VOA慢速英语2010年-Health Report - Bringing Attention to

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

This Friday is World Suicide Prevention Day. This year's observance is meant to bring attention to the differences among suicidal individuals and their situations around the world.

But the organizers also say that all over the world, people have something in common. They need to feel connected to others for good mental health.

The organizers include the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization.

The World Health Organization says that every year about one million people kill themselves. It says suicide is one of the top three causes of death among people between the ages of fifteen and forty-four.

Among people age ten to twenty-four, suicide is the second leading cause of death, after road accidents.

Lanny Berman is president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. He points out that suicide rates differ from country to country, as do common ways that people kill themselves. As a result, he says, prevention efforts must fit with local needs.

Brigadier General Stephen Townsend speaks to soldiers at Fort Campbell, Kentucky about suicide prevention last year

LANNY BERMAN: "The focus is on the primary methods of suicide in developing countries which have been pesticides², pesticide¹ poisoning and overdose. And there have been some significant efforts to develop prevention programs to reduce the use of pesticides, the availability and accessibility of pesticide."

Mr. Berman says findings from agricultural areas of Sri Lanka, India and China show promise. They show that programs are helping³ to limit access to these poisons.

LANNY BERMAN: "In China, particularly rural or farm women die by suicide by overdose of pesticide. And by creating lock boxes and making it more difficult to have easy accessibility to pesticides, we've been able to show that we can reduce the use of pesticides and thereby⁴ the rate of suicide."

There are often clear warning signs before a suicide attempt. Lanny Berman says individuals usually talk about the idea before they try it.

LANNY BERMAN: "When somebody communicates that they are thinking about suicide, threatening suicide, writing about it, in some way communicating that they have suicide on their brain, that indication should be taken seriously."

Another warning sign, he says, is a sudden increase in the use of drugs or alcohol. Warning signs also include expressions of hopelessness or a sense of feeling trapped.

Mr. Berman says the risk of suicide can be more difficult to identify in children. They generally communicate more with other children than with adults. But the other children often do not understand the messages.

As a result, he says, when children speak of suicide, other children rarely report it.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁵. You can post comments and find transcripts⁶, MP3s and podcasts of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

 

1 pesticide   

n.杀虫剂，农药

参考例句：

• The pesticide was spread over the vegetable plot.菜田里撒上了农药。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

2 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

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。

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句