VOA慢速英语 吸烟对女性肺部的危害

　　Smoking and the Risk to Women's Lungs

　　吸烟对女性肺部的危害

　　This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

　　C.O.P.D., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, blocks airflow through the lungs. It makes breathing difficult. The leading cause is cigarette smoking. Experts at the National Institutes of Health in the United States say the damage to the lungs cannot be repaired and there is no cure.

　　Dawn DeMeo is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

　　Dawn DeMeo: "By two thousand and twenty, C.O.P.D. will likely be the third leading cause of death across the world."

　　C.O.P.D. is a new name for emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These are the two most common forms of the disease. Many people with C.O.P.D. have both of them. And Doctor DeMeo says more women than men now die from the disease.

　　She is the lead author of a study by a team from Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital and the University of Bergen in Norway. The new study adds to findings that women may be more at risk than men for the damaging effects of smoking.

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