英语四级六级阅读练习（2）：为什么纽约市民平均寿命全美最高

熟悉四六级阅读理解题型的同学应该都了解，英语四六级考试阅读理解材料大多选自《时代》《卫报》《科学美国人》等外刊。要想阅读理解这部分拿到高分，必须在平常多阅读，掌握新词汇，锻炼阅读速度。

【今日阅读推荐】本篇阅读材料“为什么纽约市民平均寿命全美最高”选自《时代》（原文标题：Life Expectancy: Another Way New Yorkers Are Better 2011.12.28），如果大家觉得比较简单，就当作泛读材料了解了解，认识几个新单词或新表达方式也不错。如果大家觉得这些材料理解上有难度，不妨当做挑战自己的拔高训练，希望大家都有进步^^

New York City is known for a lot of things — nightlife, world-class cuisine, an enviable skyline. There is, of course, a flip side to fast-moving life in the big city: our hair-trigger tempers, in-your-face attitudes and the relatively constant state of angst that comes from living cheek-to-jowl with more than 8 million urban neighbors.

cuisine n. 烹饪艺术、菜肴、烹饪；风味、（通常指昂贵的饭店中的）饭菜，菜肴

angst n. 焦虑，担心

But all of that is what drew me to this city and kept me here — I’m a happily committed New Yorker. I’ve always assumed, however, that I was paying a high price for my go-go urban lifestyle. Studies have shown that big city residents tend to have more stress, which can translate into skyrocketing blood pressure and increased rates of heart disease.

committed adj. 尽心尽力的，坚信的，坚定的

As it turns out, I might have been wrong. Living in New York may actually be good for your long-term health, at least according to the latest life expectancy data compiled by the city’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. Babies born in New York City in 2009 can expect to live a record 80.6 years, nearly three years longer than in 2000 and more than two years longer than the current national average of 78.2 years.

Bureaun n.[C] 1. 事务处，联络处，询问处；社，分社 ；（政府机构的）局，司，署，处

Life expectancy for 40-year-old New Yorkers rose to 82 in 2009, a 2.5-year increase from 2000 — slightly more than double the increase for middle-aged Americans on the whole. Life expectancy for 70-year-olds in New York also increased by 1.5 years, compared with 0.7 years for the country on average. Go figure.

“If you want to live longer and healthier than the average American, then come toNew York City,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters at a press conference announcing the new figures on Tuesday.

Is it something in the water? Not quite. According to Bloomberg, the success can be attributed in part to his administration’s aggressive public-health programs, which have sought to reduce smoking, cut salt consumption, encourage healthy eating and ban trans fats from food.

At the press conference, held in the maternity ward of Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley noted that since 2002, nearly half a million New Yorkers have quit smoking — the smoking rate is now down to 14 out of every 100 New Yorkers — for which the city administration credits the mayor’s intensive anti-smoking efforts, including the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, the establishment of an excise tax on cigarettes and a quit-line for those who need help kicking the habit.

maternity n. [U] 产科医院；产科病房   a. 适用于孕妇的；产妇的

intensive adj. 加强的，集中的；紧张进行的，彻底的，十分细致的；加强语气的

City officials attributed the city’s decline in deaths from heart disease in part to the mayor’s anti-smoking campaigns (and also to improvements in care for people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease). Heart disease deaths dropped 27.9% since 2002, contributing to the increase in city residents’ life expectancy. The statistics also show that cancer deaths have fallen by 4.3% since 2002.

The mayor also touted the city’s well-publicized moves to require calorie counts on menus at chain and fast food restaurants, which he believes has steered more New Yorkers away from the kind of poor dietary choices that contribute to obesity, heart disease and diabetes. (I have to admit that seeing the number of calories in a frappuccino has curbed my afternoon cravings.)New York was the first city in the nation, in 2006, to ban trans fats — a major culprit in promoting artery clogging and heart disease — from restaurant foods, including everything from pizza to bagels.

culprit n. 犯错的人；罪犯；肇事者；引起问题的事物

artery n. 动脉；主流，干道

However, the most significant contributor to New Yorkers’ increased life expectancy had nothing to do with smoking or diet. Rather, it was the city’s expanded testing and treatment of people with HIV. More than 90% of patients who are diagnosed with HIV in the city’s health system currently receive drug treatment within 90 days; in 2011 alone, the city tested 195,516 patients, more than three times as many people tested six years earlier, helping to reduce mortality from HIV and AIDS. The death rate from HIV is declining faster than other causes of death in New York City, down 11.3% since 2000 and 51.9% since 2002.

“By investing in health care and continuing to encourage more New Yorkers to take charge of their own health, we’ve experienced dramatic improvements in life expectancy,” the mayor said.

City officials said that overdose deaths from heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs were also down, further boosting life expectancy. Infant mortality rates had also dropped, reflecting healthier mothers and better obstetric and pediatric care.

overdose v.[T] 使…用药过量；n.过量用药

illicit a. 非法的；违法的；违背社会常规的；不正当的

Although the new life expectancy numbers are encouraging, the fact remains that heart disease, cancer and flu/pneumonia are still the top three leading causes of death inNew York, followed by lung disease and diabetes. (This is New York, after all, and not everybody takes kindly to being told not to smoke or eat fast food.) A third of all deaths in New York occur before age 65, with more than 15,000 New Yorkers dying prematurely each year.

But many of these deaths can be prevented, and the city is hard at work trying — as its public-health campaigns demonstrate.The health messages in New York are ubiquitous and persistent; you can’t avoid them (much like New Yorkers themselves). So, if there’s any upside to standing in a crowded subway car every day or fighting through the hordes at Times Square, maybe it’s that the city’s pervasive health-promoting billboards and ads might soon sink in.

ubiquitous adj. 到处存在的，无处不在的，十分普遍的

pervasive a. 遍布的，充斥各处的，弥漫的

Question time:

1. What's the most significant contributor to New Yorkers’ increased life expectancy ?

2. Why did the author assume that he was paying a high price for his go-go urban lifestyle?