美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Says Administration Working On 'Very Very Strong' Policies To Combat Opioids

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

A couple hundred people gathered in the White House's East Room today. They came to get an update on the Trump¹ administration's response to the opioid crisis. President Trump declared the crisis a public health emergency back in October. He dropped in on the session today. NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith reports.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE²: The White House summit on opioids started with remarks from first lady Melania Trump.

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MELANIA TRUMP: Everyone in this room knows that our country is in the middle of the opioid crisis, and I'm so proud of the work that this administration has already done to combat this epidemic³. We all know there is still much work to be done.

KEITH: Many in the room had lost family members to addiction⁴ or were in recovery themselves. The president announced the emergency declaration last fall and around the same time accepted the detailed⁵ recommendations of a commission he assembled to look into the problem. But today's session spent as much time highlighting the challenges as outlining progress and solutions. Alex Azar is the secretary of Health and Human Services.

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ALEX AZAR: One-third of our treatment facilities in America have medically assisted therapy. That's unacceptable. We need - it's a proven, evidence-based approach. And we need to use this funding we're getting to build up more medically assisted treatment facilities.

KEITH: The funding he mentioned was part of the budget deal Congress struck earlier this year. Exactly how the several billion dollars in new funding will be distributed is still to be worked out. When it was time for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to speak, he was fired up.

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JEFF SESSIONS: We're going to make a difference. I just tell you. I believe it. I can sense it already in some of the policies that are ongoing⁶ out there.

KEITH: This week, the Justice Department announced it would be joining states that are suing drug manufacturers, something advocates say is both a surprising and positive step. Sessions and several others talked about the synthetic⁷ opioid fentanyl, which is cheap, easy to transport even through the U.S. mail and in recent years has spiked⁸ the overdose death rate. Counselor⁹ to the president Kellyanne Conway is directing the White House response to the opioid crisis.

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KELLYANNE CONWAY: I would imagine most of America suffers from information underload when it comes to fentanyl, for example, which took the lives of 20,000 Americans last year. And if 20,000 Americans were dying every single year from almost anything, we would stop and turn our attention to that immediately.

KEITH: At the very end of the three-hour summit, President Trump made a quick appearance. The president called onto stage a friend of his, Steve Witkoff, who had lost his son to an overdose.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Would you want to just discuss this because we're all among friends here? You know, it's a tough thing to discuss, right? But I was there when he was going through something with a very special boy, right?

STEVE WITKOFF: Yes.

TRUMP: Go ahead.

WITKOFF: I remember the hug you gave me when the world - when I was - when I felt all was lost.

KEITH: Among those in attendance was Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University. He was listening for something more tangible¹⁰ than what he ultimately heard.

ANDREW KOLODNY: They're getting an A-plus for talking about the problem. They're getting an F or a D for responding to the problem. We have yet to see action. We've yet to see a plan. We've yet to see the money that we need to build out a treatment system that doesn't exist yet.

KEITH: And until it's just as easy to get effective treatment as it is to get more drugs, Kolodny says way too many Americans will keep dying. In 2016, more than 42,000 died from opioid-related overdoses. Tamara Keith, NPR News, the White House.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 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。

5 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

7 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

8 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

9 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

10 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。