(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
A new study has found that excessive alcohol drinking costs Americans more than $220 billion a year, that amount is equal to almost $2 a drink. But study organizers believe the biggest costs come from a loss of worker productivity.
Robert Brewer works for America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a public health agency. He helped to produce a report on the study.
The researchers used findings from 2006 to examine different costs linked to heavy drinking. They looked at results from around the United States and found a lot of variation in different parts of the country.
Alcohol-related costs include health care, the cost of trying cases for drinking-related crimes, and property damage from road accidents.
Robert Brewer says the biggest cost is lost productivity. Many people with a drinking problem have lower-paying jobs. He says they may also be less productive when they are at work.
"In addition to that, a number of people die of alcohol-attributable conditions. And many of those folks die in the prime of their life. So there's the personal tragedy there. But there's also a huge economic cost to somebody dying, for example, in an alcohol-related motor vehicle crash at age 35."
The researchers were mainly concerned about the cost of heavy alcohol use. The study didn't look at the effect on individuals who drink a glass of beer or wine with dinner. Mr Brewer says the largest costs come from binge drinking when people drink a lot of alcohol in a short period of time.
The study was based on the economic costs of heavy drinking in the United States, but Mr Brewer says many nations have problems with what the World Health Organization calls "harmful use of alcohol."
"But I think that it is very reasonable to assume that harmful alcohol use is going to result in some of the same consequences in other countries, even if the costs associated with those consequences are different."
The study on the economic costs of excessive alcohol use was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Two years ago, a British medical examiner ruled that singer Amy Winehouse died as a result of drinking to much alcohol. Winehouse was only 27 years old. Tests show that she died after drinking enough alcohol to put her blood alcohol level at more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. The award winning singer had a well documented battle with drinks and alcohol.
And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English. Go to our website voaspecialenglish.com to leave comments on our reports and to find more stories for people learning American English. I'm Christopher Cruise.
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.productivity n. 生产力；生产率；生产能力
Scientific inventions such as these have raised labour productivity by a big margin.
诸如此类的科学发明， 都大大提高了劳动生产率。
2.variation n. 变化；[生物] 变异，变种
The survey found a wide variation in the prices charged for canteen food.
这项调查发现不同的餐厅出售食物的价格存在很大的差别。
3.attributable adj. 可归于…的；可归属的
10,000 deaths a year from chronic lung disease are attributable to smoking.
每年1万个慢性肺病患者的死亡可能是由于吸烟导致的。
4.prime n. 初期；青年；精华；全盛时期
We've had a series of athletes trying to come back well past their prime.
我们有不少早已过了鼎盛时期的运动员在试图复出。
5.binge n. 狂欢，狂闹；放纵
She went on occasional drinking binges.
她偶尔狂饮一番。
内容解析
1.A new study has found that excessive alcohol drinking costs Americans more than $220 billion a year, that amount is equal to almost $2 a drink.
equal to 等于；胜任
Helen is quite equal to Jack in brains.
在智力方面海伦和杰克完全不相上下。
She is not equal to the task.
她胜任不了这项工作。
2.Two years ago, a British medical examiner ruled that singer Amy Winehouse died as a result of drinking to much alcohol.
as a result of 因此，由于；作为…的结果
She died as a result of her injuries.
她由于受伤而死亡。
He was made king as a result of various intrigues.
由于搞了各种各样的阴谋，他当上了国王。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
一项新研究发现，过量饮酒每年使美国人花去2200亿美元以上，相当于每杯酒近两美元。但研究组织者认为最大的成本来自劳动者生产力的损失。
罗伯特·布鲁尔就职于美国疾病控制与预防中心，这是一家公共卫生机构。他帮助撰写了这项研究的报告。
研究者使用了2006年以来的发现结果，来调查与过量饮酒相关的各种成本。他们研究了美国各地的结果，发现本国不同地区的差异。
与饮酒相关的成本包括医疗、审理与饮酒相关犯罪的成本、以及道路事故造成的财产损失。
罗伯特·布鲁尔说最大的成本是生产力的损失，很多酗酒者的工作收入不高，他说这些人在工作时的生产力可能也很低。
“除此之外，很多人死于与饮酒相关的问题，很多人在壮年死去，因此这是个人的悲剧。但死者也造成了巨大的经济损失，比如，35岁的人因酗酒死于摩托车事故。”
研究者主要关注酗酒的成本，这项研究并不关注就餐时喝上一杯啤酒或红酒的个人。布鲁尔说最大的成本来自豪饮，就是在短时间内大量饮酒。
这项研究基于美国酗酒的经济成本，但布鲁尔说许多国家存在世界卫生组织所谓的“有害使用酒精”的问题。
“但是我认为这样去思考也是合理的，即有害饮酒在其他国家也会产生同样的后果，即使这些后果的成本是不同的。”
这项对酗酒经济成本的研究发表在《美国预防医学杂志》上。
两年前，一名英国验尸官裁定，歌手艾米·怀恩豪斯死于过量饮酒，她当时年仅27岁。化验显示她的饮酒量足以使她的血液酒精水平达到法定酒后驾车限量的5倍，因此死亡。这位获奖歌手曾经努力戒过酒。
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道，登陆我们的网站给我们留言，并找到更多有关节目，我是克里斯多夫·克鲁斯。
