VOA标准英语2008年-US Army Suicide Rate Continues to Rise
时间：2019-01-11 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2008年（五月）
Pentagon
29 May 2008
The U.S. Army reported Thursday that the suicide rate among its soldiers continued to rise last year, and is now nearly double the rate recorded before the invasion of Iraq. But they say last year's increase was not as sharp as the two previous years. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
The army says it has confirmed that 115 active-duty soldiers committed suicide last year, with two more investigations 1 still pending 2. That is a rate of nearly 19 per 100,000 soldiers. The rate was just under 10 per 100,000 in 2002, before the Iraq invasion, and has been rising steadily 3, except for one year, ever since. The rates for the last two years are the highest since record keeping began in 1980.
Army officials say the military suicide rate is still lower than the rate for people of similar age and education level in the rest of American society. But they say it is too high because the Army should be able to provide mental health care and other support to its troops.
Officials say personal issues such as relationship problems, trouble at work and legal or financial difficulty are among the main causes of suicide in the military, just like among the civilian 4 population.
But Colonel Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatrist 5 in the Army Surgeon General's office, acknowledges that the stress of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is also part of the reason for the rising suicide rate in the Army.
"We see a lot of things that are going on in the war which do contribute," said Colonel Ritchie. "Mainly is the long-time and multiple deployments away from home, the exposure to really terrifying and horrifying 6 things, the easy availability of loaded weapons and a force that's very, very busy right now. And so all of those together, we think, are part of what may contribute, especially if somebody is having difficulties already."
Still, officials report 26 per cent of the soldiers who committed suicide last year had never been deployed 7 to Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Army says it is working hard to improve access to mental health care among the troops, to reduce the stigma 8 often attached to seeking counseling, and to train soldiers to recognize signs of stress in themselves and their comrades. But senior officers also acknowledge there is much more work to be done to help soldiers deal with personal problems compounded by the stress of combat.
- His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
- He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。
- The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
- He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。
- The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
- Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
- There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
- He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
- He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
- The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。
- He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
- The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
- Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
- The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。