VOA慢速英语20060307b

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Greenland's Glaciers² Are Moving Faster, Melting Faster Into the SeaBy George Grow and Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Tuesday, March 07, 2006

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty³. This week: Climate warming and the effects on ocean levels ...

VOICE ONE:

The effects of war on soldiers ...

VOICE TWO:

Marriage through sickness and health ...

VOICE ONE:

And fighting chronic⁴ diseases.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

A new study has examined the loss of ice from glaciers in Greenland. It found that the amount of ice that drops into the Atlantic Ocean has increased almost one hundred percent in the past five years.


Glaciers and icebergs⁵ in Greenland as seen in August 2005

Glaciers are slow-moving mountains of ice. Researchers say the ones in southern Greenland are melting faster because they are moving faster. They say rising temperatures appear to be the cause.

The American study used recent changes in glacier¹ speed to estimate the ice loss for almost all of Greenland. The results appeared in Science magazine. They were also reported last month at the yearly meeting of the American Association for the Advancement⁶ of Science.

VOICE ONE:

Eric Rignot is a researcher in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. He says glaciers take a long time to form and melt, but they can react quickly to temperature changes.

He says he is concerned that current estimates of Greenland's ice loss fail to consider the speed of glacial ice falling into the sea. This means ocean levels could rise faster than scientists have estimated.

Mister Rignot and Pannir Kanagaratnam of the University of Kansas used satellite observations to confirm the glacial speeds. They found that ice from Greenland is responsible for a rise of about one-half millimeter in ocean levels every year. Worldwide, ocean levels are rising about three millimeters a year.

VOICE TWO:

The air temperature in southeastern Greenland has risen by three degrees Celsius⁷ during the past twenty years. For the past ten years, the glaciers in southeastern Greenland have been largely responsible for increases in glacier flow from the island. Mister Rignot says glaciers farther north have increased speed since the year two thousand. He says the northward⁸ spread of mild weather might be responsible.

He also notes that scientists do not yet fully⁹ understand the complex processes by which glaciers gain speed.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Social connections are important to a person's health. A study with older people demonstrates this. It shows how the health of one person in a marriage can affect the health of the other.

The study is the largest of its kind to look at how sickness in one person affects the risk of death in the other. It involved more than one million people in the United States. They were between the ages of sixty-five and ninety-eight.

VOICE TWO:

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania did the study. They examined the effect of a major sickness in one person on the risk of death in a care-giving partner. They also examined the effect of the death of a wife or husband on the risk of death in the other person.

The researchers considered these two effects together. They studied cases where a husband or wife was sick enough to require hospital treatment. They found that some conditions affect a partner more than others do.

VOICE ONE:

For example, the study found almost no effect on a man's risk of death if his wife had colon¹⁰ cancer. But if she had heart disease, the man's risk of death was twelve percent higher than if his wife were healthy. And the risk increased twenty-two percent if his wife were being treated for dementia, a mental disorder¹¹.

The scientists say they found similar effects in women whose husbands were being treated. But there was a difference. The scientists found that if a husband became mentally disabled, the effect on his wife was even worse than if he had died.

VOICE TWO:

The study confirmed that sickness or death in one partner has an especially large effect on the other person within the first thirty days. This risk of dying early in reaction to a partner's death is commonly known as the widower¹² effect.

The New England Journal of Medicine published the results. The research began in nineteen ninety-three and continued for nine years. The National Institute on Aging supported the study.

VOICE ONE:

Paul Allison is chairman of the Sociology Department at the University of Pennsylvania. He says it was surprising that highly deadly diseases, like lung cancer, had little effect on the risk of death for a partner. By comparison, mental disorders¹³ led to big increases in the partner's risk of death. The explanation is that having to care for someone with a mental condition places a great responsibility on the partner.

In a separate but related study, Harvard sociologists Felix Elwert and Nicholas Christakis looked at race in connection with the widower effect. They say that while it is common in whites, they saw no effect in African-Americans. They say this could suggest that blacks families are more densely¹⁴ connected and help care for the surviving partner.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

You are listening to SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. Researchers have gone back in time to examine the physical and emotional effects of war on soldiers.

They studied soldiers who fought in the American Civil War. They chose that war because the medical history is complete. All of the soldiers are dead. The Civil War took place from eighteen sixty-one to eighteen sixty-five. The Union army defeated the Confederacy in the South.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, did the study. The Archives of General Psychiatry¹⁵ published the results.

VOICE ONE:

The researchers studied medical and military records of fifteen thousand Union soldiers. All of the soldiers received physical examinations before they joined the army. Government doctors also recorded the medical history of soldiers after the war.

Conditions are named in words of the time. For example, doctors used the term soldier's heart to describe the physical and emotional effects of the war. Now, they would call it post-traumatic stress disorder.

Military companies with higher rates of soldiers killed had higher rates of disorders among the survivors¹⁶. The study found that these soldiers were fifty-one percent more likely to develop heart, stomach and nervous system disorders.

VOICE TWO:

The researchers say the youngest men had the worst medical records. These were men who had joined the army when they were seventeen or younger. After the war, the youngest men had the highest risk of dying early.

Some soldiers joined the army when they were as young as nine. Others joined when they were seventy or older.

The researchers say the effects seen in the nineteenth century are likely to be true for twenty-first century soldiers as well.

Professor Roxane Cohen Silver led the study. She says the records show that horrible war experiences are linked to what she calls a lifetime of increased physical disease and mental health difficulties.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The World Health Organization says chronic diseases lead to about seventeen million early deaths each year. Chronic diseases are the world's leading cause of death. These include heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes¹⁷ and lung disorders. The W.H.O. expects them to claim to more than three hundred eighty million lives by two thousand fifteen.

The United Nations health agency says about eighty percent of the deaths will happen in developing nations. Victims are often in their most productive years. Experts point out that more middle-aged¹⁸ people die from chronic diseases in poorer countries than in wealthier ones.

VOICE TWO:

The W.H.O. is seeking international action to reduce deaths from chronic diseases. Up to eighty percent of these deaths are considered preventable. Health officials say one important tool for governments is to restrict the marketing¹⁹ of alcohol and tobacco to young people. Also, more programs are needed to urge healthy eating and more physical activity.

The goal is to save thirty-six million lives by two thousand fifteen.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by George Grow and Cynthia Kirk. Avi Arditti was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Internet users can read and listen to our programs at www.unsv.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America

1 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

2 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

3 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

4 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

5 icebergs   

n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The drift of the icebergs in the sea endangers the ships. 海上冰山的漂流危及船只的安全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The icebergs towered above them. 冰山高耸于他们上方。 来自辞典例句

6 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

7 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

8 northward   

adv.向北；n.北方的地区

参考例句：

• He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
• I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• 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。

11 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

12 widower   

n.鳏夫

参考例句：

• George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
• Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。

13 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

15 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。

16 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

17 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

18 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。

19 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。