中国痴呆人数激增

近日，复旦大学的一项研究发现，1990年至2021年间全球痴呆症患者数量翻了一倍多。中国的增长尤为显著，病例从大约400万增加到将近1700万，增长超过四倍。

今天你练听力了吗？

🤔️小作业：

1. How is the article mainly organized?

A. By presenting a timeline of dementia-related medical discoveries

B. By comparing multiple countries' policies on dementia care

C. By identifying a problem, then exploring its contributing factors

D. By listing statistics followed by unrelated expert opinions

无注释原文：

Dementia cases are rising faster in China than the rest of the world

From: New Scientist

Dementia rates are increasing more rapidly in China than almost anywhere else in the world, with cases more than quadrupling in the country over the past few decades.

Daoying Geng at Fudan University in China and her colleagues analysed dementia rates in 204 countries and regions around the world between 1990 and 2021. They used a World Health Organization database to collect information on dementia deaths and cases in people aged 40 and older, focusing on Alzheimer's disease and some other forms of dementia, such as vascular dementia and frontotemporal lobe dementia.

The researchers found that the number of people with dementia worldwide more than doubled during this period, from almost 22 million in 1990 to close to 57 million in 2021. The increase was even more drastic in China, where cases more than quadrupled, rising from roughly 4 million to nearly 17 million over the same time frame.

Further analysis revealed that population growth was the main culprit. Birth rates in China spiked in the 1950s. “So those people are getting older today – they are now in their 70s, which is the highest risk group for dementia,” says Xi Chen at Yale University, who wasn't involved with the study. “Many countries have baby boomers, but not as large a cohort as China's baby boomers. So that's the main issue.”

The team identified three other major factors contributing to China's rising dementia rates. The first, smoking, almost exclusively affects men, as only 2 per cent of women in China smoke cigarettes while roughly half of all men do. This is in sharp contrast to wealthier countries such as the US and the UK, where smoking rates have steadily declined, says Chen.

One Western trend that China has echoed is a jump in rates of diabetes and obesity, particularly in the past few decades, both of which are risk factors for dementia. This is probably because people in China are adopting a more Western diet high in fats and calories, says Chen. He believes that dementia rates in China will eventually resemble those in the US or UK, as younger generations tend to smoke less than older ones. But the condition will still have a huge impact on China in the meantime.

“Dementia is one of the most expensive diseases in the world. It requires a lot of caregiving and treatment,” says Chen. “And in terms of an ageing population, China is still the largest in the world. There are fewer young people taking care of a larger cohort of older people with dementia. So, these are all challenges.”

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注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Dementia cases are rising faster in China than the rest of the world

From: New Scientist

Dementia rates are increasing more rapidly in China than almost anywhere else in the world, with cases more than quadrupling in the country over the past few decades.

在中国，痴呆症发病率增长速度几乎超过世界上其他所有国家。在过去几十年中，的病例数量增加了四倍以上。

dementia /dɪˈmenʃə/ 表示“（尤指老年性）痴呆”，英文解释为“a medical condition that affects especially old people, causing the memory and other mental abilities to gradually become worse, and leading to confused behaviour”

quadruple /ˈkwɒdrʊpəl, -ˈdruːpəl/ 1）作动词，表示“（使）变为四倍”，英文解释为“to become four times bigger; to make sth four times bigger”举个🌰：Sales have quadrupled in the last five years. 过去五年中，销售额已增长至以前的四倍。

2）表示“大（或多）四倍”，英文解释为“four times as big”如：a quadruple measure 四倍大小；

3）表示“包括四部分（或四个人、四个地方等）的”，英文解释为“involving four parts, people, places, etc.”如：a quadruple fracture of his thumb 他的拇指四处骨折。

Daoying Geng at Fudan University in China and her colleagues analysed dementia rates in 204 countries and regions around the world between 1990 and 2021. They used a World Health Organization database to collect information on dementia deaths and cases in people aged 40 and older, focusing on Alzheimer's disease and some other forms of dementia, such as vascular dementia and frontotemporal lobe dementia.

复旦大学的耿道颖教授和研究团队分析了1990年至2021年间全球204个国家和地区的痴呆症发病率。他们借助世界卫生组织数据库，收集了40岁及以上人群中与痴呆症相关的死亡与患病数据，重点研究了阿尔茨海默病以及血管性痴呆、额颞叶痴呆等痴呆症。

database /ˈdeɪ.tə.beɪs/ 表示“（计算机）资料库，数据库”，英文解释为“a large amount of information stored in a computer system in such a way that it can be easily looked at or changed”举个🌰：We're linked to the online database at our head office. 我们与总部的网上数据库联网。

vascular /ˈvæs.kjə.lər/ 表示“血管的；（植物）维管的”，英文解释为“relating to the vessels (= tubes) that carry blood or other liquids in a person's or animal's body”如：the vascular system 脉管系统 如：a vascular surgeon 血管外科医师。

The researchers found that the number of people with dementia worldwide more than doubled during this period, from almost 22 million in 1990 to close to 57 million in 2021. The increase was even more drastic in China, where cases more than quadrupled, rising from roughly 4 million to nearly 17 million over the same time frame.

研究人员发现，1990年至2021年间全球痴呆症患者数量翻了一倍多，从约2200万增至近5700万。而中国的增长尤为显著，病例从大约400万增加到将近1700万，增长超过四倍。

drastic /ˈdræs.tɪk/ 表示“（尤指行动）严厉的，猛烈的，激烈的”，英文解释为“(especially of actions) severe and sudden or having very noticeable effects”如：drastic measures 严厉的措施。

frame /freɪm/ 表示“（图画、门、窗的）框，框架”，英文解释为“a border that surrounds and supports a picture, door, or window”如：a picture frame 画框，也可以表示“帧；（摄影胶片的）画格；（电视或电影的）画面，镜头”，英文解释为“one of the pictures on a strip of photographic film, or one of the single pictures that together form a television or cinema film”

也可以表示“（斯诺克等游戏的）一局”，英文解释为“the size and shape of someone's body”举个🌰：She lost the next two frames. 她输掉了接下来的两局。

📍time frame /ˈtaɪm ˌfreɪm/ 表示“（安排进行某活动的）时间框架，时间范围”，英文解释为“a period of days, weeks, months, etc. within which an activity is intended to happen”举个🌰：Have you set a time frame for completing the job? 你给这项工作定完成时限了吗？The time frame within which all this occurred was from February 2015 to May 2025. 这一切都是在2015年2月到2025年5月的时间范围内发生的。

作动词，frame /freɪm/ 1）可以表示“（措词谨慎地）表达，说出”，英文解释为“to express something choosing your words carefully”举个🌰：The interview would have been more productive if the questions had been framed more precisely. 如果当时问题提得更确切些，采访就会更有成效。

2）frame /freɪm/ 表示“给（图画等）装（镜）框”，英文解释为“to fix a border around a picture, etc. and often glass in front of it”举个🌰：I keep meaning to get that photo framed. 我一直打算给那张照片镶上框。

📍framed /freɪmd/ 表示“加外框的”，英文解释为“surrounded by a border”如：a framed photograph 用像框装起来的照片。

Further analysis revealed that population growth was the main culprit. Birth rates in China spiked in the 1950s. “So those people are getting older today – they are now in their 70s, which is the highest risk group for dementia,” says Xi Chen at Yale University, who wasn't involved with the study. “Many countries have baby boomers, but not as large a cohort as China's baby boomers. So that's the main issue.”

研究进一步发现，人口增长是主要原因。上世纪50年代中国出现生育高峰。“那一代人现在大多已经步入七旬，是罹患痴呆症的高危人群，”耶鲁大学学者陈希（未参与该研究）表示，“虽然许多国家也经历过婴儿潮，但中国的这一代人口规模更为庞大，这就是关键所在。”

1）表示“罪犯；造成破坏（问题）的人；过失者；责任人”，英文解释为“the person who is guilty of a crime or doing something wrong”

2）表示“问题的起因；罪魁祸首”，英文解释为“a fact or situation that is the reason for something bad happening”举个🌰：Children in this country are getting much too fat, and sugar and sweets are the main culprits. 该国儿童过于肥胖，糖和甜食是罪魁祸首。

spike /spaɪk/ 在年度词汇盘点文章中基本都会出现这个词，1）作名词，可以理解为“峰值”或者“激增；猛增；急升”，英文解释为“a sharp increase in the magnitude or concentration of something”如：a spike in oil prices 油价的急剧上涨。

2）也可以作动词，同样表示“激增”，英文解释为“if the number or rate of something spikes, it increases quickly and by a large amount ”举个🌰：New orders have spiked in the last two years. 新订单在过去两年里激增。

3）作名词，表示“尖头，尖刺；（尤指金属的）尖状物”，英文解释为“a narrow, thin shape with a sharp point at one end, or something, especially a piece of metal, with this shape”

4）spikes表示“（某些运动鞋上的）防滑鞋钉；钉鞋”，英文解释为“a set of short, pointed pieces of metal or plastic, attached to the bottom of shoes worn for particular sports, that stop the person wearing the shoes from sliding on the ground, or shoes with these pointed pieces”

baby boomer /ˈbeɪ.bi ˌbuː.mər/ 表示“（尤指1945至1965年间英国和美国）生育高峰期出生的人”，英文解释为“a person who was born during the baby boom (= a large increase in the number of children being born) that happened in the UK and the US following the Second World War”如：Many baby boomers are continuing to work well past retirement age.

The team identified three other major factors contributing to China's rising dementia rates. The first, smoking, almost exclusively affects men, as only 2 per cent of women in China smoke cigarettes while roughly half of all men do. This is in sharp contrast to wealthier countries such as the US and the UK, where smoking rates have steadily declined, says Chen.

研究团队还发现了导致中国痴呆症发病率上升的另外三个主要因素。首先是吸烟，吸烟几乎只影响男性，中国仅有2%的女性吸烟，而男性吸烟率却接近一半。陈希指出，这与美国、英国等富裕国家形成鲜明对比，那些国家的吸烟率正持续下降。

exclusively /ɪkˈskluː.sɪv.li/ 表示“仅仅；专门；单独”，英文解释为“only”举个🌰：This offer is available exclusively to our established customers. 只有本店老客户才能享受这一优惠价。

One Western trend that China has echoed is a jump in rates of diabetes and obesity, particularly in the past few decades, both of which are risk factors for dementia. This is probably because people in China are adopting a more Western diet high in fats and calories, says Chen. He believes that dementia rates in China will eventually resemble those in the US or UK, as younger generations tend to smoke less than older ones. But the condition will still have a huge impact on China in the meantime.

与西方国家类似，中国在过去几十年中糖尿病与肥胖症的发病率显著上升，这两者均为痴呆症的风险因素。陈希指出，这可能与中国人饮食结构向高脂高热量的西式饮食靠拢有关。他认为，尽管未来中国的年轻人吸烟率较低，痴呆症发病率可能趋于美英等国的水平，但在此之前，这一疾病仍会给中国社会带来沉重负担。

echo /ˈek.əʊ/ 作动词，1）表示“重复，附和；使产生似曾相识的感觉”，英文解释为“If you echo someone's words, you repeat them or express agreement with their attitude or opinion.”举个🌰：Their views often echo each other. 他们的见解常常彼此附和。

2）表示“回响；发出回声；响起回声”，英文解释为“If a sound echoes or a place echoes with a sound, you hear the sound again because you are in a large, empty space.”举个🌰：The sound of footsteps echoed around the hall. 脚步声在大厅里回荡。

作名词，1）表示“回声，回音，回响”，英文解释为“a sound that is heard after it has been reflected off a surface such as a wall or a cliff”举个🌰：The echoes of his scream sounded in the cave for several seconds. 他的尖叫声在洞中回荡了好几秒钟。

2）表示“十分相似的东西；如出一辙的事物；仿效”，英文解释为“a detail that is similar to and makes you remember something else”举个🌰：There are echoes of Mozart in her first piano compositions. 她最早创作的钢琴曲有些地方模仿了莫扎特。

diabetes /ˌdaɪəˈbiːtɪs, -tiːz/ 表示“糖尿病”，英文解释为“a disease in which the body cannot control the level of sugar in the blood.”

obesity /oʊˈbiːsəti/ 表示“肥胖”，英文解释为“the fact of being extremely fat, in a way that is dangerous for health”

📍词根“obes-”来自拉丁语“obesus”，意味着“肥胖的”。近义词：overweight（超重），同根词：obese（肥胖的），常用短语：combat obesity（对抗肥胖症）

calorie /ˈkæl.ər.i/ 表示“卡，卡路里（测量食物所含热量的单位）”，英文解释为“a unit of energy, often used as a measurement of the amount of energy that food provides”举个🌰：There are about 50 calories in an apple. 一个苹果大约含有50卡路里的热量。

resemble /rɪˈzem.bəl/ 作动词，表示“像；看起来像；与…相似”，英文解释为“to look like or be like someone or something”举个🌰：You resemble your mother very closely. 你长得很像你妈妈。

“Dementia is one of the most expensive diseases in the world. It requires a lot of caregiving and treatment,” says Chen. “And in terms of an ageing population, China is still the largest in the world. There are fewer young people taking care of a larger cohort of older people with dementia. So, these are all challenges.”

“痴呆症是全球成本最高的疾病之一，不仅需要高强度的照护，还伴随着高昂的治疗费用，”陈希说。“作为全球人口老龄化最严重的国家之一，中国正面临前所未有的照护压力——年轻人越来越少，却要照顾数量庞大的痴呆症老人，这无疑是巨大的挑战。”

cohort /ˈkoʊ.hɔːrt/ 表示“有共同特点（通常指年龄）的一群人”，英文解释为“a group of people who share a characteristic, usually age”举个🌰：This study followed up a cohort of 100 patients aged 65+ for six months after their discharge home. 这项研究对100位年龄在65岁以上、出院回家的患者进行了6个月的跟踪观察。

📍词根“co-”表示“共同”，“hort”来自拉丁语“cohors”，意味着“围栏，团体”，整体意思是一群共同被“围栏”起来的人，即共同经历某事的一组人。常用短语：Birth cohort（出生队列）：指在同一时间段出生的人群，常用于研究随时间变化的健康模式或疾病趋势。Cohort study（队列研究）：一种观察性研究，跟踪并分析特定特征的一组人随时间的变化。

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