VOA慢速英語:For Smokers, Never Too Late to Quit; Diesel and Cancer

戒煙永遠不遲

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
這里是美國之音慢速英語健康報道。

There is new medical evidence for the expression "better late than never." Researchers have found that smokers reduce their risk of dying from tobacco even if they stop smoking after the age of sixty.
有新的醫(yī)學證據表明“遲做總比不做好”。研究人員發(fā)現，煙民能夠降低他們死于香煙的風險，哪怕他們60歲后才停止吸煙。

Smoking is a known risk for many diseases, including many forms of cancer as well as heart disease. But most studies on the health effects of smoking involve middle-aged people.
吸煙是許多疾病的已知風險因素，包括多種癌癥及心臟病。但多數吸煙對健康影響的研究涉及的都是中年人。

The latest analysis by German researchers examined the findings of seventeen studies carried out in the United States, China, Australia, Japan, England, Spain and France.
德國研究人員最新的分析研究對美國、中國、澳大利亞、日本、英國、西班牙和日本進行的17項研究進行了調查。

Smokers sixty and older had an eighty-three percent increased risk of dying from all causes compared to people who had never smoked. Smokers also had a thirty-four percent higher risk of death compared to former smokers.
與非煙民相比，60歲及更老的煙民各類原因致死的風險提高了83%。與前煙民相比，煙民的死亡風險也高出34%。

T.H. Lam is professor in the school of public health at the University of Hong Kong. He says people who continue to smoke as seniors have at least a fifty percent chance of dying from their smoking habit.
林先生是香港大學公共衛(wèi)生學院的一名教授。他說，年長者繼續(xù)吸煙至少有50%的幾率死于他們的這種吸煙習慣。

T.H. LAM: "And if they stop smoking, then they can reduce about one-quarter of their excess risk. So this is good news that older people should not continue to smoke."
林先生：“如果他們停止吸煙，那么他們的額外風險能降低25%。所以這是一個好消息，老年人不應該繼續(xù)吸煙。”

What about smokers who start at a young age and stop when they are in their thirties? Dr. Lam says they can reduce their risk of dying from a smoking-related illness to almost the same level as someone who never smoked. Even people who never smoke can still die from breathing other people's secondhand smoke.
那些年輕時吸煙，三十來歲時戒煙的人呢？林博士說，他們能夠將自己死于吸煙相關疾病的風險降低到和非煙民接近的水平。甚至非煙民仍會死于吸入二手煙。

An article on smoking among older individuals, with a commentary by T.H. Lam, appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
一篇關于年長者吸煙的文章經由林先生評注后發(fā)表在《內科學檔案》上。

In other news, the World Health Organization now says diesel fuel exhaust causes cancer. Since nineteen eighty-eight the WHO had rated exhaust from diesel engines as "probably carcinogenic" to humans. Now, it compares the risk to that of secondhand cigarette smoke.
其它方面，世衛(wèi)組織目前表示，柴油廢氣會導致癌癥。自1988年以來，世衛(wèi)組織一直認為柴油發(fā)動機尾氣對人類“可能致癌”。而現在，該組織將這一風險與二手煙煙霧做了對比。

This month's announcement came after international experts spent a week reviewing new research findings. Those included a long-term study of more than twelve thousand miners who were heavily exposed to diesel exhaust.
本月的通告在國際專家對新研究進行了為期一周的審查后公布了出來。其中包括一份對12,000多名大量接觸柴油廢氣的礦工的長期研究。

The diesel industry pointed out that the mining study lacked exact data on exposure levels during its early years. Also, diesel engine makers point to their new designs that produce far less emissions than older truck and bus engines.
柴油業(yè)內人士指出，這份采礦業(yè)研究缺乏早年暴露水平的準確數據。此外，柴油發(fā)動機廠商指出，他們的新產品排放量遠遠低于老式卡車及客車發(fā)動機。

The WHO says stronger standards are needed to limit diesel emissions into the air.
世衛(wèi)組織稱，需要制定更為嚴格的標準限制空氣中的柴油機排放。

The United States Environmental Protection Agency continues to rate diesel as only a "likely" cause of cancer.
美國環(huán)境保護署仍然認為，柴油只是癌癥一個“可能原因”。