VOA标准英语2010年-UN: Eight Percent of Afghan Population

A United Nations study released Wednesday says drug use is increasing in the developing world, and a report released earlier this week showed particular problems in Afghanistan, the world's largest opium¹ producer. The U.N. says nearly 8 percent of Afghanistan's population suffers some form of addiction², and many of those using drugs are children.

The U.N. study finds nearly one million Afghans between 15 and 64 years old are suffering from some form of drug addiction. That's roughly 8 percent of the war-torn country's population. Over a four year period, the number of regular opium users jumped 53 percent. And the number of regular heroin³ users jumped a staggering 140 percent.

"What we are seeing here is another demonstration⁴ -- the availability of drugs generates its own addiction," said Antonio Maria Costa, who is with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Another disturbing statistic⁵, nearly 50 percent of adult drug users in Afghanistan's north and south gave opium to their children, an indication, Costa says, that a generation of Afghan children are at risk.

Jason Campbell, with the Rand Corporation, a think tank in suburban⁶ Washington, says Afghan and international officials must tackle both the source and the consequences of the nation's drug problem. "First, is to continue to stress the importance of trying to grow alternative crops. As far as addiction goes, start looking more, again, at some of the treatment opportunities, options, because they seem to be largely non-existent right now," he said.

Campbell says Afghan and world leaders must look at the socio-economic factors fueling drug use. "The study alludes⁷ to things such as hopelessness, the lack of medical care. These are all things that you know if your people have something to live for, the economy starts getting stronger, they start having access to basic medical care, they are going to be overall less likely to turn to drugs," he said.

One major problem: some 700,000 Afghans have no access to drug treatment. Only 10 percent have received treatment. Ninety percent of those surveyed felt they needed help.

Campbell says an aggressive approach used to combat drug use among Afghan security and police forces might work elsewhere. "Over the last few months, there have been a number of training centers open that are exclusively for members of both the Afghan National Army and the Afghan national police force, and I would say that drug usage and illiteracy⁸ are two of the big problems within the security forces that NATO has really made a big priority now. What remains⁹ to be seen is whether this will have a long-term effect, positive effect on the security forces, and maybe are there ways we can replicate¹⁰ some of these treatment programs to be more inclusive of the general public," he said.

Campbell says Afghanistan's drug problem will take decades to tackle. And it won't go away until the Afghan people understand how it directly affects them.

"You look at a lot of interviews with farmers and they basically say 'Look, I grow the opium. Someone collects it. I get paid and I get to feed my family.'  To them, for the most part, that drug goes out internationally, to the West and it really doesn't have a personal connection to them. But as you said, if you start seeing people in your village, and even relatives, succumb¹¹ to addiction, that might again help to make them more receptive to trying to grow these other crops that are a better part of forming a stronger society," he said.

In the meantime, the social costs to Afghanistan's population are rising. The U.N. says they include loss of productivity and family income, as well as violence, security problems and traffic and workplace accidents.
 

1 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

2 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

3 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

4 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

5 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

6 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

7 alludes   

提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the vegetable kingdom Mr. Mivart only alludes to two cases. 在植物界中，密伐脱先生仅提出两点。
• Black-box testing alludes to test that are conducted at the software interface. 黑箱测试是指测试软件接口进行。

8 illiteracy   

n.文盲

参考例句：

• It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。
• We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

11 succumb   

v.屈服，屈从；死

参考例句：

• They will never succumb to the enemies.他们决不向敌人屈服。
• Will business leaders succumb to these ideas?商业领袖们会被这些观点折服吗？