VOA慢速英语 2009 017a

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

More than twenty of the fifty American states ban smoking in public places. Many other states have partial bans. And many local governments have their own restrictions¹.

A new study has found the strongest evidence yet that smoke-free laws can reduce a major effect of tobacco -- heart disease.

The study took place in Pueblo², Colorado. In July of two thousand three that city banned smoking in public places and workplaces.

In the year and a half before the ban, hospitals had three hundred ninety-nine admissions for heart attacks. In a similar period starting eighteen months after the ban, the number was two hundred thirty-seven. That was a decrease of forty-one percent.

The study found that heart attack admissions have continued to fall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report on the findings. C.D.C. official Janet Collins says breathing secondhand smoke has immediate³ harmful effects on a person's heart-and-lung system. Over the long term, secondhand smoke also raises the risk of disease in nonsmokers. Each year in the United States, secondhand smoke kills an estimated forty-six thousand nonsmokers from heart attacks.

The researchers found no considerable change in the number of heart attacks in areas near Pueblo without smoking bans. Doctor Terry Pechacek at the C.D.C. says the findings should persuade every country that smoking in enclosed spaces is very dangerous to nonsmokers.

Adults may think they are protecting children from secondhand smoke when they smoke outside their home or only when the children are not there. But now researchers led by Doctor Jonathan Winickoff at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston are warning about what they call "third-hand smoke."

When you smoke, he says, dangerous matter from tobacco smoke gets into your hair and clothing. Then, when you come into contact with a baby, the baby comes into contact with those toxins⁴.

The researchers did a study of adult beliefs about the possibility of health risks to children from third-hand smoke. People who agreed that environmental smoke was harmful to children's health were more likely to have restrictions on smoking in their homes. The findings appear this month in the journal Pediatrics.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁵. Transcripts⁶, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句