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There are many known risk factors associated with suicide: those who take their own lives are statistically more likely to be white, male, and/or low-income. Surveys show that they are also more likely to have histories of depression, own fire arms and feel isolated. Many are divorced or have substance abuse problems. But a team of researchers found another risk factor that is less intuitive, even though it may be just as valid: living at a high altitude.
The team, lead by Dr. Barry Brenner from the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland Ohio, analyzed 19 years worth of cause-of-death data from all 2,584 U.S. counties (between 1979 and 1998). In their study, published in High Altitude Medicine & Biology, they compared the 50 counties with the highest suicide rate to the 50 counties with the lowest, and found that county altitude was on average almost eight times higher in the areas with high suicide rates.
Even when the researchers controlled for five other suicide-related factors — twomeasures of income,race, age and population density of the county — the correlation was still strong. Wrote the scientists:
Prior reports of increased suicides in the U.S. Mountain Region (e.g., Colorado) have prompted speculation that the excess is owing to greater access to rearms, increasedisolation, or reduced income. Even after controlling for these variables in our analysis, the positive correlation between altitude and suicide still exists, which suggests that the increased suicide rate in the regions with greatest altitude, such as the Mountain Region, may be owing to, at least in part, its altitude per se.
The authors note that there may be physiological reasons why high altitude may contribute to suicides; low barometric pressure in mountainous regions, for example, causes the body to become less efficient in transporting oxygen from the air, and these changes can affect brain functioning. In addition, they note, it's only suicides, and not other deaths that are positively associated with higher altitudes. While the results still need to be replicated, they at least suggest that achieving the "mountain high" may come at a dangerous price.
【內(nèi)容簡介】
本篇文章開篇介紹了導(dǎo)致自殺的一般原因，如收入低，有抑郁癥病史，感到孤獨等，并由此引出一個新發(fā)現(xiàn)——自殺還與海拔有關(guān)。
接著，文章開始介紹這項研究的相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)和過程，這其中還涉及到其他因素，如種族、年齡、密集程度等。
最后一段，文章從海拔對人生理的影響進行剖析，說明海拔通過影響人的生理，進而影響人的大腦功能，導(dǎo)致人們想不開而尋短見。
【詞匯短語講解】
①correlation 相互關(guān)系，相關(guān)，關(guān)聯(lián)
e.g. Do you know the correlation between one's character and life?
你知道人的性格和生活的相互關(guān)系嗎？
②prompt v. 提示，激起，促進 adj. 敏捷的，立刻的，迅速的
③excess n. 超過，過量，過剩 adj. 過量的，額外的
e.g. He always spends in excess of his income.
他總是入不敷出。
④文中的一些重點短語 associate with 與……有聯(lián)系的 more likely to 更有可能的 compare…with……把……與……作比較
owing to 由于，歸因于 in addition 另外
【快速閱讀支招】
這類研究性文章我們關(guān)鍵是要先找到主題句（或主題段），一般都會出現(xiàn)在開篇或結(jié)尾處。另外這類文章通常的行文規(guī)律是研究發(fā)現(xiàn)——研究過程和對象介紹——研究補充內(nèi)容。大致瀏覽文章結(jié)構(gòu)和基本內(nèi)容后我們就可以根據(jù)題目進行排查，比如主旨題，我們可以對照文中核心句或核心段落；態(tài)度題一般來說答案絕對不可能是極端類的態(tài)度，一般都是客觀，溫和型的。而細節(jié)題則要根據(jù)題目中透露的信息去相關(guān)段落查找。
