VOA慢速英语2010年-Health Report - For Black Men in US, H

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A neighborhood barbershop might seem to some Americans like a thing of the past. Today men often get their hair cut at the same salons¹ as women.

But the traditional barbershop still holds a special place in black culture. A barbershop is a place of trust where men can talk about things they might not want women to hear. This is why black-owned barbershops increasingly offer more than just a haircut. Men also receive health education and testing that could save their life.

Right now a program called the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program is traveling to fifty cities across the United States. A doctor started the program in California in two thousand seven. It tests men for diabetes², high blood pressure and other conditions, and provides information about how to stay healthy.

Black men are three times more likely than white men in the United States to die from high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. They are also more likely to get diabetes.

A new study has examined the barbershop health-care model in Dallas, Texas. The study involved about one thousand three hundred customers at seventeen black barbershops.

Dwight Woods has his blood pressure checked by Meghan Welsh at Flotrin's Barber Shop in St. Louis in this file photo

Researchers had the barbers at eight of the shops continue to just give haircuts. The other barbers learned how to measure blood pressure and offered it with every haircut.

If a customer had a high blood pressure, the barber would intervene³. The customer would be urged to see a doctor. If the man did not have a doctor, then a visit to one would be set up. Customers who went to a doctor would get their next haircut free of charge.

The study lasted ten months. All of the men had their blood pressure taken at the start. They also received educational materials about hypertension.

The study found that blood pressure rates decreased at the shops where the barbers intervened⁴ and also at those where they did not. But the difference was in the amount.

Twenty percent of the men who were urged to see a doctor got their blood pressure down to a healthy level. So did only eleven percent of the men who just got haircuts.

Researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles did the study, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Doctor Ronald Victor, the study leader, says barbers historically were members of the medical profession. So he thinks it makes a lot of sense for today's barbers to act as "health care extenders" by sharpening their skills.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁵. You can comment on our reports on our website, voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember
 

1 salons   

n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅

参考例句：

• He used to attend to his literary salons. 他过去常常去参加他的文学沙龙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Conspiracy theories about Jewish financiers were the talk of Paris salons. 犹太金融家阴谋论成为巴黎沙龙的话题。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 intervene   

vi.干涉，干预，干扰，阻挠

参考例句：

• When riot broke out,the police were obliged to intervene.发生暴乱时，警察有责任干预。
• You don't intervene between those two drunks.你不要在那两个酒鬼之间进行调解。

4 intervened   

阻碍( intervene的过去式和过去分词 )； 出面； 插嘴； 介于…之间

参考例句：

• The President intervened personally in the crisis. 总统亲自出面处理这场危机。
• We enjoyed the picnic until a thunderstorm intervened. 那次野餐我们玩得很痛快，后来一场暴风雨使它中断了。

5 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。