美国国家公共电台 NPR The Scary Sound Machine That Is 'Trying To Set People A Little Bit Off-Kilter'

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is an alarming number. More than 140 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. That's according to the CDC. And today, President Trump¹ will make an announcement about the opioid crisis, but it's still not clear what that will entail². The president first said he would declare a national emergency in August, but the proposal has stalled. NPR's Greg Allen reports on what happened to the plan.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE³: When President Trump announced two months ago that he'd declare opioids a national emergency, like many, Dr. Andrew Kolodny expected immediate⁴ action.

ANDREW KOLODNY: If you're calling something an emergency, you expect people to act urgently and to respond as if it's an emergency.

ALLEN: Kolodny co-directs the opioid policy research collaboration⁵ (ph) at Brandeis University. He says it's been frustrating⁶, waiting for the administration to deliver a plan for a crisis Trump first acknowledged on the campaign trail when he was running for president. After taking office, President Trump appointed a commission to study the opioid crisis, headed by New Jersey⁷ Governor Chris Christie.

In an interim⁸ report, the commission called on the president to declare a national emergency, a measure that would free up funds for treatment, ensure wider access for the anti-overdose drug naloxone and improve monitoring of opioid prescriptions⁹ to prevent abuse.

In August, days before the president said he'd declare a national emergency, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price said he didn't think one was necessary. Flash forward two months, though, and Tom Price is gone. Dr. Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry¹⁰ at Stanford University and a former adviser¹¹ in the Obama administration, notes that Price was not a friend to addiction¹² treatment programs.

KEITH HUMPHREYS: When he was a congressman¹³, he opposed the parity¹⁴ law, which required insurers to cover addiction treatment. He was very skeptical¹⁵ of methadone maintenance, which is a very good treatment for heroin¹⁶ addiction. So having him out of the way is a potential plus.

ALLEN: In a policy change, the director of the Food and Drug Administration yesterday told a congressional committee, the agency will begin working to promote medication-assisted treatment using methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone to help addicts¹⁷ in recovery. That's significant because some states currently won't pay for some of those treatments.

Advocates will be listening for what, if anything, the president says about that - also, whether he'll use his authority to negotiate cheaper prices for treatment drugs, including naloxone. But in the president's address today, advocates say the key issue will be what he says about funding. Congress is currently spending $500 million a year on addiction treatment programs. Andrew Kolodny says to help the more than 27 million Americans abusing opioids, much more is needed. He puts the price tag at $6 billion each year.

KOLODNY: You want that opiate-addicted individual to be able to access effective outpatient treatment more easily than they can get pills, heroin or fentanyl.

ALLEN: Kolodny criticizes the Obama administration for being slow to acknowledge opioids, a crisis, he says, that began in 1996 and which the CDC declared an epidemic¹⁸ in 2011. President Obama's HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, agrees.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Did we do enough? Probably not. Recognizing how widespread this was, what factors were contributing to it, would've been helpful a number of years ago.

ALLEN: And Sebelius says it might've prevented many overdose deaths. Sebelius notes that the Affordable¹⁹ Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid greatly expanded addiction treatment coverage²⁰. If President Trump is serious about tackling opioids, she says, his first step should be to stop fighting to repeal²¹ Obamacare. Greg Allen, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO'S "A WALK")

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 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

3 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。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

6 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

8 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

9 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

10 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

11 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

12 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。

13 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

14 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

15 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

16 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

17 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

18 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。

19 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

20 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

21 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。