VOA慢速英语:Simple Low-cost Method to Test for Cervical Cancer

The World Health Organization (WHO) says cervical cancer kills 250,000 women worldwide each year. WHO officials say four out of five of those women live in poor countries, like in the west African nation of Burkina Faso.
世界卫生组织（WHO）称，每年全球有25万名妇女死于宫颈癌。世卫组织官员称，其中五分之四的妇女生活在贫穷国家，如西非的布基纳法索。

Doctors there are using a simple low-cost method to test for cervical cancer. They say the test can save thousands of lives every year.
那里的医生正使用一种简单、低成本的办法来检测宫颈癌。他们说，这种检测方法每年可以拯救成千上万人的生命。

Yacouba Ouedraogo directs the cervical cancer prevention program at a health clinic in the capital, Ouagadougou. He says cervical cancer has become the most common cancer among women in Burkina Faso, but he says finding and treating the cancer in its early stages has recently become much easier.
Yacouba Ouedraogo负责首都瓦加杜古一家诊所的宫颈癌预防计划。他说宫颈癌已经成为布基纳法索妇女之最常见的一种癌症。但他说，最近，在其早期阶段发现和治疗这种癌症近期变得更加容易。

Doctors there are using a small piece of cotton covered with distilled white vinegar - the vinegar can be bought at almost any market in Africa - the doctors rub the cotton swab on the opening of a woman's uterus.  Once the liquid touches the organ, any pre-cancerous or cancerous cells will turn white.
那里的医生正使用沾有蒸馏白醋的棉签在女性子宫颈擦拭，这种醋几乎能在非洲任何市场买到。一旦这种液体接触到子宫，任何癌前病变或已经癌变的细胞都会变成白色。

Dr. Stanislas Paul Nebie has been using the vinegar test on his patients since 2010. He says it is very simple, and unlike other tests, which can be costly, and require sending cell samples to a laboratory. With the vinegar test, he says, any problems can be seen immediately and treated during the same visit.
Stanislas Paul Nebie医生从2010年以来一直用白醋来检测他的病人。他说，这非常简单，而且不像其它检测那样非常昂贵，而且需要将细胞样本送到实验室。他说，用了这种白醋检测法，任何问题都能很快被发现并立即进行处理。

At a medical center in Ouagadougou, women pay $4 for the test and treatment for any cells that show signs of cancer.
在瓦加杜古的一家医疗中心，妇女们支付4美元就能对任何有癌症迹象的细胞进行检测和治疗。

Dr. Nebie says this is a good deal, considering the high cost of radiology or surgical treatments if the cancer is not caught early. He said medical centers, even in rural villages, can and are performing the vinegar test and suggesting patients for treatment.
Nebie医生说，如果未能及早发现癌症，则需要高昂的放射或手术治疗费，这是一笔很划算的买卖。他说，即使是在偏远农村诊所，都能进行这种白醋检测，并对患者提供治疗建议。

Burkina Faso does not yet have numbers for how many lives the vinegar test has saved. But doctors in India announced earlier this year that the test had cut cervical cancer deaths by 31 percent in a study there. They said the study involved 150,000 women.
布基纳法索还没有统计白醋检测法挽救的生命数量。但印度医生今年早些时候宣布，在该国的一项研究中，这种检测方法能将宫颈癌死亡率降低31%。他们说该研究涉及150,000名妇女。

Most cervical cancer comes as a result of the human papillomavirus, which is passed through sexual contact. The disease often has few signs until it reaches advanced stage and becomes more difficult to treat. Women simply do not know they have it, sometimes until it is too late.
大多数宫颈癌来自人类乳头状瘤病毒，该病毒通过性接触传播。该疾病往往很少有症状，直到进入晚期并让治疗变得更加困难。妇女们根本不知道自己患病，直到发现时已为时太晚。