(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
Cigarette smoking kills. That we know. So, manufacturers made electronic cigarettes as a safer smoking choice - safer than tobacco.
E-cigarettes contain the drug nicotine like cigarettes. But they do not use tobacco. And you do not light them. They are powered by battery.
So, if e-cigarettes are so safe, why have poison control centers around the United States seen an increase in telephone calls about e-cigarette poisonings?
The answer is children.
Most of the calls are from people worried about children who have played with the devices. In the period of one month this year, the United States Centers for Disease Control say 215 people called the Center with e-cigarette concerns. More than half of these calls were for children ages five and younger. The devices apparently had made them sick.
Tim McAfee is director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. He says the problem is regulation. Meaning, the U.S. federal government does not control e-cigarettes even though they contain liquid nicotine. Mr. McAfee adds that liquid nicotine is a well-known danger.
"Nicotine historically has been used as a pesticide in the United States. And that's where we have really had for many, many decades significant poisonings when people got exposed to nicotine that was in liquid solutions."
Mr. McAfee explains that nicotine poisoning happens when the substance gets into the skin, gets into the eyes or is swallowed. Even a small amount, he says, can make a person sick.
Nicotine poisoning can cause stomach pain or a sense of unbalance. Headaches and seizures are also common signs of nicotine poisoning. And too much nicotine can kill.
Tim McAfee says e-cigarettes do not create the level of risk to people that tobacco products do. He notes that almost 500,000 Americans die each year from cigarettes.
"So, cigarettes are the winner in that contest. And we don't really know what's going to happen with e-cigarettes."
E-cigarettes do not contain hundreds of harmful chemicals that are found in real cigarettes. So, the U.S. Surgeon General has suggested that e-cigarettes may be a useful tool for adults trying end their tobacco use, or quit.
But McAfee worries that teenagers may think electronic cigarettes are harmless. They could become addicted, or hooked, on the nicotine and then start smoking real cigarettes. In other words, he fears that for young people fake e-cigarettes could be a "gateway" to the real thing.
And that's the Health Report. I'm Anna Matteo.
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词汇解释
1.nicotine n. [有化] 尼古丁；[有化] 烟碱
Nicotine produces a feeling of well-being in the smoker.
尼古丁能让吸烟者产生一种愉悦的感觉。
2.pesticide n. 杀虫剂
This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.
这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。
3.seizure n. 没收；夺取；捕获；（疾病的）突然发作；癫痫
Police have made one of the biggest seizures of heroin there's ever been.
警方这次缴获的海洛因是迄今为止数目最大的几宗之一。
4.hooked adj. 钩状的；吸毒成瘾的；入迷的 v. 用钩固定；捉住（hook的过去分词）
Many of the leaders have become hooked on power and money.
很多领导人都变得迷恋权力和金钱。
内容解析
1.And that's where we have really had for many, many decades significant poisonings when people got exposed to nicotine that was in liquid solutions.
exposed to 接触；暴露于
The gold medalist has been widely exposed to the public on television.
这位金牌获得者在电视上广泛地向公众露面。
The broken windows left us exposed to the sub-zero temperatures.
破窗子使我们置身于零下温度的严寒之中。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
吸烟能致命，我们都知道这一点。所以厂家生产了电子香烟来作为安全的吸烟选择，比香烟要安全。
电子香烟和香烟一样含有尼古丁药物，但电子烟不用烟草，不用点燃它，电子烟是靠电池驱动的。
那么，如果电子香烟是安全的，那么为何美国各地的毒品控制中心收到越来越多的有关电子香烟中毒的电话呢？
答案是孩子们。
大多数电话是那些担心孩子玩电子香烟设备的家长打的，美国疾病控制中心称今年一个月内就有215人打给中心表示担忧电子香烟。其中一半以上的电话是为五岁及以下儿童而打，这些设备显然能让孩子们致病。
蒂姆·迈克菲是疾病控制中心的香烟与健康办公室主任，他说问题出在监管上。这意味着美国联邦政府未能控制电子香烟，即使它们含有液态尼古丁。迈克菲说液态尼古丁是众所周知的危险。
“历史上美国一直用尼古丁作为杀虫剂，因此在几十年来当人们接触液态尼古丁时就会发生严重的中毒。”
迈克菲解释说当这种物质进入皮肤、眼睛或被吸食后就会发生中毒，他说即使是很小的量也会让人生病。
尼古丁中毒能导致胃疼甚至平衡感丧失，头痛和癫痫也是尼古丁中毒的常见病症，太多的尼古丁还能致命。
蒂姆·迈克菲说电子香烟产生的风险不及烟草产品，他说每年有近50万美国人死于烟草。
“因此，香烟是这场比赛的赢家，我们不知道电子香烟会产生什么后果。”
电子香烟并不含有真正香烟中含有的数百种有害化学物质，因此美国外科医生一般建议成年人用电子香烟来作为戒烟的有用工具。
但迈克菲担心青少年可能认为电子香烟是无害的，他们可能会沉迷于此，然后吸真正的香烟。也就是说，他担心电子香烟可能让青年人真正走上吸烟之路。
这就是健康报道，我是安娜·马特奥。
