乳腺癌与上夜班有关吗

9 年前，隶属世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)的一组委员会说，一项对动物和人的研究显示，轮班工作制与乳腺癌可能有关联。但是最新的科学研究是否与该说法一致?长期上夜班的女性患乳腺癌的几率是否会增加?

More than half a million British women, about 5% of the female labour force, work at night. Each year, more than 50,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK, and around 11,000 die from thedisease.

A number of studies have concluded that working at night is probably linked with breast cancer, with the risk increasing the longer the night shifts continue. In 2007, the World Health Organisation Committee suggested hormone production might be affected by disruption of the body clock.

However, the latest study which reviewed data from 1.4 million women and included ten different studies and several countries, concluded that there was no link. Its lead author Dr Ruth Travis of Oxford University said the incidents of breast cancer was the same whether a woman had never worked at night or completed 20 or more years of night shifts.

词汇表

labour force 劳动力

diagnosed with 被诊断为

disease 疾病

concluded 得出结论

linked 与……有关，有关联

hormone 荷尔蒙

disruption 打乱，扰乱

body clock 人体生物钟

reviewed 检验了

incidents 发生的事件

测验

请听报道并回答下列问题。

1. What percentage of women work on night shifts in the UK?

2. The WHO Committee suggested that what may affect hormone production?

3. True or false? The latest study was based on data from 1.4 million women in the UK.

4. Which word means ‘an instance of something happening; an event or occurrence’?

答案

1. What percentage of women work on night shifts in the UK?

According to the text, 5% of female work force worked on night shifts in the UK. That's about half a million women.

2. The WHO Committee suggested that what may affect hormone production?

The disruption of body clock may affect hormone production in people.

3. True or false? The latest study was based on data from 1.4 million women in the UK.

False. According to the text, the latest study was based on ten different studies carried out in several countries.

4. Which word means ‘an instance of something happening; an event or occurrence’?

Incident.