VOA标准英语2011--Premature Babies Have Higher Death Rates

Premature¹ Babies Have Higher Death Rates in Young Adulthood²

早产儿成年后死亡风险高
Premature babies have more than their share of health problems early in life and now a new study finds they also face an increased risk of premature death well into adulthood.
早产儿生命早期出现健康问题的可能性比较大。现在，一份新的研究发现，他们在成年后出现早夭的风险也比较大。
Premature babies are more common now than they were a few decades ago in the United States and many other countries, and medical advances mean that even very premature babies are more likely to survive. But does early birth have an impact on health when those babies grow up?
在美国和其他国家，早产儿比十多年前更加普遍。医疗方面的进步意味着早产儿存活下来的几率更大。但是，早产对这些婴儿成年后的健康状况有没有影响呢？
To find out, Stanford University researcher Dr. Casey Crump and his colleagues used a database of 670,000 people born in Sweden in the 1970s.
为了查明这一点，斯坦福大学研究人员Casey Crump医生和他的同事使用了70年代在瑞典出生的670,000人的医疗记录。
"We found that people who were born preterm had a higher risk of dying in young adulthood than those who were born full-term," Crump says. "And that risk of mortality increased the earlier in pregnancy³ that one was born."
“我们发现，早产者比足月出生者在刚刚进入成年的时候死亡的风险更高。提早出生的时间越长，死亡的风险越高。”
Even a baby born just a couple of weeks early had an increased risk of death decades later.
即使提早出生几周的婴儿几十年后死亡的风险也有所增加。
That premature babies have a higher death rate in the first years of life is not surprising, but Crump says it had been thought that the risk decreased as the child got older.
早产婴儿在生命的最初几年死亡的风险比较高，这是不足为奇的。但是Crump表示，过去人们认为，随着早产儿逐渐长大，夭折的风险逐渐降低。
"We found that that was true, at least in late childhood and adolescence⁴. However, in young adulthood, an increased risk of mortality reemerged. And that was due to various causes, including respiratory and endocrine and heart disease - conditions that may have cumulative⁵ health effects that don't manifest until young adulthood."
“我们发现，这一点是正确的，至少在儿童期的末期和青春期。然而，在成年之后，死亡的风险重新增加。这是由各种各样的原因造成的，包括呼吸道，内分泌和心脏疾病——这些疾病对健康的影响是累积的，到刚刚成年的时候才开始显现出来。”
A few years ago, a study published by the World Health Organization estimated that, globally, 10 percent of babies were born prematurely⁶.
几年前，世界卫生组织发表的一份研究估计，全球有10%的婴儿是早产的。
Crump says the findings of his study underscore the need to reduce the number of preterm births.
Crump表示，他们的研究结果进一步强调了降低早产儿数量的必要性。
"It's extremely important for pregnant women to have regular prenatal care to reduce their risk of delivering preterm. And also, for survivors⁷ of preterm births to avoid other risk factors for disease, like smoking or obesity⁸, in order to offset⁹ the increased risk that we found."
“孕妇必须进行常规的孕期护理，降低早产的风险，这是非常重要的。同时，早产儿的幸存者必须避免其他致病的风险因素，例如吸烟或肥胖，以此来弥补我们所发现的风险。”

1 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

2 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

3 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

4 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

5 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。

6 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

9 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。