【慢速听力 2篇 】Americans Drinking More Now Than Just Before ...
No.1
AS IT IS
Americans Drinking More Now Than Just Before Prohibition
January 16, 2020
One hundred years ago today, a ban on making and selling alcoholic drinks in the United States went into effect. The law, passed by Congress, became the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution on January 17, 1920.
This constitutional ban on alcohol lasted until 1933. It is a period known as “Prohibition.”
But now, Americans are drinking more alcohol than when Prohibition became the law of the land. In fact, the rate has been rising for 20 years.
That information is based on federal health records. Those statistics confirm a rise in the amount of alcohol being consumed per person nationwide. They also show increases in emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths tied to drinking.
Not all the news is bad, however. Drinking among American teenagers is down. And there are signs that many people are taking alcohol seriously. For example, some are following the “Dry January” movement, deciding to not drink any alcohol during the month of January.
But overall, public health experts say the U.S. population has a drinking problem.
“Consumption has been going up. Harms (from alcohol) have been going up,” said Tim Naimi, a doctor and alcohol researcher at Boston University. “And there’s not been a policy response to match it.”
Alcohol consumption rates
In 1934, one year after Prohibition ended, alcohol consumption was less than four liters a year per person. It has been up and down since then. The highest point was in the 1970s and 1980s. That is when U.S. alcohol consumption was over 10 liters per person.
Rates went down during the 1980s, with growing attention to deaths from drunken driving. In addition, Congress passed a law raising the drinking age to 21.
But rates began climbing in the 1990s.
Studies have linked extreme drinking to liver cancer, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. Drinking by pregnant women can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth or birth defects. And health officials say alcohol is partly to blame for as many as one-third of serious falls among older adults.
It is also a risk to others when people drive drunk or are involved in violence fueled by drinking. And research suggests that more than half of the alcohol sold in the United States is consumed during times of binge drinking. That is when people consume many alcoholic drinks in a short period of time.
More than 88,000 Americans die each year from too much drinking. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that number is higher than the opioid-related deaths reported in the current drug overdose crisis.
Alcohol-related deaths
This month, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism released a separate study on alcohol-related deaths. Researchers examined death certificates — documents that list cause of death — from over 20 years to search for links to alcohol. The numbers were lower, at a little under 73,000, in 2017. The researchers said death certificates can be incomplete, and their number is likely lower than the real number.
Other researchers said the more important finding was that the number of alcohol-related deaths had doubled since 1999 and the death rate had risen 50 percent.
Aaron White was the study’s lead researcher. He said some or much of that increase may be related to the increasingly deadly drugs used in the opioid epidemic. This is because many people drink while taking drugs.
Men make up about three-fourths of alcohol-related deaths. But drinking among women — especially binge drinking — has been a major driver of the increases in alcohol statistics.
White’s study found that the female death rate jumped 85 percent, while the male rate rose about half that. The highest alcohol-related death rates for women were among those ages 55 to 74, the study found. But increases were also noted in younger women.
Other research has found that binge drinking is increasing most among women.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
And I’m Anne Ball.
The Associated Press reported this story. Anne Ball adapted the story for VOA Learning English.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
_________________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
alcoholic – adj. of, containing or caused by alcohol
per – preposition. for each
consume – v. to eat or drink something
overall – adv. with everyone or everything included
statistic - n.a number that represents a piece of information (such as information about how often something is done, how common something is, etc.)
response - n. something that is said or written as an answer to something
teenager - n. someone who is between 13 and 19 years old
match – v. to go well with someone or something
stillbirth – n. the birth of a dead baby
defect – n. a problem or fault that makes something or someone not perfect
opioid – n. a chemical drug that had addictive properties and physical effects
No.2
AS IT IS
Historic Impeachment Trial of Trump Begins
January 16, 2020
The United States Senate officially opened the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Thursday. It marks only the third time the legislative body has held such a trial in U.S. history.
Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court was sworn in to preside over the trial. He then asked all senators to raise their right hands to take an oath to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God?”
The U.S. Constitution says the chief justice serves as the presiding officer in the trial. But only the 100 members of the Senate will pass judgement.
Earlier in the day, Democrats from the House of Representatives led by Adam Schiff read the charges, or articles of impeachment, in the Republican-led Senate.
“With the permission of the Senate, I will now read the articles of impeachment,” said Schiff.
“House Resolution 755 Impeaching Donald John Trump, president of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors,” Schiff began, reading the nine pages of the impeachment document.
Trump is charged by the House of Representatives with abuse of presidential power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic opponent Joe Biden. He is charged with withholding military aid to the country in exchange for an announcement of the investigation. Trump is also charged with blocking the Congressional investigation.
The president has repeatedly called the House impeachment hearing a “hoax.” His administration has told its officials not to answer orders from the House for testimony and documents.
More accusations
Before the Senate met, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Thursday that the Trump administration had violated federal law in withholding military aid to Ukraine. It said, “The law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.”
The GAO is an independent agency that reports to Congress.
On Wednesday, Schiff released new records from Lev Parnas about Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine. Parnas was working with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Parnas has claimed that Trump knew of his efforts to find information that could hurt his political opponent.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said the new information shows the need for the Senate to consider additional evidence about the president’s actions toward Ukraine. She suggested that a special government lawyer could investigate the issue.
A quick end to the trial?
The president has suggested that he would be open to a quick vote to simply dismiss the charges.
Last December, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that impeachment is a political process and not a judicial process.
“The House made a partisan political decision to impeach," he said. "I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I'm not impartial about this at all."
Democrat lawmaker Adam Schiff told the Associated Press, “The challenge is to get a fair trial.” He noted, “It shouldn’t be a challenge — if the senators are really going to live up to their oath to be impartial, they’ll want a fair trial.”
Republicans control the U.S. Senate with a 53-47 majority. However, it takes 51 votes during the trial to approve changes to the rules or to call witnesses. It also takes 51 votes to dismiss the charges against Trump.
Several Republican senators, including Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee want to hear from more witnesses during the trial.
Romney said he wants to hear from former national security advisor John Bolton. Several witnesses have said Bolton was worried about the actions of Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, in Ukraine
Opening arguments are to begin next Tuesday after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The historic trial will be a test of the Trump presidency as he is running for re-election. It also is expected to be a test of the nation’s three branches of power and its constitutional system of checks and balances.
I'm Mario Ritter.
Hai Do adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reports from the AP. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
_________________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
oath - n. a formal promise to tell the truth or to do something
misdemeanor - n. a crime that is less serious
hoax - n. an act that is meant to trick or deceive people
priority - n. something that is more important than other things
partisan - adj. strongly support one cause over another
anticipate - v. to expect
challenge - n. a difficult task or problem
checks and balances - phrase, a system in which the different parts of an organization (like a government) have powers that affect and control the other parts so no part can become too powerful
严重推荐：
1) 整理完毕，请收藏、分享 【动画英文版西游记】：1-108集
2) 精心收集,请收藏：【TED演讲】中英雙語字幕 222 篇 ===
5) 【总目录】美国总统
6) 整理完毕,请收藏：英语慢速听力 413 篇(探索)：【d12】EXPLORATIONS