美国国家公共电台 NPR The Forces Driving Middle-Aged White People's 'Deaths Of Despair'

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

For years, it was almost a given - the annual mortality rate in the United States would generally decline. So it was a pretty big shock when a report came out more than a year ago showing death rates were actually going up for middle-aged¹, white Americans. At the time, the numbers did not explain why, but the authors now believe they better understand these deaths. They are calling them deaths of despair. The authors, Ann Case and Angus Deaton, are economists² at Princeton University.

Welcome to you both.

ANGUS DEATON: Thank you.

ANN CASE: Hi, it's good to be with you.

GREENE: Professor Deaton, let me start with you. If you could just take us back to when you originally discovered this trend that middle-aged, whites in the United States, the death rate was increasing. Why did this surprise you? Why was it so significant?

DEATON: Mortality rates have been going down over a hundred years or more. And then for all of this to suddenly go into reverse, we thought it just must be wrong. And in fact, we spent weeks checking our numbers because we just couldn't believe, A, that this had happened or, B, that (laughter) if it had happened, someone else must already had noticed.

GREENE: Well, Professor Case, let me bring you in here. In what way have you solved the mystery now? What might be causing this?

CASE: Well, what we've been able to document is that what we see with these deaths of despair has been accompanied by reduced labor³ force participation⁴, reduced marriage rates, increases in reports of poor health, of poor mental health. So we are beginning to thread a story in which it's possible it's consistent with the labor market collapsing⁵ for people with less than a college degree, and then in turn, that having effects on the kind of economic and social supports that we usually think people need in order to thrive.

GREENE: I guess we should stress that, you know, we are just talking about people who are white who are seen as doing better economically than minorities in this country. So what is the comparison when we look at the death rates, you know, that you're seeing among white Americans versus⁶ African-Americans?

DEATON: Well, it's always been true that mortality rates have been higher and life expectancy⁷ shorter for African-Americans than for whites. What is happening now is that that gap is closing. If you compare whites without a B.A., their mortality rates are now higher than mortality rates for African-Americans as a whole. It's as if poorly educated whites have now taken over from blacks as the lowest rung in society in terms of mortality rate.

GREENE: And does it matter where you live? I mean, I was sort of astonished that some of the worst death rates you're seeing might be, say, in the city of Baltimore or might be in a rural community in West Virginia.

CASE: Yeah. We were surprised by that as well. There's a stereotype⁸ when people think about drug overdose or they think about these deaths of despair, their minds might turn to Appalachia. And it certainly is a problem in West Virginia, in Kentucky, in Tennessee, but it's also a problem in Baltimore City, for example. There's not a part of the country that has not been touched by this.

GREENE: Well, take this all together and tell me what story this tells about our country at this moment.

DEATON: Well, we're thinking of this in terms of something that's really been going on for a long time. And we think of this as part of the decline of the white working class. You know, if you go back to the early '70s when you had the so-called blue-collar aristocrats⁹, those jobs have slowly crumbled¹⁰ away. And many, many more men are finding themselves in a much more hostile labor market with lower wages and lower quality jobs. You know, there's a sense in which these people have lost the sense of status, the sense of belonging. And, you know, these are classic preconditions for suicide.

GREENE: And we should say, this is - if you compare the United States to other comparable countries, wealthy countries, I mean, this is not being seen in other parts of the world.

DEATON: That's right. You see tiny traces of it. Canada thinks they have an opioid problem, for instance. We saw some of it in Scotland at some point when we looked. But there - when you put it on the same picture as the U.S., the U.S. just dwarfs¹¹ it. It may be to do - Europe has a much more advanced social safety net than we have in the U.S., which of course we're in the process of taking apart, making an even further gap from what happens in Europe.

GREENE: Angus Deaton and Ann Case, thank you to you both.

DEATON: OK. Thank you.

CASE: Good to be with you.

GREENE: They are Princeton University economists, and their study on mortality rates of white, middle-age Americans was released today.

1 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

2 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

5 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

6 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

7 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。

8 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

9 aristocrats   

n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many aristocrats were killed in the French Revolution. 许多贵族在法国大革命中被处死。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To the Guillotine all aristocrats! 把全部贵族都送上断头台！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

10 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

11 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句