VOA标准英语2010年-Survey: No HIV Testing for .. of Briti

A new survey carried out by the MAC AIDS Fund shows three-quarters of women in Britain are unaware¹ of their HIV status, and the organization says it's a trend found around the world.

Women in Britain are not getting tested for HIV because, according to the survey, they don't think they are at risk.

American singer Cyndi Lauper is a spokesperson for MAC's campaign to support people with HIV and AIDS.

Speaking in London she told VOA that women around the world need to know that everyone is at risk of contracting HIV, even women with only one sexual partner.

"In the UK, you know, 76 percent of women are not tested - they haven't tested themselves," she noted².  "And women in monogamous, supposedly monogamous, relationships don't test."

1,000 women were surveyed for the poll. Over 80 percent said they had sex without using a condom. Over 60 percent of those women said it was because they were in an exclusive sexual relationship.

Lauper says women have to be tested regularly so that the disease can be caught early on.

"If you don't know you don't have early intervention³. And the earlier the interventions⁴, the earlier you find out, the better off you are," she added.

HIV progresses faster in women than men with similar levels of HIV in their blood. This, experts say, makes it especially important that women are diagnosed early on. 

Lauper was joined in London by a group of HIV-positive women from the national AIDS charity Positively⁵ Women.

Silvia Petretti says she was shocked when she found out she had HIV.

"This has always been publicized as the other people disease - HIV is something that's happening in Africa, it's happening to gay men, it's happening to drug users… So HIV is something that is happening there to somebody in a far away country," she explained.

Nancy Mahon is executive director of the MAC AIDS Fund. She says many women still don't feel like they have the power to negotiate safe sex.

But, she says, condoms are crucial in the fight against HIV.

"In seat belt safety, we know people are going to speed and one of the ways that we've reduced traffic deaths is we've added seat belts," noted Mahon.  "So condoms are the seat belts of AIDS."

According to the Britain-based HIV Charity the Terence Higgins Trust, over 7,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in the UK in 2008, that's almost three times the number a decade ago.
 

1 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

4 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

5 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。