VOA标准英语2011--Americans Die Sooner than Others in Indu

Americans Die Sooner than Others in Industrialized Countries

A new analysis of life expectancy¹ around the world finds Americans are lagging behind other industrialized countries, and also identifies vast disparities within the United States itself.
Life expectancy for American men was about 75.5 years in 2007, the most recent year reported. That put the U.S. in 37th place, behind Australia, Japan, Canada and many European countries. American women fare better, with a life expectancy of almost 81 years. But the global ranking has steadily² fallen over two decades, putting U.S. female life expectancy also in 37th place among almost 200 countries and territories.
Ali Mokdad is a professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation³ of the University of Washington, which compiled the life expectancy data. He says increases in life expectancy have lagged in the United States compared with other countries.
"We've seen an improvement almost everywhere in the world, and in countries that are developed, we're seeing a higher improvement, a faster improvement rate, than we are seeing in the United States."
Mokdad says the reason is that America has made less progress in reducing risk factors that can shorten life, such as obesity⁴ and high blood pressure.
The report highlights substantial disparities within the United States, too.
Color-coded maps show life expectancy in each of the nation's 3,000-plus counties. Red and orange signify the shortest projected life span and those colors cluster together in the South.
That's the region where lower socioeconomic status and high rates of health risk factors; plus more limited access to quality medical care all contribute to shorter lifespans.
"Less education, less income in some of these rural counties, more likely to be smokers⁵, more likely to be obese," Mokdad says. "They don't have health insurance or they don't have adequate access to health care, and the quality of medical care is not as good as well."
In the United States, many public health responsibilities are local, not national. Some communities restrict smoking in the workplace. Some have bicycle paths. Some organize farmers markets.
"So programs like this are efficient. They work. They change the environment. And this is a long-term investment, like you build a school, you're going to see the impact of that school 20 years down the road. The same for public health: a long-term investment in their community to increase physical activity and improve diet are needed in this country."

1 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

2 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

3 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

4 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

5 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。