VOA标准英语2012--US Cancer Deaths Decline

US Cancer Deaths Decline

 

U.S. cancer deaths continue to drop, according to the American Cancer Society. The new report shows a slow reduction in death rates from the most deadly kinds of cancers.

Over the past five years, the death rate for men declined by about 1.8 percent a year. Cancer deaths in women were down a bit less - 1.6 percent a year.

Much of the improvement came from lower death rates from lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women.

The biggest decline was in African-American and Latino men, though African-Americans still have a higher cancer death rate than whites.

Although there are overall improvements in these statistics, American Cancer Society epidemiologist Edgar Simard says the picture is not completely rosy¹.

"We know that for the past 50 years, at least, we've seen dramatic declines in the most common cancers in the U.S. But for some cancers, the incidence rates are actually increasing."

Fewer people are dying of lung or breast cancer, but the occurrence of rare cancers is on the rise in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.

Those increases mainly came in the less-common cancers, such as pancreas and liver, plus some kinds of skin and esophageal cancers and those associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV).

In some cases, the cancer rate varied² by gender³ and race or ethnic⁴ group. "And then we saw broad increases in cancer of the thyroid and kidney for men and women of almost every racial and ethnic group," Simard says.

It's not entirely⁵ clear why some cancer rates are on the rise, but he says there may be a link in some cases to increasing rates of obesity⁶.

1 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

2 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 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。