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【For Smokers, Never Too Late to Quit; Diesel Exhaust and Cancer】
TEXT:This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
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.
新的医学证据表明“迟到总比不到好”。研究人员发现，吸烟者即使60岁后才停止吸烟，也能够降低他们死于烟草的风险。
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.
吸烟是许多疾病的已知风险，包括各种癌症及心脏病。但大多数数吸烟对健康影响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.
德国研究人员最新的分析研究对美国、中国、澳大利亚、日本、英国、西班牙和法国进行的17项研究进行研究。
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.
与从未吸烟的人相比，60岁以上的吸烟者各类原因致死的风险增加了83%。与前烟民相比，吸烟者的死亡风险也高出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.
T.H. Lam是香港大学公共卫生学院的一名教授。他说，老年人继续吸烟至少有50%的几率死于他们的吸烟习惯。
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."
T.H. LAM：“如果他们停止吸烟，那么他们能够减少25%的额外风险。所以这是一个好消息，老年人不应该继续吸烟。”
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.
那些年轻时吸烟，三十多岁时戒烟的人呢？林博士说，他们能够将自己死于吸烟相关疾病的风险降低到和非烟民接近的水平。甚至从不吸烟的人仍会死于吸入其他人的二手烟。
An article on smoking among older individuals, with a commentary by T.H. Lam, appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
一篇关于年长者吸烟的文章经由T.H. Lam评论后发表在《内科医学档案》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.
其它消息，世界卫生组织称，柴油废气会致癌。从1988年以来，世界卫生组一直认为柴油发动机尾气对人类“可能致癌”。而现在，该组织将其风险与二手烟烟雾进行比较。
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.
本月的通告在国际专家对新研究进行了一星期的审查后公布了出来。这些包括一份对1.2万多名大量接触柴油废气的矿工的长期研究。
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.
柴油业内人士指出，该采矿业研究缺乏早年暴露水平的准确数据。此外，柴油发动机制造商指出，他们的新产品排放量远远低于老式卡车及客车发动机。
The WHO says stronger standards are needed to limit diesel emissions into the air.
世卫组织称，需要制定更严格的标准限制柴油机排放到空气中。
The United States Environmental Protection Agency continues to rate diesel as only a "likely" cause of cancer.
美国环境保护署仍然认为，柴油只是致癌的一个“可能原因”。
