VOA常速英语2007年-First Global Cancer Figures Released

By Jessica Berman
Washington
18 December 2007

The first estimate of cancer deaths worldwide concludes that 2007 will close with 7.6 million deaths as a result of the disease.  According to the report called "Global Cancer Facts and Figures," 12 million new cancer cases will have been diagnosed by year's end. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.

"Global Facts and Figures" is published by the American Cancer Society, which analyzed¹ data gathered by the society and government agencies around the world. 

Of the 12 million new cases of cancer, the report estimates that the final tally² will show nearly seven million newly diagnosed cancer cases and 4.7 million deaths occurred in economically developing countries.

In men, the most commonly diagnosed cancers in developing countries are of the lung, stomach and liver, while the most common in women are breast, cervical and stomach cancers. 

American Cancer Society chief medical officer Otis Brawley says cancer rates are going up in the developing world as infectious diseases are being successfully treated and life span is increasing.

"There is increased life expectancy³ in these developing countries and cancer, of course, being a disease of older people, we are starting to see it more," he said.

Dr. Brawley adds cancer rates are rising in countries where economies are improving and people are eating Western diets that have been linked to an increased risk of cancer.

Dr. Brawley says that in southeast Asia, lung and liver cancer predominate.  In China, he says there are increasing rates of colon⁴ and prostate cancer.  And in Africa, Dr. Brawley says doctors are seeing more cases of Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer that is linked to HIV and AIDS, and lung cancer associated with smoking.

Dr. Brawley says many of the cancers are preventable, such as lung and oral cancers caused by tobacco. 

A special section of the report addresses tobacco, saying it has been responsible for about 100 million deaths in the 20th century and could kill more than one billion people in this century, many of them in the developing world. 

Dr. Brawley says more aggressive anti-tobacco campaigns, which have been successful in the United States, could reduce cancer rates in the developing world.

The report notes that infection is responsible for approximately 15 percent of all cancers in the developing world.  

Human papilloma virus (HPV) has been linked to cervical cancer, the h. pylori bacterium⁵ can lead to stomach cancer and hepatitis is a risk factor for liver cancer.

Dr. Brawley says there are opportunities to act:

"...like the HPV vaccine⁶, where we can easily prevent [cervical] cancer, and then start looking at hepatitis vaccination⁷ and trying to prevent some liver cancers," he explained.  "Those are the things we can positively⁸ affect in the shortest amount of time."

Experts say survival rates from cancer in the developing world could also be improved through screening and early detection, when cancer treatment is most likely to succeed.   Currently, survival rates are lower in the developing world than in the West.

1 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

3 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

4 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

5 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

6 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。

7 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

8 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。