VOA标准英语2012--Doctors Report Rise in Obesity-Related Cancers in US

Doctors Report Rise in Obesity¹-Related Cancers in US

The American Cancer Society says in its annual report that fewer Americans are dying of cancer, but doctors are seeing more patients with cancers linked to obesity, including pancreatic and kidney cancers. And while breast cancer patients are living longer, the risks of developing this type of tumor² are rising along with the growing rates of obesity.

For many people, a cancer diagnosis³ is no longer a death sentence.

Former U.S. presidential candidate Herman Cain was diagnosed six years ago with stage-four colon⁴ cancer. Tumors had already spread to his liver. Cain was given a 30 percent chance of survival. But after having surgery and undergoing chemotherapy, Cain says his cancer went into remission.

The American Cancer Society's annual report shows that death rates from cancer in the U.S. have continued to fall. Between 2004 and 2008, cancer death rates for men went down nearly two percent a year; for women they declined about one-and-a-half percent each year.

Over a longer period of time, from 1990 through 2008, cancer death rates plunged⁵ almost 23 percent for men and just over 15 percent for women. That translates to a million lives saved.

But doctors are reporting more cases of esophageal, pancreatic, liver and kidney cancer. Obesity is a risk factor for these types of cancers and for breast cancer as well. It's also a risk factor for a number of chronic⁶ diseases, including Type 2 diabetes⁷.

At the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian focuses on the connection between diet and chronic diseases.

"Most of my focus has been on diet, because the bang for your buck⁸ for changing your diet is really profound," Mozaffarian noted⁹.

And Dr. Mozafarrian believes that just as growing numbers of Americans have quit their smoking habits, they can beat the obesity trap, and avoid the cancers and other diseases that result.

"We've had huge success in this country with smoking," added Mozaffarian. "We've gone from about 55 percent smokers¹⁰ to 25 percent smokers in about 40 years."

For close to 50 years, the U.S. government has adopted policies to discourage people from taking up smoking and to encourage smokers to quit. The policies include education campaigns, high taxes on tobacco product sales and laws against selling tobacco to anyone under the age of 18. The new Cancer Society report says the resulting drop in lung cancer deaths accounts for almost 40 percent of the decline in overall cancer deaths.

Dr. Mozaffarian says public health officials should use the anti-smoking campaign as a model to get people at risk of obesity to improve their diets.

"It's not going to happen in a year, but in a decade or two, if we really have a sustained understanding of the impact of diet on health in this country and the economic burdens that it causes, we really could have a sea change, and relatively¹¹ quickly," said Mozaffarian.

And the result, he predicts, will be a decline in the number of obesity-related deaths.

1 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。

2 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。

3 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

4 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

5 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

8 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

9 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。

10 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。

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。