VOA慢速英语 2007 1114b

HEALTH REPORT - Diabetes¹ Called a Growing Worldwide Epidemic²
By Barbara Klein / Broadcast: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:00:00 UTC
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Today is World Diabetes Day, part of a campaign to urge governments to do more to fight the disease. Organizers warn of a diabetes epidemic affecting two hundred forty-six million people worldwide.

Last December the United Nations passed a resolution to observe World Diabetes Day every November fourteenth. The International Diabetes Federation³ and the World Health Organization began the event in nineteen ninety-one. The federation is an alliance of diabetes groups. It also has partnerships⁴ with drug companies.

People with diabetes have too much glucose⁵, or sugar, in their blood. The body changes food into glucose for energy with the help of insulin, a hormone⁶. In diabetics, the body produces little or no insulin or has trouble using the insulin that is produced.

As a result, too much glucose remains⁷ in the blood instead of entering cells. Over time, the disease can cause blindness, kidney disease and nerve damage. It also can lead to strokes and heart disease.

People with type one diabetes need insulin injections. Many with type two do not. Instead, it can be controlled through diet, exercise and treatment. And people may be able to prevent it.

Dr. Francine Kaufman

This year's World Diabetes Day campaign is about children and adolescents. One of the organizers is Doctor Francine Kaufman. She traveled around the world for a film called Diabetes: A Global Epidemic. The Discovery Health Channel will show it on Sunday.

Type two diabetes used to appear mostly in adults, but now more and more children have it. Doctor Kaufman says it is spreading as more people rise out of poverty in developing countries -- for example, India.

FRANCINE KAUFMAN: They're in cars all day long, and they've got satellite dishes outside their houses. They are eating more food, and more westernized food and getting overweight and developing diabetes.

She says another place where diabetes is spreading is South Africa.

FRANCINE KAUFMAN: We were in the townships and people were overweight. There is more food available than has been in the past. And people are getting on buses and going to offices and not necessarily being as physically⁸ active as they have been in the past.

Doctor Kaufman says solutions must be developed country by country and patient by patient. In Brazil, for example, a health clinic holds dances to get diabetes patients more active. Doctor Kaufman says the message of World Diabetes Day is that the disease is manageable and, in the case of type two diabetes, preventable.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Barbara Klein.

1 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

2 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

5 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。

6 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。