VOA标准英语2011--Heavy Coffee Drinkers Less Likely to Get

Heavy Coffee Drinkers Less Likely to Get Lethal¹ Prostate Cancer

A new study finds that men who drink a lot of coffee are less likely to develop potentially fatal prostate cancer. It's the latest study to show a beneficial effect from one of the world's favorite beverages².
The study included about 50,000 men who reported their coffee consumption in questionnaires every four years. Over more than two decades, the moderate coffee drinkers were somewhat less likely to develop any form of prostate cancer. But lead author Kathryn Wilson of the Harvard School of Public Health says the real difference showed up when the researchers looked at the most serious prostate cancers.
"Men who drink six or more cups of coffee per day had a 60 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer than men who drank no coffee," she says. "And we saw this reduction in risk for both regular and decaffeinated coffee."
Coffee is a chemically complex brew³, full of antioxidants and other compounds that may affect the development of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men worldwide, killing⁴ about a quarter-million people a year. Wilson says it's unclear what component⁵ or components⁶ in coffee may be reducing the prostate cancer risk - that's a target for future research.
In the meantime, she says it's too soon to say that men should drink more coffee just to reduce their risk of aggressive prostate cancer. But she says there is a growing body of scientific evidence that coffee confers a variety of real health benefits.
"It's not harmful in terms of heart disease or stroke, and it seems possibly protective for liver cancer, and it's also associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes⁷. So I think evidence is accumulating that coffee is at least not harmful and possibly beneficial for some health conditions. And so, you know, I think that's a source of relief to a lot of coffee drinkers."

1 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

2 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

3 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

6 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

7 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。