一本教会你“做对”题的6级阅读书 day8 passage1
Passage 1 WHO Launches Worldwide War on Booze
世界卫生组织向酗酒宣战 《新科学家》
Humanity's relationship with alcohol has never been easy.
Now it is about to undergo as great a change as our attitude to tobacco,
which has seen smoking plummet from the height of cool
to the lowest of unpleasant habits.
That at least is the hope of the World Health Organization, which,
between now and January,
will be honing its draft of the first global strategy
on reducing health damage from alcohol abuse,
the fifth leading cause of premature death and disability worldwide.
Member states will be invited to ratify the finalized version of the document
at the meeting of the World Health Assembly in May,
but the document will not be legally binding.
Its purpose instead is to raise awareness among governments
[01:01]about the importance of reducing alcohol abuse and to provide data
[01:07]that will persuade electorates that new laws
[01:11]are required-thereby emboldening governments to take action.
[01:17]The document will also present a menu of legal and governmental strategies
[01:23]that have been shown to work.
[01:26]"It will provide knowledge and awareness about the size of the problem,
[01:30]and advice about the most cost-effective policies," says Anderson.
[01:37]The impetus for action is founded on the growing realization
[01:42]that alcohol doesn't just harm those who drink,
[01:46]combined with a better knowledge of intervention strategies.
[01:51]For example, in March the UK government's chief medical officer,
[01:57]Liam Donaldson,
[01:58]devoted a chapter of his 2008 annual report to "passive drinking" ,
[02:05]the damage that heavy drinkers wreak on others.
[02:09]To illustrate the extent of the problem in the UK,
[02:13]he reported that in 2008, there were 125,000 "alcohol-related instances
[02:22]of domestic violence",
[02:24]that an estimated 6000 babies are born annually
[02:29]with fetal alcohol syndrome and that in 2006, 7000 people
[02:35]were injured and 560 killed as a result of drink-driving,
[02:41]not including the drivers.
[02:44]Persuading governments and citizens of the problem is just the first step,
[02:49]though. What, if anything, can be done to stop people from drinking to excess?
[02:56]To some extent, strategies will depend on location. In rich countries,
[03:03]for example, the focus is likely to be on stopping young people
[03:08]from binge drinking, whereas introducing drink-driving laws
[03:13]may be a priority in rapidly developing countries,
[03:17]where newly acquired wealth is increasing ownership of cars
[03:22]and access to alcohol. Generally, however,
[03:27]the WHO says the most effective measures are to raise prices
[03:32]through heavy taxation based on alcohol content,
[03:37]and to reduce the availability of alcohol
[03:40]through strict licensing schemes limiting opening times
[03:44]and the number of outlets.
[03:48]Such strategies may smack of overactive government,
[03:52]but recent findings suggest these measures work.
[03:57]Alex Wagenaar of the University of Florida, Gainesville,
[04:01]and colleagues reviewed 112 studies examining the effects of price
[04:08]and tax on alcohol consumption and found that, on average,
[04:14]a 10 per cent increase in the price of beer reduced consumption by 5 per cent,
[04:20]of wine by 7 per cent and spirits by 8 per cent.