时间:2019-02-03 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(九月)


英语课
By Melinda Smith
Washington
17 September 2007
 






Laughter has special benefits for the elderly



The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released figures that show Americans are living longer.  Experts attribute the longevity 1 to better treatment for heart disease, cancer and stroke -- and also that Americans may be taking better care of themselves.  But as VOA's Melinda Smith reports, the U.S. lifespan is still behind the longevity rates of some other countries.


America in the 1950s: the average life expectancy 2 of a baby born in 1955 was 69 years old.


Forty years later -- in 1995 -- longevity in the United States was up to 76 years of age. 


The latest numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics put life expectancy at a new high.  A baby born in 2005 -- the latest year for records compiled in the U.S. -- can now expect to live at least to 78 years.


Robert Anderson of the National Center for Health Statistics says it is part of a decades-long trend. "Over a century, life expectancies 3 [have] increased and I don't really have any reason to expect that it won't continue to do so."






elderly couple on bicycles



Americans are living longer






Doctors believe the longevity rate is up because fewer people are smoking and more people are taking medications to cut back levels of cholesterol 4 and blood pressure.  The result:  lower death rates from heart disease, stroke and cancer of the lung, breast and colon 5.


Dr. Bruce Johnson is with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. He says, "People are listening. They are getting themselves screened.  They are having their cancers identified at an earlier stage, when more effective treatments are available, and they are also seeking treatments to prevent it from coming back."


Americans also seem to have gotten the message that exercise is good for the body and brain, says dance teacher Lynne Osborne. "Use it or lose it.  [exercise often].  And that is very, very true."


While many Americans are living longer, they are not living as long as people in some other countries.  The United States is way behind Japan, Singapore, much of Europe and Jordan.  Researchers say socialized medical care, available to all in many countries, is a major factor.  In the United States, there are still a number of Americans who cannot afford the cost of private health insurance.


Those babies born a half century ago -- who are part of the baby boom generation born after World War Two -- are now getting old.  Experts say that may be why there has been an increase in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, two diseases that often occur among the elderly.




n.长命;长寿
  • Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
  • Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。
n.期望,预期,(根据概率统计求得)预期数额
  • 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。
期待,期望( expectancy的名词复数 )
  • Each of us came with his own expectancies. 我们每个人都有自己的希望。
  • In fact, modern lifestyles are actually exacerbating the gap between male and female life expectancies. 实际上,现代生活方式确实加大了男女寿命差别的鸿沟。
n.(U)胆固醇
  • There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
  • They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。
n.冒号,结肠,直肠
  • 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。
学英语单词
-hemia
a basket
apophylactic phase
Arts and Crafts Movement
auricular gangrene
banker's draught
Beeroth of the children of Jaakan
beish
Bereznik
bubble proof
cabtire cord
centerboards
chorales
classicals
closes out
cochloitis
comparative income statement
contractibleness
cottonmouth moccasins
crebs
cubicula
cut the grass under someone's feet
Denmark Str.
disdainingly
due west
earth pressure
eccentric error
echo flutter
employee withholding payable
family dactylopteridaes
five-layer
Foucault rotating-mirror method
gas-phase chemiluminescence
grazing facilitation
hangtime
heat of mixture
horsewhips
hypertonia hypertropy
I spy
ILS terrian clearence
inharmonious fold
integrity vs. despair
interest upon loans
intraosteal
key-sequenced data set
Maradah
medical supplies
melchisedec
message separation function
micronizers
microphytophagous mites
monestrous
moving spirit
multi- resistance
multi-shuttle ribbon loom
mus tenellus
neutron leakage spectrum
old women's fable story
on-let
out-length
output formatter
Pan'kova Zemlya, Poluostrov
partial differential equation
pentamerus
phenolphthalein test
pitch accents
Pleasant Dale
potein-free solution
protein-free filtrate
prototyping technique
re-record
reticular part
revolving line of credit
Rooker
row-bowls
separating sieve
simulately
Singapore Shipping Association
smoothline
straight debt value
stress fracture of fibula
stretto by diminution
suspended camera
system tester
tere
tetraiodotetrachlorofluorescein
Thomas' pessary
to consist of
town-centre
TPT (time priority table)
training board
trevalion
triple deck screen
unbung
vertebrochondral
vestibule train
vibration isolating material
victomycin
West New Britain Prov.
whamo
yuglon
Zirobwe