(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
WHO: Drowning Among Top Causes of Death in Children
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle report.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says drowning is among the top five causes of death for children under the age of 15.
The United Nations agency also found that boys and girls living near open water sources, such as ponds and irrigation ditches, are especially at risk.
How serious is the problem in Asia?
Other studies have shown that, on average, drownings kill at least one child every 15 minutes somewhere in Asia.
Children in Asia are especially at risk in extreme heat during the summer and during the monsoon or rainy season.
Monsoon rains have already begun in western Asia. Heavy rains in Pakistan recently were blamed for killing around 100 people, including women and children.
The Asia-based group Alliance for Safe Children says drowning rates in developing countries are 10 to 20 times higher than those in developed countries.
The Alliance's survey found that Bangladesh has the highest rates of child drownings: almost 17,000 a year.
Vietnam followed Bangladesh with more than 11,500 child drownings a year. In Thailand, about 2,600 children drown each year.
Thailand's Disease Control Department recently reported that more than 10,000 children drowned from 2006 to 2015. That number represents a rate of 10 drownings a day.
In China, information for most provinces is not available. But in Jiangxi province alone, the Alliance discovered evidence of more than 4,600 child drownings a year. That is also a rate of 10 deaths every day.
What can help?
Bill Kirby of Australia won a gold medal as a swimmer in the 2000 Olympics. He now leads swimming classes and training programs in Asia, mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Kirby told VOA that governments and swimming organizations can work together to campaign for improved water safety.
"One of the first steps is actually to create a national body that looks after water safety, whether it be like [Australia's] Royal Life Saving or a Swim Australia or whatever it is -- that can actually get a lot of stakeholders together, get some government funding and promote water safety."
Kirby adds that swimming associations in Asia need to be better organized.
"I think, one of the things with the Asian countries, they're still yet to be as organized as the swimming associations or swimming bodies are like in the Western world, which probably had more time to be organized and have had government funding and they see the importance of it."
He adds that this is especially important in areas that experience what he calls "massive" flooding. He uses the word downpour to mean heavy rainfall.
"Massive flooding whether it's in Pakistan at the moment or I know in [the Indonesian capital of] Jakarta every year or every two years, they have such big floodings where all the waste goes into the waterways and they have a massive downpour and it floods, creating more opportunity for kids to drown."
Officials in Thailand have called on parents to teach children how to swim. They are also asking parents to keep a close watch on their children, especially during what they call the "risky" period: between the middle of the day and sunset.
The World Health Organization and others are urging countries to push for water safety and survival skills.
The WHO says measures should include:
making barriers to control access to water;
providing safe childcare for very young children away from water sources;
teaching water safety and rescue skills.
The WHO adds that governments need to guarantee safe boating and rules for passenger boat services. It warns that governments also need to improve flood risk management.
I'm Anna Matteo.
词汇解析
1.at risk 处于危险
Were those patients now at risk?
那些病人现在是否处于危险之中呢?
2.on average 平均;通常
Our reps make on average six calls a day.
我们的销售代表平均每天打六次电话 。
3.rainy season 雨季
We may expect muggy weather when the rainy season begins.
雨季开始时, 我们预料有闷热的天气 。
4.developing countries 发展中国家
In many developing countries the supply of workers far exceeds the demand.
在许多发展中国家劳动力的供给远远超过需求 。
内容解析
1.Bill Kirby of Australia won a gold medal as a swimmer in the 2000 Olympics.
gold medal 金牌
In the Olympic Games the winner will get a gold medal.
在奥运会上优胜者得到一枚金牌 。
He was awarded the gold medal for being the fastest runner.
他跑得最快,因而获得了金牌 。
2.They are also asking parents to keep a close watch on their children, especially during what they call the "risky" period: between the middle of the day and sunset.
keep a close watch on 密切关注
You must keep a close watch on the prisoners.
对这些犯人, 你们必须加意提防 。
We must keep a close watch on the development of the financial market."
我们必须密切注意金融市场的发展 。
参考译文
溺水成15岁以下儿童死亡的杀手
这里是VOA慢速英语健康生活频道 。
世界卫生组织称溺水是15岁以下儿童五大死因之一 。
该机构还发现住所周围有池塘或灌溉水渠等开放水域的儿童尤其危险 。
亚洲的溺水问题有多严重?
研究发现:亚洲地区平均每十五分钟就有一个孩子因溺水死亡 。
每逢夏季及雨季,炎热的环境导致亚洲儿童溺水的危险倍增 。
西亚地区已迎来季风雨 。近日,巴基斯坦的强降雨已造成100多人死亡,其中多数为妇女和儿童 。
总部位于亚洲的儿童安全联盟表示,发展中国家儿童溺水率是发达国家的10-20倍 。
联盟公布的报告显示,孟加拉国是儿童溺水率最高的国家,每年有17000名儿童溺水死亡 。
其次是越南,每年超11500名儿童溺水死亡 。而泰国每年儿童溺亡数量为2600 。
泰国疾病控制部门最近报道称,2006年到2015年共有1万名儿童溺水死亡 。该数据意味着平均每天有10名儿童因溺水死亡 。
而在中国,多数省份的相关信息并不齐全 。江西省每年有4600名儿童溺亡 。相当于每天有10名儿童溺水而死 。
如何解决这一问题?
澳大利亚的Bill Kirby在2000年奥运会上夺得游泳比赛金牌 。他现在在印尼、马来西亚开设了游泳班及训练项目 。
Kirby在接受VOA采访时表示,政府和游泳机构可以携手改善水域方面的安全 。
他还补充说,亚洲游泳机构的组织协调性尚待提高 。
泰国政府呼吁父母教孩子学游泳 。同时要求父母随时注意孩子动向,尤其是“危险”高发时段:中午到傍晚 。
世界卫生组织及其他公益组织呼吁各国加强水域安全防护,提高生存技能 。
世界卫生组织提出以下几点:
在水域周围设置护栏;
安全看护低龄儿童,避免其靠近水源;
教授水域安全知识和急救相关技能 。
世界卫生组织称,政府需保证船只航行安全,完善船只行驶的相关规定 。同时,政府需提升管理洪水风险的能力 。
我是安娜·马特奥 。
译文为可可英语翻译,未经授权请勿转载!
