快⬆️⬆️点击上方蓝字关注并星标这个公众号，一起涨姿势～
词数：559 words
难度：★★★☆☆
小贴士：
因公众号推送机制改版，很多朋友反映看不到我们，为了能更常看到我们的文章，请把我们“设为星标”，阅后点赞哦~
——大橙子留
✦ +
+
上期划线句答案
But the findings do build on a larger body of research demonstrating links between dark chocolate consumption and reduced risks of certain health conditions like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance.
然而，这项发现确实建立在大量的研究之上，此前有研究表明，食用黑巧克力与降低高血压、心血管疾病、胰岛素抵抗等健康问题的风险之间存在关联。
✦ +
+
本期内容
◆
双语阅读
Para.1
“Hey, did you know that a woman’s fertility starts to decrease by the age of 25?” a powerful male character asks early in the film. “At 50, it just stops,” he later adds. He never explains what stops, exactly, but to the viewer the message is pretty clear: If you’re a woman, your worth is tied to your fertility. Once your fertile window is over, so are you. The insidious idea that women’s bodies are, above all else, vessels for growing children has plenty of negative consequences for us all. But it has also set back scientific research and health policy.
Para.2
Earlier this week, I chatted about this with Alana Cattapan, a political scientist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Cattapan has been exploring the concept of “women of reproductive age”—a descriptor that is ubiquitous in health research and policy. The idea for the research project came to her when the Zika virus was making headlines around eight years ago. “I was planning on going to the Caribbean for a trip related to my partner’s research, and I kept getting advice that women of reproductive age shouldn’t go,” she told me. At the time, Zika was being linked to microcephaly—unusually small heads—in newborn babies. It was thought that the virus was affecting key stages of fetal development.
Para.3
The experience got her thinking about the ways in which attitudes toward our bodies are governed by the idea of potential pregnancy. Take, for example, biomedical research on the causes and treatment of disease. Women’s health has lagged behind men’s as a focus of such work, for multiple reasons. Male bodies have long been considered the “default” human form, for example. And clinical trials have historically been designed in ways that make them less accessible for women.
Para.4
Fears about the potential effects of drugs on fetuses have also played a significant role in keeping people who have the potential to become pregnant out of studies. “Scientific research has excluded women of ‘reproductive age,’ or women who might potentially conceive, in a blanket way,” says Cattapan. “The research that we have on many, many drugs does not include women and certainly doesn’t include women in pregnancy.” Women are also often subjected to medical advice designed to protect a potential fetus, whether they are pregnant or not. Official guidelines on how much mercury-containing fish it is safe to eat can be different for “women of childbearing age,” according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, for example. And in 2021, the World Health Organization used the same language to describe people who should be a focus of policies to reduce alcohol consumption.
Para.5
The takeaway message is that it’s women who should be thinking about fetal health, says Cattapan. Not the industries producing these chemicals or the agencies that regulate them. Not even the men who contribute to a pregnancy. Just women who stand a chance of getting pregnant, whether they intend to or not. “It puts the onus of the health of future generations squarely on the shoulders of women,” she says. Another problem is the language itself. The term “women of reproductive age” typically includes women between 15 and 44. Women at one end of that spectrum will have very different bodies and a very different set of health risks from those at the other.
本文节选自：MIT Technology Review（麻省理工科技评论）
发布时间：2024.11.15
作者：Biotechnology and health
原文标题：Why the term “women of childbearing age” is problematic
◆
写作句总结
原句：The experience got her thinking about the ways in which attitudes toward our bodies are governed by the idea of potential pregnancy.
结构：X got someone thinking about the ways in which Y are governed by Z.
例句：The issue of gender inequality in the workplace got her thinking about the ways in which career opportunities for women are governed by outdated social norms.
◆
阅读理解题
Which of the following statements BEST reflects how societal perceptions of women's fertility have impacted health research, as discussed in the provided sources?
A. Research on women's health has primarily focused on fertility and reproductive health, neglecting other crucial aspects of women's well-being.
B. The inclusion of women in clinical trials has increased significantly in recent years due to growing awareness of the need for diverse research subjects.
C. Concerns about potential harm to fetuses have led to the exclusion of women of "reproductive age" from many studies, resulting in limited data on the effects of drugs on this population.
D. Health guidelines regarding alcohol consumption and exposure to environmental toxins like mercury are consistent for both men and women, regardless of reproductive potential.
◆
全文概括
The text discusses the societal and scientific biases that undermine women's health. It highlights how the focus on women's reproductive capabilities leads to their exclusion from research, unequal treatment in healthcare, and the burden of responsibility for fetal health being placed solely on them. This is illustrated through examples such as the limited representation of women in clinical trials and the disproportionate health advice directed toward women of reproductive age. The language used, like "women of reproductive age," further reinforces these biases. The author argues that this perspective is detrimental to both women's health and scientific advancement.
◆
打卡作业
翻译文章中的划线句，文末留言打卡，下期推送会在文章开头处公布参考翻译答案，大家一起来学习英语吧~
翻译 | 大橙子
校对 | 李柚子
词汇词组 | 西西弗
划线句讲解 | 流木
写作句总结 | 沅沅
免责声明：本文来自网络公开资料，仅供学习交流，其观点和倾向不代表本公众号立场。
