2007-06-12 11:59:30ALICE

翻譯練習Your Life Style

IN MANY ways health trends have never looked brighter. A 1998 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) says: ”More people than ever before now have access to at least minimum health care, to safe water supplies and sanitation facilities.” To be sure, much of the world’s population still endures poor living conditions, but as the British Broadcasting Corporation reported, ”poverty around the world has been reduced more in the last 50 years than in the previous 500 years.”

健康保健在許多方面看起來都從未成為風潮 1998年世界衛生組織所做的一項調查報導指出:”現代人比起過去享有更少的健康照護 諸如乾淨的用水供應 衛生設施等等” 毫無疑問的 世界大多數的人口仍舊忍受過著艱苦的生活 但根據英國國家廣播電台指出”全球貧困狀況在近期50年來比起過去的500年已經大有改善”
Improvements in the world’s health-care systems have added years to the worldwide average life expectancy at birth. In 1955 the average was 48 years. By 1995 it had jumped to 65 years. One reason for this increase is the advances made against childhood diseases.
全世界健康照護體系也已在零歲平均餘命中增加了歲數 在1955年 平均壽命為48歲 近1995年時則躍增到65歲 這樣子驚人的增長在於一個原因 提早治療孩童的疾病
Just over 40 years ago, children under five years of age accounted for 40 percent of all deaths. By 1998, however, thanks to vaccines, many of the world’s children had been immunized against the major childhood diseases. Thus, the number of deaths for children under the age of five has fallen to 21 percent of all deaths. According to WHO, there has been ”an unmistakable trend towards healthier, longer life.”
40多年前 5歲以下的孩童的死亡率計達百分之40 而在快1998年時 拜疫苗所賜 也因此抑制世界上許多常見的孩童疾病並使淂孩童死亡率成功的降下到百分之21 依據世界衛生組織的說法:一個顯而易見 朝著更健康更長壽的生活趨勢”
Of course, a longer life with little improvement in its quality would be a hollow victory. In a search for better living conditions, many people place great emphasis on material pleasures. Such a life-style, however, can carry its own set of health risks.
誠然 在這樣狀態下 其微乎其微的改善

A Better Life-Style?
Recent socioeconomic developments have ushered in tremendous changes in peoples’ life-styles. It is now possible for many in the developed nations to purchase goods and services that previously only the wealthier could afford. And while some of these advances have increased the prospect of a longer life, many people have been enticed into a self-destructive life-style.

For example, millions have used their increased buying power to purchase such nonessentials as addictive drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Sadly, the results have been all too predictable. ”The fastest growing public health menace in the world isn’t a disease,” says World Watch magazine, ”it’s a product.” The magazine adds: ”Within 25 years, tobacco-induced illness is expected to overtake infectious disease as the leading threat to human health worldwide.” Moreover, Scientific American says: ”An astonishing 30 percent of fatal cancers can be blamed primarily on smoking, and an equal number on lifestyle, especially dietary practices and lack of exercise.”

Without a doubt, the choices we make about the way we live have a major impact on our health. How, then, can we maintain or improve our health? Are diet and exercise enough? Additionally, what part do mental and spiritual factors play in a healthy life-style?