同學們大家好，今天頭條推薦的書單大家都記下了來，暑期學習，除了多讀書，也可以來「讀外刊學英語」哦！今日主題：Black Lives Matter新聞來源：The Economist原標題：Black America in Peril
種族歧視一直是美國社會的痼疾。在新冠病毒疫情的衝擊下，黑人的弱勢地位尤為明顯：相對於白人，黑人失業率更高，新冠肺炎病死率更高。喬治·弗洛伊德慘遭「跪殺」成了積壓已久的社會不滿情緒的爆發點，引起了美國反對種族主義的新浪潮。Black Lives Matter的口號針對的是警察的暴力執法，也適用於黑人群體接受醫療服務的深厚壁壘。
今天我們看看《經濟學人》文章 Black America in Peril 如何分析美國黑人的生活和醫療困境。
"THE MOST difficult social problem in the matter of Negro health", wrote the sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois in 1899, was to understand why so few white Americans were bothered by it. The poor black lives Du Bois described in his pioneering study, "The Philadelphia Negro", were spent "in the most unhealthy parts of the city and in the worst houses", with minimal medical attention. They tended to be sickly and short. Yet he could think of 「few other cases in the history of civilised peoples where human suffering has been viewed with such peculiar indifference."
1899年社會學家杜波依斯(W.E.B. Du Bois)寫到「在黑人健康方面(in the matter of…)最困難的社會問題」是理解為什麼幾乎沒有白人在意這件事。杜波依斯在他的先驅性的研究中描述的可憐黑人，「費城黑人」，「在城裡最不健康的地方，在最糟的房子裡」精疲力竭(spent)，極少得到醫療關注(medical attention)。他們容易(tend to)疾病纏身，壽命短暫。然而他想到「人類文明史上(the history of civilized peoples)，幾乎沒有類似的案例，即人類的痛苦(human suffering)被如此異常冷漠(indifference)地對待。」
威廉·愛德華·伯格哈特·杜波依斯（W.E.B Du Bois），泛非運動的創始人，也是美國有色人種協會的創建者之一，終其一生全力對抗差別待遇及種族歧視。
1. spent /spent/
adj. 用過已廢的；失效的；筋疲力盡的After the gruelling test, he felt totally spent.
緊張的考試過後，他感覺筋疲力盡了。
2. minimal /mnml/
adj. 極小的；極少的；最小的The chances of losing money are minimal.
賠錢的機會微乎其微。
3. suffering /sfr/
n. 疼痛；痛苦；折磨；苦難；苦惱Death finally brought an end to her suffering.
死亡終於結束了她的痛苦。
4. view /vju/
n.（個人的）看法，意見，見解；態度v. 把…視為；以…看待；看；觀看A reporter asked the minister how he viewed recent events.
記者詢問部長如何看待最近的事件。
5. indifference /ndfrns/
n. 漠不關心；冷淡；不感興趣；無動於衷Their father treated them with indifference.
他們的父親對他們漠不關心。
Modern medicine has since transformed the life expectancy of all Americans. But many of the disparities Du Bois observed remain. African-Americans are still the country's poorest, poorest-housed and unhealthiest large group, with high incidences of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, cancer and obesity. In 1899 infant mortality was almost twice as high among blacks as among whites; now it is 2.2 times higher. If anything. African-American diets are unhealthier now than the rations of milk, bread and fried pork Du Bois described. So-called "food deserts" are a modern phenomenon. The 160,000 people who live in the District of Columbia's two poorest and overwhelmingly black wards, 7 and 8, east of the polluted Anacostia river, have only three supermarkets. They also have the sparsest health care in the city, with no major hospital.
現代醫學自那之後已經改變(transform)了所有美國人的平均預期壽命(life expectancy)。然而，杜波依斯觀察到的很多差異(disparity)依然存在。非裔美國人(African-American)仍然是這個國家最貧窮，居住環境最差，也是最不健康的群體；哮喘、糖尿病、高血壓(hypertension)、癌症和肥胖(obesity)的發病率(incidence)很高。1899年，黑人兒童死亡率(infant mortality)幾乎是白人的2倍；現在2.2倍。甚至正相反(if anything)，非裔美國人現在的飲食還不如杜波依斯描述的由牛奶、麵包和煎豬肉構成的定量口糧(rations)健康。所謂「食物荒漠」是一個現代現象(phenomenon)。哥倫比亞區兩個最貧窮而且絕大多數為黑人的選區(ward)，第7和第8選區，位於受汙染的(polluted)阿納科斯蒂亞河東邊；那裡居住著160,000人，卻只有三個超市。這些居民也是城中得到醫療服務(health care)最稀少(sparse)的，沒有大型醫院(major hospital)。
食物荒漠：缺乏健康食品零售點，居民食品來源通常為便利店或加油站的社區，甚至社區居民必須到至少一英裡以外的地方才能買到新鮮的肉類、奶製品和蔬菜。
1. disparity /dsprti/
n. (尤指因不公正對待引起的)不同，不等，差異，懸殊the wide disparity between rich and poor
貧富懸殊
2. incidence /n·s·dns/
n. 發生範圍；影響程度；發生率；入射(角)an area with a high incidence of crime
犯罪率高的地區
3. ration /rn/
n. (食品、燃料等短缺時的) 配給量，定量；定量口糧；正常量；合理的量Once these latest rations run out, the country will again face hunger and starvation.
最後這批口糧一旦用完，國家又要面臨饑荒。
4. phenomenon /fnmnn/
n. 現象；傑出的人；非凡的人(或事物)Globalization is a phenomenon of the 21st century.
全球化是21世紀的現象。
5. sparse /spɑs/
adj. 稀少的；稀疏的；零落的The information available on the subject is sparse.
這個題目資料匱乏。
Little wonder blacks have been so stricken by covid-19. The disease kills in tandem with the ailments they suffer from the most. The latest data suggest one in 2,000 African-Americans has died of it, even though the southern states, where over half live, have been relatively spared. Partly for that reason, black Americans are not unusually likely to catch the virus. Yet those who do are 2.4 times likelier to die than whites and 2.2 times likelier than Asians and Latinos. In Washington, DC, blacks are less than 47% of the population, but account for 80% of its 445 coronavirus deaths.
難怪(little wonder)黑人遭到新冠病毒猛烈攻擊。病毒和其他疾病一起(in tandem with)造成了大部分的死亡。最新數據表明(suggest)每兩千個非裔美國人中就有一個死於(die of)新冠病毒，即便南方諸州疫情相對緩和(relatively spared)，而有一半以上的黑人生活在南方。部分由於這個原因，美國黑人十分(unusually)不可能感染病毒(catch the virus)。然而那些被感染的黑人患者死亡的可能性是白人患者的2.4倍，是亞裔和拉丁裔的2.2倍。在首都華盛頓，黑人不到人口總數的47%，但卻佔(account for)了445個新冠死亡人數中的80%。
1. strike (struck, stricken) /strak/
v. 突擊；攻擊; 侵襲；爆發Police fear that the killer may strike again.
警方擔心殺人犯可能再次下手。
2. tandem /tndm/
n. 雙座自行車；雙人自行車in tandem
並行；並駕齊驅；同時實行
This director and composer have worked in tandem on several films.
導演和創作者合作了幾部電影。
3. ailment /elmnt/
n. 輕病；小恙The pharmacist can assist you with the treatment of common ailments.
藥劑師能幫你治療一般的病痛。
4. spare /spe(r)/
v. 抽出；撥出；留出；勻出；省得；免去；饒恕；赦免；放過；使逃脫During the bombing only one house was spared.
在轟炸中，只有一座房子倖免。
Though there are many causes of black ill-health, the solution probably starts with improving blacks' access to health care. There have been three significant efforts to do so since slavery, which all to varying degrees spluttered in the face of a backlash from whites.
儘管黑人健康狀況欠佳(ill-health)有很多原因(cause)，解決方案(solution)可能從改善黑人獲取醫療服務(access to health care)開始。自從奴隸制(slavery)結束之後，已經有三次重要的努力(significant effort)，然而在白人的集體反對(backlash)下，這些努力都不同程度地(to varying degrees)偃旗息鼓(splutter)。
段落中提到的三次試圖改善美國黑人醫療狀況的努力：
1. 美國重建時期(Reconstruction)，即1863到1877年，南方聯邦與奴隸制度一併被摧毀時，試圖解決南北戰爭遺留問題的嘗試；
2. 1964-65年美國通過了《民權法》，並為窮人設立的醫療補助制度(Medicaid)，使非裔美國人第一能夠享受常規的醫療服務；
3. 歐巴馬執政期間推行的「平價醫療法案」(Affordable Care Act)，使包括黑人在內的兩千萬美國人享受到醫療保險。
1. access /kses/
n. 通道；通路；入徑；(使用或見到的)機會，權利Students must have access to good resources.
學生必須有機會使用好的資源。
2. significant / sɡnfknt/
adj. 有重大意義的；顯著的；有某種意義的；別有含義的；意味深長的Marriage is a significant commitment.
婚姻是一個重要的承諾。
3. splutter /splt.r/
v. 氣急敗壞地說；慌張地說；發噗噗聲；發噼啪聲Her father spluttered with indignation.
她父親氣得說話都語無倫次了。
4. backlash /bkl/
n. (對社會變動等的)強烈抵制，集體反對the backlash against feminism
對女權主義的強烈反對
Covid-19 has also made clear that such an intervention should not be considered ideological. Perhaps government action is not the best way to raise blacks economically, as conservatives argue; but their poor health cannot be improved otherwise. The virus afflicts the industrious and work-shy alike — a point made by Mr Trump's trim African-American surgeon-general, Jerome Adams, when he acknowledged his own asthma, high blood pressure and heart disease. Indeed the most industrious blacks are likeliest to expose themselves and succumb to the virus. Poor black health is a disincentive to work that work alone cannot fix.
新冠病毒已經使這樣一個道理清晰可見，即此種幹預(intervention)不該和意識形態扯上關係。也許政府行為(government action)不是提高黑人經濟地位的最佳方式，正如保守派認為的；然而除此之外黑人惡劣的健康狀況無從改善。病毒感染(afflict)勤奮的(industrious)人，也同樣感染懶惰的(work-shy)——這一點川普健康的(trim)非裔衛生局局長(surgeon-general)傑羅姆·亞當斯(Jerome Adams)在承認(acknowledge)自己患有哮喘、高血壓和心臟病的時候已經講清楚了。確實，最勤奮的黑人最有可能將自己暴露於(expose oneself to…)病毒，甚至死於(succumb to)病毒。黑人健康狀況差是工作的障礙(disincentive)，光靠工作是解決不了的。
1. intervention /ntvenn/
n. 幹涉；幹預Repeated interventions on the currency markets failed to prevent the currency's value falling.
對貨幣市場的不斷幹預也沒能阻止貨幣貶值。
2. ideological /adildkl/
adj. 思想體系的；意識形態的；觀念形態的Some have minimized the importance of ideological factors.
有些人淡化了意識形態因素的重要性。
3. afflict /flkt/
v. 折磨；使痛苦He was afflicted with severe asthma.
他患有嚴重的哮喘。
4. trim /trm/
adj. 苗條的；修長的；健康優雅的；整齊的；精心照管的；井然有序的You're looking very trim - have you lost weight？
你看上去很苗條，減肥了嗎？
5. succumb /skm/
v. 屈服；屈從；抵擋不住(攻擊、疾病、誘惑等)His career was cut short when he succumbed to cancer.
他的事業隨著他死於癌症而中斷。
6. disincentive /dsnsentv/
n. 起抑制作用的事物；遏制因素High taxes are a disincentive to business.
高稅收遏制商業發展。
讀完選刊，你是不是和小編一樣，對美國黑人的處境有了更深切的理解呢？美國黑人的醫療困境只是種族問題的一個側面，絕非一朝一夕可以根治。然而我們大膽希望這次疫情會推動美國黑人獲得更好的醫療服務，也希望21世紀能見證非裔美國人得到越來越多的公平。