VOA标准英语2009年-Researchers Urge Cell Phone Users to Take

By Laurel Bowman
Washington
17 September 2009

Most would argue that cell phones have changed our lives for the better. They have enhanced personal security, quickened emergency response and given us the ease of instant communication. But the radiation they emit could be placing us at risk for cancerous brain tumors.

 
Cell phone
They are the symbols of our time.

Cell phones. From Europe, to Asia to the Middle East, four billion people use them worldwide.

In this Chinese film, aptly titled "Cell Phone," a man's life is destroyed by his cell phone when he forgets it at home. His wife discovers it and his affair with a younger woman.

A Senate Hearing this week didn't deal with people's private lives.

International researchers and U.S. lawmakers looked at whether radiation emitted from cell phones will kill you.

They did agree that some studies have linked heavy, long-term cell phone use to cancer of the brain.

Physician Siegal Sadetzki advises Israel's Health Ministry².

"I believe that cellphone technology which has many advantages is here to stay," Sadetzki said. "The question that needs to be answered is not whether we should use cell phones but how we should use them."

Health warnings to cell phone users have been issued by governments of several countries.

Dr. Linda Erdreich represents the $4 trillion wireless³ industry. She says there's no need for concern.

"The current evidence does not demonstrate that phones cause cancer or other adverse⁴ health effects," Dr. Erdreich said.

 
Teresa Gregorio
But Teresa Gregorio's experience raises questions. She says she used a cell phone, beginning in the mid-1990's, even giving up her land line. Bad news came in 2008. She has an inoperable brain tumor¹.

"I had used a cell phone for 2-3 hours a day right here on my right side, right where my tumor was or is," she explained.

270 million people in America use cell phones. Seventy percent of teens or pre-teens have them. Younger children are even more vulnerable.

"Radiation gets much more deeply into the head of a 5-year-old or a 3-year-old than it does into that of an adult," Epidemiologist Devra Lee Davis explained.

She says children, because they have thinner skulls⁵, are more at risk. "The science needs more work," she said, "but I want to ask are we really prepared to risk our children's brains until we find out for sure whether this is a hazard?"

Although results of studies on a cancer link are contradictory⁶, scientists are urging consumers to be safe rather than sorry.

The idea is to keep the phone away from the body. Use earphones or a headset, keep your phone on your belt-- not in your pocket.

Texting is better. It keeps the radiation down and the phone further away from you.

Senator Tom Harkin chaired the hearing. He says he's just beginning to ask questions.

"I am reminded of this nation's experience with cigarettes. Decades passed between the first warnings about smoking tobacco and the final definitive⁷ conclusion that cigarettes cause lung cancer," Harkin said.

1 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

4 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

5 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

6 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

7 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。