英语听力文摘 English Digest 468、流产和乳腺癌

Abortion and Breast Cancer

When it comes to certain hot topics, claims about what science has or hasn’t proven tend to be thrown around more in the service of one position or another than anything else.

Somebody may tell you that global warming is absolutely real, for example, and then someone else says it absolutely isn’t. Often it’s hard to know what the real scoop¹ is.

Take abortion, for example. Now, we here at Moment of Science aren’t taking a position on abortion one way or another. What we can do, though, is set the record straight on a particular notion that has been floating around recently: namely, the idea that having an abortion increases a woman’s risk for breast cancer. Is this true?

No, it isn’t. This is the latest word from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, where in February of 2003 a meeting of researchers, clinicians, and epidemiologists was convened² at the behest of Congress to answer this and other questions.

Some initial studies had suggested a link, but more comprehensive studies disagreed. Congress wanted to set the record straight. The NCI looked at all the data and announced: no link.

However, they also announced, having a baby reduces a woman’s risk of breast cancer. Why is that? It isn’t yet known, but the data strongly support a link there–young women who have full term pregnancies³ are at lower risk.

So let’s say it again. Having an abortion doesn’t increase your cancer risk, but having a baby does decrease it. People on either side of a controversial topic like this probably would like the facts to be a little simpler, but then, mother nature isn’t taking sides.

注释：

set the record straight 澄清问题，弄清真相，纠正误解
breast cancer 乳腺癌
at the behest of 在...命令下

 

1 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

2 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

3 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。