VOA常速英语:研究人员绘出美国不同地区人群死因分布图

Researchers have known for some time that those who can afford better health care are generally healthier than people who can’t afford it.
关于下面这个情况，研究人员已经了解了有一段时间，即有能力负担更好的卫生保健的人群，相比无力负担的人要更加健康。

But now they know who is more likely to die from drug overdoses,who is more likely to die from diabetes or other chronic diseases, and where they live.
不过如今他们知道的已经远不止这些，比如他们已经获悉哪些人更有可能死于药物过量，哪类人更可能死于糖尿病或其他慢性疾病，以及他们都住在哪里。

Dr. Christopher Murray and others at the University of Washington revealed the death certificates from more than 3,000 U.S. counties over 34 years from 1980 to 2014.
华盛顿大学的克里斯托弗.默里博士以及相关人员公开了从1980到2014年的34年间，美国3000多个县的一系列死亡证明。

“We found that different causes matter more in different parts of the country. So out West, for example, in the U.S., violent death is more common,whereas heart disease is more common in the Southeast.And deaths from drugs are much more common in West Virginia or Kentucky.”
“我们发现，在国家的不同地区，死因不同这点关系重大。所以在西方，比如说美国，暴力死亡更加常见，而心脏病诱发的死亡则多见于东南部。毒品死亡在西弗吉尼亚州以及肯塔基州更为常见。”

Heart disease is the leading cause of death overall in the U.S., but the risk of heart disease and other diseases and injuries differ significantly among communities, highlighting stark health disparities across the nation.
整体来说，心脏病是美国人死亡的主要原因，但心脏病和其他疾病损伤的风险随社区不同而差异显著，突出了全国各地健康水平的巨大差别。

“We really need to understand why there’s such variation in how long people live,and what causes children, adults, and older people to die at such different levels in different communities.”
“我们确实需要了解为什么在下列问题上会产生如此大的差异，即人们能活多久，以及导致生活在不同社区的儿童、成年人和老年人在不同层次上死亡的原因。”

Each of the U.S. states is divided into counties with their own local governments.The researchers also found health differences between counties in the same state. What’s more, the gaps in life expectancy from one county to another are increasing.
美国各州被分成了若干个县，这些县都有自己的地方政府。研究人员还发现，同一州的不同县之间也有健康差异。此外，不同县之间预期寿命的差距正在逐渐拉大。

“It’s incredibly important for us to understand why different communities live very different life spans.And the variation across the U.S. is enormous.You know, there’s more than 20 years’ difference across communities, and we really need to understand that.”
“对我们来说，了解为什么不同社区的人们寿命不同非常重要。这种差别在美国尤为显著，乃至不同社区的人们寿命相差达20年甚至更多，我们必须弄清楚寿命差别的原因。”

Murray and other researchers say their work could be used to address causes of death in particular areas and improve Americans’ overall health.
默里及其他研究人员表示，他们的工作可以用来解决特定地区的死亡原因，并提高美国人整体健康水平。

The studies were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
这些研究已发表在《美国医学协会杂志》上。

Carol Pearson, VOA news, Washington.
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