VOA慢速英语 Health Report - Male Circumcision Reduces Chances of

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Male circumcision is the cutting off of a small amount of skin from the tip of the penis. In many parts of the world it is done when a baby is a few days old. However, in other parts of the world it is unacceptable.

Studies have shown that male circumcision can reduce a man's risk of getting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Now, a new study shows that it can also reduce a man's risk of getting human papillomavirus, or HPV. The research also shows circumcision reduces the risk for another common sexually transmitted infection, genital herpes. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
　
A man waits for a circumcision in Mbabane, Swaziland

The study was led by scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and Makerere University in Uganda. It involved about three thousand four hundred uncircumcised Ugandan men between the ages of fifteen and forty-nine. None had HIV, genital herpes or HPV at the start of the study. The men were split into two groups. One group got immediate² circumcisions. The others had it done two years later.

All the men were tested for sexually passed diseases four times in the next two years. The researchers found that those who had been circumcised were twenty-eight percent less likely to get genital herpes than uncircumcised men. They were thirty-three percent less likely to get HPV.

Ronald Gray of Johns Hopkins was a lead investigator³. He says the team will now study whether female partners of the men in the study experienced any reduction of risk of the diseases. This is especially important in the case of human papillomavirus.

HPV causes cervical cancer. That disease kills almost three hundred thousand women around the world every year. It is the number one cancer killer⁴ of women in poor countries.

There is a vaccine⁵ against the human papillomavirus. American medical officials have advised that the treatment, called Gardasil, be given to girls around age eleven. But, like circumcision, it is an issue of public debate. Some American parents argue that the vaccine will make their girls more likely to have sex early. Others question the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

Now, Gardasil's maker¹, Merck, has asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug for boys beginning at age nine. The complete treatment costs several hundred dollars.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁶. I'm Bob Doughty⁷.

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 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。

3 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

4 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

5 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

6 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。

7 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。