本文由 現象級英語--經濟學人第三期共讀 第二小組 完成。標題及1-3段由陳玉梅完成，4-5段由Becky完成，6-7段由路人丁完成，8-9段由Ada完成，10-12段由燦燦完成。
這個文章的題目很直白：自殺率下降的原因，以及如何將它降的更低。
副標題則對題目的問題做了高度概括的回答：城市化，更少的強迫性婚姻以及更多的自殺方式的限制是自殺率降低的主要因素。副標題中fewer和more的運用,讓本句話更具對比性。
這篇文章從題目和副標題一目了然的知道文章是在講自殺比率降低原因以及降的更低的方法討論。
Paragraph 1
①“YOU KNOW,” says a trader in “Margin Call”, a film about the crash of 2008, as he stands high on a building above Wall Street, “the feeling that people experience when they stand on the edge like this isn’t the fear of falling—it’s the fear that they might jump.” ②Suicide fascinates us.③ It is at once appalling and yet, in the darkest places in our minds, appealing. ④It is the most damaging sort of death.⑤ A child’s suicide is a parent’s worst nightmare, and a parent’s marks their children for life.⑥ It is a manifestation not just of individual anguish but also of a collective failure: if society is too painful to live in, perhaps we are all culpable.
段落賞析
本段第①句以描述2008年次貸危機的一部電影《商海通牒》的臺詞為開端講述自殺的感受，“有著自殺經驗的人站在懸崖邊上他們不害怕墜落的過程，而害怕那可能的一跳”。②-③表述自殺對我們有著吸引力，雖駭人聽聞但那無邊的黑暗也有著致命的吸引力。④-⑤自殺是最具損害性的死亡方式：孩子的自殺是父母最可怕的噩夢，父母的自殺將在孩子的一生留下印記。⑥它不僅是個人痛苦的表現，也是群體失敗的表現：如果社會讓人活得太痛苦，也許我們都是罪魁禍首。
沒有看過《商海通牒》的電影，但因這篇文章的原因去搜索了這部電影的影評，聯想到當前經濟狀況，與2008年那場次貸危機引發的金融海嘯何其相像，股市崩盤、房市泡沫、消費降級...，也因此被安利了這部電影。這個周日可以與《商海通牒》約個會。
詞句精讀
③It is at once appalling and yet, in the darkest places in our minds, appealing.
appalling 和appealing 既押頭韻,又押尾韻。⑥It is a manifestation not just of individual anguish but also of a collective failure。
提煉句型：not just....but also.... 不僅....而且....
e.g.：One of important thing that we should teach our children is the capacity not just of learning but also of acquisition.
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①The suicide rate in America is up by 18% since 2000. ②This is not merely a tragedy; it matters politically, too.③ The rise is largely among white, middle-aged, poorly educated men in areas that were left behind by booms and crushed by busts.④ Their deaths are a symptom of troubles to which some see President Donald Trump as the answer. ⑤Those troubles should not be ignored.
段落賞析
本段講述美國自殺率自2000以來上升了18%。 這不僅是悲劇，更有關于政治。接著闡述了在美國中年、未受過良好教育的白人男士更容易自殺，他們這群人處在被繁榮拋棄，并陷入經濟危機的地區。對于那些認為特朗普是答案的人來說，這些人的死亡是麻煩的征兆，這些麻煩是不能被忽視的。
詞句精讀
-
be up by：本段的be up by 18% 與第三段的be down by 29% 是一組對比的數據,美國的自殺率上升18%,全球范圍內自殺率下降了29%.
be up / down by 是經濟學人較為常用的描述數據變化的用詞,用詞簡潔，是我們在寫作的時候應該學習運用的。
e.g.：The sales of Dec of this year is up by 10%, compared to Nov, 2018, but is down by 8%, compared to Dec,2017.
這個月的銷量比上個月上升了10%，但比去年同期下降了8%。
Paragraph 3
①Nonetheless, beyond America’s gloomy trend is a more optimistic story: that at a global level, suicide is down by 29% since 2000 (see article). ②As a result, 2.8m lives have been saved in that time—three times as many as have been killed in battle. ③There is no one reason. ④It is happening at different rates among different groups in different places. ⑤But the decline is particularly notable among three sets of people.
段落賞析
第三段說明了全球自殺人數的變化：相較于美國讓人沮喪的自殺趨勢，新聞報道了一個更為樂觀的事情：自2000以來,全球范圍的自殺率降低了29%。因此，280萬人的生命在這一時期被挽救了---這是三倍于在戰爭中被殺害的人數。這并沒有一個統一的原因。在不同的地區，不同的組別自殺發生的比率是不一樣的。但是這個比率的降低主要表現在三類人群中。
詞句精讀
- ②As a result, 2.8m lives have been saved in that time—three times as many as have been killed in battle.
X times as many as 幾倍多
e.g.：The exports of our company are five times as many as last year's.
今年公司的出口量是去年的5倍。
Paragraph 4
①One is young women in China and India. ②In most of the world, older people kill themselves more often than the young, and men more than women. ③But in China and India, young women have been unusually prone to suicide. ④That is decreasingly the case. ⑤Another group is middle-aged men in Russia. ⑥After the collapse of the Soviet Union, alcoholism and suicide rocketed among them. ⑦Both have now receded. ⑧A third category is old people all around the world. ⑨The suicide rate among the elderly remains, on average, higher than among the rest of the population, but has also fallen faster since 2000 than among other groups.
段落賞析
該段承接上文，講述了自殺率呈明顯下降的三類人群：印度和中國的年輕女性、俄羅斯的中年男性以及全球老齡人口。
①-④幾乎全球都是老齡人口的自殺比率比年輕人更高、男性自殺率大于女性，而在中國和印度的年輕女性自殺傾向更顯著，但這種情況正在逐漸減少。
⑤-⑦蘇聯解體后，俄羅斯中年男性酗酒及自殺情況激增，現在則都有所減緩。
⑧⑨平均而言，老齡人口的自殺率仍高于其他人群，但從2000年以來，其自殺率的下降速度高于其他人群。
詞句精讀
collapse：If something, for example a system or institution, collapses, it fails or comes to an end completely and suddenly.
CET4級詞匯。除了坍塌，collapse還可以如本文用作系統或制度等的崩潰、瓦解。既可作名詞，也可作動詞。
e.g. [n.]：Their economy is teetering on the brink of collapse.
他們的經濟岌岌可危，正處在崩潰的邊緣。
e.g. [v.]：The rural people have been impoverished by a collapsing economy.
經濟崩潰使農村地區的人們一貧如洗。rocket：If things such as prices or social problems rocket, they increase very quickly and suddenly.
CET4級詞匯。rocket本意是火箭，延伸成動詞飛速、疾馳。本文用意自殺和酗酒這類社會問題急劇增多，也可形容價格飆升，是一個非常形象的單詞。
e.g.：The nation has experienced four years of rocketing crime.
4年來，這個國家的犯罪率急劇上升。recede：When something such as a quality, problem, or illness recedes, it becomes weaker, smaller, or less intense.
CET6級詞匯。recede作為一個動詞，后退，遠離以及本文所用的減弱，好轉都是其常用用法。然而很多人并不知道，它還有前額的頭發脫落的意思。已經開始擔心發量問題的90后們可以get起來啦。
e.g.：...a youngish man with dark hair just beginning to recede...
前額黑發剛開始脫落的年輕人prone to sth.：These words all describe people or things that are likely to do sth or be affected by sth.
傾向于…；易于做…；容易被…影響
e.g.：Working without a break makes you more prone to error.
不間斷的工作讓人更容易犯錯。④That is decreasingly the case. & ⑦Both have now receded.
作文趨勢替換用句，建議背誦。⑨The suicide rate among the elderly remains, on average, higher than among the rest of the population, but has also fallen faster since 2000 than among other groups.
提煉句型：X, on average, higher than XX, but has also fallen faster than XX.
描述統計類寫作時可以套用。平均而言，X仍高于XX，但其下降速度高于XX。
Paragraph 5
①Why are these people now less likely to take their own lives? ②Urbanisation and greater freedom have helped. ③Accounts of those who attempt suicide, and of the relatives of those who succeed, suggest that many young Asian women were driven to despair by violent husbands and overbearing in-laws. ④As people move to cities and the grip of tradition loosens, women have more choice about whom they marry or live with, making life more bearable. ⑤Leaving the village helps in another way, too. ⑥Because farming involves killing things, rural folk are likelier to have the means to kill themselves—guns, pesticides—to hand.
段落賞析
該段講述了自殺率下降的原因：城市化和更高的自由度，從兩方面說明城市化對自殺率降低提供了幫助。
①-②即段落主旨，城市化和更高的自由度對減少自殺行為很有幫助。
③據試圖自殺和成功自殺者的親屬描述，亞洲女性自殺主因是家庭暴力和婆媳關系。
④隨著移居城鎮和傳統力量的減弱，女性對于自己的結婚對象和居住地點有了更多的自主權，使得生活不再讓人難以忍受。
⑤⑥從另一方面來說，搬離農村也讓槍、殺蟲劑這類致死物不再容易獲得。
詞句精讀
account：An account is a written or spoken report of something that has happened.
CET4級詞匯。account常用賬戶，解釋、說明，本文則是“書面或口頭的記述，描述，陳述，報告”。
e.g.：He gave a detailed account of what happened on the fateful night.
他詳細描述了那個災難性夜晚所發生的事。drive：The desire or feeling that drives a person to do something, especially something extreme, is the desire or feeling that causes them to do it.
CET4級詞匯。drive在本文中作動詞，驅使，迫使(某人做出極端的事情)。
e.g.：More than once, depression drove him to attempt suicide.
抑郁癥使他不止一次地企圖自殺。overbearing：An overbearing person tries to make other people do what he or she wants in an unpleasant and forceful way.
傲慢的；專橫的；盛氣凌人的；飛揚跋扈的。in-law：Someone who you are related to by marriage, especially the father or mother of your husband or wife.
姻親，尤其是結婚對象的父母。rural：Rural places are far away from large towns or cities.
鄉村的，農村的，田園的take one's own life：Kill oneself, commit suicide.
自殺的同義替換。take life還有一個很有趣的句子跟大家分享下：
Take ten lives, you're a serial killer. Take thousands, you're a war hero.
奪走十條生命，你就是個連環殺手。但如果是上千，你倒能成戰爭英雄了。
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the grip of tradition loosens：表示人們并不再拘泥于傳統，傳統的束縛也放松了。
與grip有關的還有一個詞組：in the grip of（If a person, group, or place is in the grip of something, they are being severely affected by it.），即受制于；受…的深刻影響。
e.g.：Britain is still in the grip of recession.
英國依然沒有擺脫經濟衰退。
Paragraph 6
①Social stability is also a factor. ②In the turbulence that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, many middle-aged people saw their sources of income and status collapse. ③Unemployed people kill themselves at around two-and-a-half times the rate of those in work. ④The financial crash of 2007-08 and the resulting recessions are reckoned to have caused an extra 10,000 or so suicides in America and western Europe. ⑤As crises recede and employment rises, so suicide tends to ebb. ⑥And falling poverty rates among the old, which have declined faster than among other groups globally, are reckoned to have contributed to the drop in the number of elderly suicides.
段落賞析
①是用“also”來承上啟下，并且直接點出了這段話的中心思想：自殺率高低跟社會穩不穩定有關系。②③從政治層面舉例：隨著蘇聯解體，那些失業的自殺率是在職的的2.5倍。④則從經濟層面來說明：在歐美的07-08的金融危機，自殺數攀升。⑤則跟②③④反面即社會環境穩定下說明：后來在危機減弱加上就業率的攀升的情況，自殺也消退。⑥則從老年人這個群體來說明：隨著貧困率的降低下，老年人的自殺情況也急劇好轉。
詞句精讀
④The financial crash of 2007-08 and the resulting recessions are reckoned to have caused an extra 10,000 or so suicides in America and western Europe.
reckon：在這句話里，“reckon”表示“認為…；把…當作”。
e.g.：The sale has been held up because the price is reckoned to be too high.
銷售陷入停滯，因為大家認為價格太高了。⑤As crises recede and employment rises, so suicide tends to ebb.
recede：在這里，recede表示“問題或疾病等逐漸減弱，好轉”。
e.g：Just as people started to think that he was never going to get well, his illness began to recede.
正當人們開始覺得他永遠都好不了了的時候，他的病開始好轉了。
ebb：ebb的英文釋義是: fig. To take a backward or downward course; to decay, decline; to fade or waste away。它的原義是“退潮”，引申為“減弱；減退”。
e.g.：In 2018 the price of crude oil soared to its highest since the lofty days of 2014, only to drop on fears of ebbing demand.（form "The Economist" -- The World in 2019）
2018年原油價格漲到其至高點，開始擔心它的需求在減少。⑥And falling poverty rates among the old, which have declined faster than among other groups globally, are reckoned to have contributed to the drop in the number of elderly suicides.
⑥的主句是"And falling poverty rates among the old are reckoned to have contributed to the drop in the number of elderly suicides." ，由“which have declined faster than among other groups globally”而修飾“poverty rates among the old”。同時我們要學習“下降”的幾個表達以及contribute。
contribute：在這句話里，它表示“對……起作用”的意思。貧困率的下降對老年人自殺數的減少有影響。
e.g.：在The World in 2019里，說美國總統的各種表現對美國社會態度很有影響，《經濟人》是這么說的：
The president’s habitual lying, his attacks on the press and his wilful stoking of grievance among his supporters have all contributed to a mood in American society that is more divided, febrile and angry than at any point since at least the late 1960s.
e.g.：Parental supervision over her/his children's homework by force has contributed to increase their scores, but is of dubious value to them.
家庭的強力作業監督是對小孩當前的成績有幫助，但對小孩不一定有用。
fall decline drop：這句話里用了三個表示“減少，下降”的詞，前二個是用動詞形式，最后一個則用了名詞。這三者在程度上有何區別呢？
drop: 指物體從一定高度落下。
fall: 與drop同義，指突然或猛烈地降落，但fall也可指任何下落，同高度或形式無關。
decline：表示數量減少時，與fall同義。
e.g.：Oil prices continue to decline. [=decrease, fall]
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①But the decline is not just the consequence of big social trends. ②Policy plays a role, too. ③When Mikhail Gorbachev restricted the production and distribution of booze in the mid-1980s, both drinking and suicide fell sharply. ④The collapse of the Soviet Union swept those regulations aside, and both drinking and suicide shot up again. ⑤Restrictions introduced by Vladimir Putin in 2005 are reckoned to have contributed to the recent decline.
段落賞析
第①句用not just引出自殺下降的另一原因。第②句直接了斷地闡明了它：政策。這個短句就用得很好，非常突出。③④⑤句用俄國（前蘇聯）對酒的管控及其相應自殺變化的關系來說明。③④這兩句都是前面policy后面suicide的變化，同樣的句式有助于加強對比效果。第⑤句則用單句串起了policy跟suicide，讓句式有了變化。
詞句精讀
①But the decline is not just the consequence of big social trends.②Policy plays a role, too.
其實這兩句可以改成：But the decline is not just the consequence of big social trends，but also the result of policy plays。比較起來，原文更強調政策的作用。同時，我們說個表達： role。
role：在這句話里，role的英文釋義：a part that someone or something has in a particular activity or situation，中文我們可以理解為“地位”，引申為“作用”。它經常后面接in，表示“在……事情起作用”。
e.g.：Newspapers play a major role in determining how people think about politics.
在人們怎么看待政治問題上，報紙起了關鍵作用。
role常用的動詞搭配有：have, occupy, perform, play, serve。④The collapse of the Soviet Union swept those regulations aside, and both drinking and suicide shot up again.
sweep (something) aside：這是個固定表達，它的英文釋義：to treat (something) as not important : to ignore (something)。 它的本義是“把……掃到一邊”，引申出“對……置之不理；無視”。
e.g.：She sweeps aside every suggestion I make.
她把我的話當耳邊風。
shoot up：它表示“陡增；飆升”。
e.g.：《經濟學人》的有關老師短缺的文章里，在接下來的十年里，小學生人數會猛增，它就用到了shoot up。
Worse, the Department for Education’s forecasts suggest that the number of pupils will shoot up over the next decade.
e.g.：Housing price in Hangzhou has shot up to 300% since 2016.
杭州房價自2016年快速飆升。
Paragraph 8
①Governments can also help limit the consequences of social and economic turbulence.②Active labour-market policies,which help re-train jobless workers and ease them back into work, prevent many suicides.③And spending on health services, especially those that most benefit the old and sick, can make a big difference: fear of chronic pain is one of the things that leads people to seek a quick way out.④The remarkable recent fall in suicide among elderly Britons may have happened in part because Britain’s palliative-care system is the best in the world.
段落賞析
政府對自殺率下降所起的作用。
詞句精讀
limit the consequences
turbulence：詞根-turb-: stir up 同根詞： disturb, disturbance, turbine, turbulent, imperturbable, masturbate, perturb, perturbation, turbid.
ease：指痛苦、壓力、負擔的減緩/輕
in part because：部分是因為
palliative-care：臨終關懷，姑息治療 美['p?li.e?t?v] 英['p?li?t?v]
- ③ And "spending on health services", especially those (that most benefit the old and sick), "can make a big difference": fear of chronic pain is one of the things (that leads people to seek a quick way out).
這句話的主干為 S:" "，VO:" ". 即：Spending on health services 和 can make a big difference. 冒號后是一個解釋說明的句子，句間用了插入語和兩個定語從句增加細節內容。
chronic pain：慢性（嚴重）的 與 chronicle相區分
Paragraph 9
①Efforts to curb access to the means to kill oneself can help, too. ②Suicide is surprisingly impulsive.③A study of young Chinese women who had tried to kill themselves showed that three-fifths had been contemplating suicide for less than two hours, and one in ten for less than a minute. ④Of 515 people who had survived the leap from San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge between 1937 and 1971, 94% were still alive in 1978—which suggests that a suicide postponed is likely to be a suicide prevented.
段落賞析
抑制自殺的工具途徑也有助于降低自殺率（下一段具體展開講了從哪些方面控制自殺的方式和途徑）。
詞句精讀
curb：control, limit 寫作中超好用的一個詞 印象深刻的就是經常被同事勸告curb my appetite，哈哈哈~
另外，curb做名詞用常搭配介詞 on。
e.g.：impose/introduce/put curbs on smoking...
做動詞就太多搭配了。也可以用來替換limit/control。比如本文上段第一句"Governments can also help limit the consequences of social and economic turbulence."， 就可以把limit替換為curb。help：vi.: "每日一詞08" 的用法出現了，再次鞏固一下。
④ (Of 515 people who had survived the leap from San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge between 1937 and 1971), "94% were still alive" in 1978—(which suggests that a suicide postponed is likely to be a suicide prevented).
這句話的主干為 " "，SVO--" ". 即：94% (people) were still alive in 1978.
需要注意1978后which為非限制性定語從句，代指的是前面整個句子。
此處用破折號的原因是避免和前面逗號沖突引起歧義，英語常用破折號代替會引起歧義的逗號。
a suicide postponed is likely to be a suicide prevented. 此句主系表結構前后對仗，而且postponed和prevented壓頭韻也注意到了音律的工整。
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①Governments can do a lot to put self-slaughter a little further out of reach. ②The most toxic pesticides account for one-seventh of suicides. ③When South Korea outlawed paraquat in 2011, it saw a decline in suicides but no drop in agricultural output. ④Requiring potentially lethal medicines to be sold only in small quantities, as some countries have done with aspirin and paracetamol, has also been shown to help. ⑤But the most effective measure of all is limiting access to guns. ⑥Half of all Americans who commit suicide shoot themselves, and the overall rate in America is about twice that in Britain, which has strict gun controls. ⑦The difference in gun ownership largely accounts for the state-by-state variation in suicide rates.
段落賞析
本段主要是說政府的舉措可以使得自殺行為不是那么容易實現。主要從控制劇毒農藥的禁售、致命藥物的小劑量出售和槍支管制方面，通過舉出韓國、美國、英國的例子來重點闡述的。
詞句精讀
outlaw：動詞，意思是“將…定為非法，全面禁止”，to completely stop something by making it illegal. 本文中是指韓國2011年全面禁止paraquat，paraquat不知道是什么沒關系，因為上文提到了，是“the most toxic pesticide”。outlaw還有個名詞形式，意思是“不法之徒，逃犯”，someone who has done something illegal, and who is hiding in order to avoid punishment.
e.g.：The bill would have outlawed several types of guns.
這項法案將全面禁用幾種槍支。
e.g.：Robin Hood is Britain's most famous outlaw.
羅賓漢是英國最著名的亡命之徒。state-by-state：各州的，本文中的理解是“對于槍支持有情況的不同很大程度上造成各州自身率的不同”，也就是說槍支持有率高的州自殺率也高。除了可以說state-by-state，還可以延伸來說“country-by-country”（各國的）或是“industry-by-industry”（各行業的），經常使用的表達是“on a state-by-state/country-by-country/industry-by-industry basis”表示“以州/國家/行業為單位”。
e.g.：It should not be done on an industry-by-industry or country-by-country basis because that tends to encourage industry to move to a country that hasn’t implemented any changes.
不應逐個產業或逐個國家地來處理，因為這樣做往往會促使產業轉移到不采取任何改變措施的國家。
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①The media can also do their bit. ②Suicide is strangely contagious. ③When Robin Williams, an actor, killed himself in 2014, his method and motives were reported in great detail. ④Researchers calculated that there were 1,800 more suicides than would otherwise have been expected in the next four months, often using the same method. ⑤Journalists should cover such tragedies in less detail, and with more restraint.
段落賞析
本段是說導致自殺的發生，媒體也要負一定的責任。因為自殺奇怪的傳染性，用演員Robin Williams自殺的例子來說明，他去世的那段時間，由于媒體過于細節性質的報道，導致采取和他相同方式自殺的案件明顯增多。建議記者報道時要少細節，多約束。
詞句精讀
do one's bit：意思是“盡一份力”，本文指媒體的因素也起到一定的作用。本篇文章中其他段落還用“play a role，is also a factor”等來表示“起到一定的作用”。還可以延伸說，do my bit，就是“盡自己微薄之力”。
e.g.：I will work hard and do my bit in building China into one of the strongest countries in the world.
我將努力工作為把中國建成世界上最強大的國家之一而做出自己應有的貢獻。restraint：意思是“限制”， rules or conditions that limit or restrict someone or something。 本文是指記者在報道像自殺這樣的悲劇時應當少披露細節，多加些限制。
e.g.：The government has imposed restraints on corporate mergers.
政府對公司合并實行了限制。
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①For a few people—those who are terminally ill, in severe pain and determined to die—suicide may be the least terrible option. ②In such circumstances, and with firm safeguards, doctors should be allowed to assist. ③But many of the 800,000 people who kill themselves each year act in haste, and more could be saved with better health services, labour-market policies and curbs on booze, guns, pesticide and pills. ④America, in particular, could spare much pain by learning from the progress elsewhere.
段落賞析
本段是說對于重癥患者，通過自殺來緩解疼痛也是不得已而為之的選擇。在這種特殊情況下，醫生應當提供幫助，也就是提供“安樂死”。最后一句話精煉地總結全文，通過更好的醫療服務、勞工市場的政策、控酒、控槍、控殺蟲劑、控藥等方式，可以減少自殺率。美國，學學其他國家吧！
詞句精讀
act in haste：意思是“采取匆忙的措施，倉促行事”，本文是指那些倉促之中采取自殺方式的人們。haste本身是指“匆忙，倉促”，great speed in doing something, especially because you do not have enough time. 有句表達“haste makes waste”，欲速則不達。
e.g.：You should not act in haste.
不宜操之過急。spare...pain：意思是“免除...痛苦”，文末這句是指美國應該向其他國家學習一下來減少自殺率升高帶來的痛苦，其實是有戲謔美國的成分在其中。spare除了和pain，還可以和trouble/difficulty連用，“spare sb the trouble/difficulty/pain etc (of doing sth)”的表達，是指“免除某人（做某事）的麻煩/困難/痛苦”，to prevent someone from having to experience something difficult or unpleasant.
e.g.：I wanted to spare them the trouble of buying me a present.
我不想讓他們費事給我買禮物了。
