Why suicide is falling around the world, and how to bring the numbers down further still

　　为何世界各地自杀率都有下降？如何进一步降低自杀率？

　　“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.” Suicide fascinates us. It is at once appalling and yet, in the darkest places in our minds, appealing. It is the most damaging sort of death. A child’s suicide is a parent’s worst nightmare, and a parent’s marks their children for life. 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.

　　译文

　　自2000年以来，美国的自杀率上升了18%。这不仅仅是一场悲剧；在政治上也有很大影响。自杀主要发生在教育程度低下的白人中年男性，他们身处的地区在繁荣时期受到遗忘，在萧条时期却遭到碾压。其死亡预示着某些问题，一些人将美国总统唐纳德特朗普视为问题根源。这些问题不应被忽视。

　　The suicide rate in America is up by 18% since 2000. This is not merely a tragedy; it matters politically, too. The rise is largely among white, middle-aged, poorly educated men in areas that were left behind by booms and crushed by busts. Their deaths are a symptom of troubles to which some see President Donald Trump as the answer. Those troubles should not be ignored.

　　译文

　　自2000年以来，美国的自杀率上升了18%。这不仅仅是一场悲剧；在政治上也有很大影响。被经济繁荣抛在后面而又经历了萧条时期的地区自杀率上升，自杀主要发生在白皮肤、中年、受教育程度较低的男性中。其死亡预示着某些问题，一些人将美国总统唐纳德特朗普视为问题根源。这些问题不应被忽视。

　　Nonetheless, beyond America’s gloomy trend is a more optimistic story: that at a global level, suicide is down by 29% since 2000. As a result, 2.8m lives have been saved in that time—three times as many as have been killed in battle. There is no one reason. It is happening at different rates among different groups in different places. But the decline is particularly notable among three sets of people.

　　译文

　　尽管如此，在美国黯淡的趋势之外，还有一个更为乐观的故事：自2000年以来，全球自杀率下降了29%。结果同时，有280万人获救——是在战争中丧生人数的三倍。原因不尽相同。在不同地区、不同群体中，这种情况以不同速度发生。但在三类人群中，这种下降尤为明显。

　　One is young women in China and India. In most of the world, older people kill themselves more often than the young, and men more than women. But in China and India, young women have been unusually prone to suicide. That is decreasingly the case. Another group is middle-aged men in Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, alcoholism and suicide rocketed among them. Both have now receded. A third category is old people all around the world. The 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.

　　译文

　　一类是中国和印度的年轻女性。在世界大多数地方，老年人自杀比年轻人多，而男性自杀比女性多。但在中国和印度，年轻女性的自杀倾向异乎寻常。这种情况正在逐渐减少。另一个群体是俄罗斯的中年男性。苏联解体后，酗酒和自杀在他们中间激增。现在两者都已衰退。第三类是世界各地的老年人。老年人平均自杀率高于其他年龄段的人。但自2000年以来，这一比例的下降速度也快于其他群体。

　　注释

　　1.still further 进一步

　　We look forward to strengthening still further our already close co-operation with the police.

　　我们期待进一步加强和警方现有的密切合作。

　　2.fascinate someone 使着迷

　　Politics fascinated Franklin's father.

　　政治让富兰克林的父亲着迷。

　　3.symptom of 征兆

　　Your problem with keeping boyfriends is just a symptom of a larger problem: making and keeping friends.

　　你无法留住男友的问题只是一个更大的问题的征兆：结交朋友并与其维持关系。

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