prescribing.

CHATTERJEE: Ciccarone says there's a need to address what's driving the demand for these drugs.

CICCARONE: There's a large amount of social, economic, spiritual despair in this country.

CHATTERJEE: Addressing that despair, he says, can prevent more people from turning to these drugs in the first place.

CICCARONE: That means healing our communities, making them less fragmented, working on social isolation¹¹, working on economic development, working on parts of the country that are still kind of left behind.

CHATTERJEE: Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR News.

1 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。

2 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

3 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

4 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

5 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

6 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

8 stimulants   

n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 )；含兴奋剂的饮料；刺激物；激励物

参考例句：

• Coffee and tea are mild stimulants. 咖啡和茶是轻度兴奋剂。
• At lower concentrations they may even be stimulants of cell division. 在浓度较低时，它们甚至能促进细胞分裂。 来自辞典例句

9 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

10 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

11 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。