VOA慢速英语 2009 0113b

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week, we will tell about cancer. Health experts say it will soon become the world's leading killer¹. We also will present evidence of a suspected link between tobacco smoke and behavioral problems in boys with asthma². And, we will tell about an effort to count all of the world's sea life.

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VOICE ONE:
　

Cancer research in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in a 2007 photo

Health experts say cancer will become the leading cause of death in the world by the year two thousand ten. An agency of the World Health Organization released a report on cancer last month. Health experts predicted the number of people who die from cancer will soon be greater than deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis³ and malaria⁴ combined. The experts say more people will die from cancer than heart disease, the current leading killer.

The report says one reason for the growing deadliness of cancer is more people smoking cigarettes in developing countries. The report says forty percent of the world's smokers⁵ are believed to live in China and India alone.

Other things are believed to have an effect. They include high fat diets, fast food meals and reduced physical activity.

VOICE TWO:

The WHO report says an estimated twelve million people will be found to have some form of cancer this year. It predicts that more than seven million people will die early from the disease. And, more than five million of the new cancer cases will involve people in developing countries.

The number of cancer cases and deaths from cancer are expected to increase one percent each year. Experts are predicting the largest increases will be in China, Russia, and India.

VOICE ONE:

Without new treatments, the WHO said, the number of new cancer patients could increase to twenty-seven million a year by twenty-thirty. The number of them who die each year from the disease could reach seventeen million.

A few kinds of cancer are more common in some areas. For example, the rate of breast cancer in Japan, Singapore and Korea is now three times what it was forty years ago. Stomach cancer has become more common in some areas where food is often not stored in a cold place.

VOICE TWO:

Another report says the number of men and women dying from cancer has dropped in the United States. It was the first reported drop in American cancer cases and deaths since the nation began collecting such information.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the report last month. It said the drop was mainly the result of fewer cases of lung, prostate and colorectal cancer in men. In women, it resulted from fewer cases of breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

VOICE ONE:

The American Cancer Society says governments can do things to help prevent the increase in cancer cases and deaths. One idea is to provide poor and developing nations with vaccines⁶ that help to prevent some cancer-causing infections. One example of a cancer causing infection is human papillomavirus. This virus can cause cervical cancer in women.

Another suggestion is more support for tobacco-control programs. And the Cancer Society also says health officials and governments should invest in cancer research and early detection.

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VOICE TWO:

An American study has shown a link between tobacco smoke and behavioral problems in boys with asthma. The problems include higher than normal levels of excitability, aggression⁷ and depression.

Researchers with the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center carried out the study. They examined two hundred twenty boys and girls. All of the children were between six and twelve years old. Sixty-one percent of them were boys. Fifty-six percent were African-American.

Seventy-seven percent of the children had moderate to severe asthma. The other boys and girls had milder forms of the breathing disorder⁸. Each child had no other health problem.

VOICE ONE:

To be considered for the study, children were supposed to be close to cigarette smoke at least five times a day. The researchers asked parents to estimate the number of cigarettes smoked near each child. The average was thirteen cigarettes a day.

The researchers tested blood from the children for evidence of cotinine, a tobacco byproduct. Cotinine levels in blood are often used to measure exposure to tobacco smoke. The researchers compared cotinine levels to behavioral problems that parents observed in the children during a two-week period.

VOICE TWO:

The study found the girls were breathing in more tobacco smoke than the boys. But there was no increase in behavioral problems among the girls. For the boys, the results were different. The more contact the boys had with tobacco smoke the more likely they were to have recognizable behavior problems, such as extreme excitability and aggression. The boys also were more likely to have signs of emotional problems like anxiety and depression.

The researchers say more studies are needed to learn the reason for the different effects of tobacco smoke on boys and girls. They say their findings show that even low levels of smoke may cause behavior problems in children with asthma or others at risk.

VOICE ONE:

Kimberly Yolton was the lead writer of the report. She says there is no information to explain in detail why tobacco smoke causes behavioral problems in children with asthma. But she says there is much evidence that nicotine⁹ in tobacco smoke affects the nervous system, and child development and behavior.

The report appeared last month in the Journal of Development and Behavioral Pediatrics.

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VOICE TWO:

For the first time, researchers are creating a complete count of the world's sea life. The project, called the Census¹⁰ of Marine¹¹ Life, is to be carried out over ten years. The census is to be finished in two thousand ten. Researchers from more than eighty countries are involved in the project. It is being paid for jointly¹² by governments, businesses and other groups.

Recently, the researchers announced some of their findings. Bob Gagosian works for the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in Washington, D.C. He helps to supervise¹³ the project.

BOB GAGOSIAN: "There are about two thousand scientists worldwide involved. Just about every country is involved in some way. Everywhere they have gone they have found new things. The ocean basically is unexplored from the point of view of marine organisms."

VOICE ONE:

That was Bob Gagosian of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. Researchers have placed small markers on hundreds of fish and marine animals. This lets them watch their movement by satellite and identify the areas where sea creatures gather.

Ron O'Dor is a scientist with the Census for Marine Life. He says current knowledge of life on the ocean floor is especially limited.

RON O'DOR: "Ninety percent of all the information we have is from the top hundred meters of the ocean."

VOICE ONE:

That was Ron O'Dor of the Census for Marine Life. He says the sea floor is, on average, four thousand meters deep. So scientists are using robotic devices that can dive far below what people have seen in the past. They are now discovering strange, new species¹⁴ of plants, animals and organisms surviving near hot currents that come out of the ocean floor.

VOICE TWO:

Among the project's findings is one that a group of Antarctic islands are richer in animal life than the world famous Galapagos Islands.

A report in the Journal of Biogeography describes how a team from the British Antarctic Survey and University of Hamburg searched the South Orkney Islands. The team spent seven weeks searching the South Orkney Islands in two thousand six. They searched as deep as one thousand five hundred meters underwater. The species they found were compared to information gathered over the past century. The team found the islands and nearby waters are home to more than one thousand two hundred known species.

VOICE ONE:

Since the census began, more than five thousand three hundred new marine animals have been identified. Scientists have found a new species of blind lobster¹⁵ and giant bacteria, to name a few. In all, researchers say they hope to find examples of two hundred thirty thousand species during the census. Some say that is still only a small percentage of all the creatures living in the sea.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Lawan Davis and Brianna Blake, who also was our producer. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

3 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

4 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

5 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

6 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

7 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

8 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

9 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

10 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

13 supervise   

v.监督，管理，指导

参考例句：

• We must supervise and speed up the fulfilment of assigned tasks.已经布置了的工作，应当认真督促检查。
• Tomorrow he will supervise all the pupils taking the English examination.明天全体学生考英语，他将担任监考。

14 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

15 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。