VOA标准英语2012--Study Finds Removing Polyps Saves Lives

Study Finds Removing Polyps Saves Lives

Colon¹ cancer normally starts with growths called polyps inside the intestine².
Previous studies have shown that removing polyps can prevent colon cancer from developing.
The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirms that.
Researcher Ann Zauber’s study involves patients with a kind of polyp, known as an adenoma, that can develop into cancer.
"The adenoma is a precursor³ lesion for colon cancer, and if you remove that adenoma, then you can reduce the chance of having colon cancer and also prevent colon cancer deaths," she says.
Zauber, a biostatistician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and her team reviewed 2,600 cases in which patients had these pre-cancerous polyps removed. Then, they compared their death rates to the overall death rate.
"So we took a high-risk population [with] adenomas, and compared it with the general population, which had a proportion of it with adenomas, and showed that we were more than 50 percent lower than the general population rate."
Specifically, there was a 53 percent lower death rate among those who had a colonoscopy and removal of the pre-cancerous adenomas.
"The take-home message," Zauber says, "is that if you have adenomas removed, you get a long-term benefit. And that should mean good reassurance⁴ for people to have colon cancer screening."

1 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。

2 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

3 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

4 reassurance   

n.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
• Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。