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印度作为世界上的人口大国，每年的人口死亡率也高居不下，这背后都隐藏着什么原因呢？今天让我们一起跟随经济学人去了解一下印度吧！
原文导读（节选） A million ways to die in the east
On India’s railways overall, the annual death toll of around 25,000 is about 25 times that of China, a country with a similar population and a busier rail network. Travelling by road is even riskier. Although the government puts the death count from traffic accidents at around 150,000 in a normal year, independent estimates suggest the true figure is closer to 220,000, three times the number in China. About a third of victims are motorbike riders.
India also offers more exotic exits. Tiger, elephant, lion and leopard attacks claim perhaps 500 human lives in a bad year. Less advertised are the immensely greater risks of dying from rabies or from snake bites. Of the 300 snake species found in India, the 60 that are highly venomous do away with nearly 60,000 people every year, the highest per-capita rate in the world. The weather can be deadly, too. Lightning strikes kill over 140 times as many people in India—2,876 in 2019—as they do in America. Many victims are farmers wading in rice paddies. But last July a single bolt killed 16 youths taking selfies atop the ramparts of a fort.
India also suffers some deadly social ills. The overall murder rate is lower than America’s. But an average of 92 Indians are killed each year after being accused of witchcraft. The country’s suicide rate, at 12.9 per 100,000 people in 2019, is lower than average for countries in its income group (14.1) but high for its region (10.2) and above the global average (9), according to the World Health Organisation.
What is striking is that the rate for women (11.1) is among the highest in the world, reflecting a disturbing level of domestic misery. So-called “dowry deaths” remain common: women are killed or driven to suicide by in-laws who think the dowry they brought when they married was too small. The shocking number of Indians who die every year from falling into sewers—142 in 2020—has a telltale twist, too. Most victims are men at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, condemned to the drudgery of cleaning other people’s waste.
As everywhere, the vast majority of the 10m Indians who die each year succumb to more ordinary ailments, the leading one being plain old heart trouble. Life expectancy in India today, at 69.6 years, is just three years short of the world average. But it is worth considering what that number might be if India’s government were to pay as much attention to addressing, say, tuberculosis, which has killed some 2m people in the past five years, or air pollution, whose five-year death toll is estimated to exceed 8m，as it has to Covid.
第一段：On India’s railways overall, the annual death toll of around 25,000 is about 25 times that of China, a country with a similar population and a busier rail network. Travelling by road is even riskier. Although the government puts the death count from traffic accidents at around 150,000 in a normal year, independent estimates suggest the true figure is closer to 220,000, three times the number in China. About a third of victims are motorbike riders.
每年总体约有25,000人死于印度铁路，这一数字约为人口数相似的中国的25倍，但中国的铁路网络更加繁忙。公路旅行的风险更大。虽然政府称正常年份的交通事故死亡人数约为15万人，但独立估算表明，真实的数字接近22万，是中国的三倍。大约三分之一的受害者是摩托车骑行者。
知识点解读：
1.Overall：常见的意思是作形容词时的“总体的；全面的”，例如，“overall cost 总成本”；“overall budget 总体预算”；“overall design 总体设计”。但是大家要注意，overall还可以作名词，表示“工装裤，连体衣”，例如，“He changed his overalls for a suit. 他脱下工装裤, 换上了一套西服”。
2.Toll：这个词是外刊的高频词，常见的意思有“死亡人数”，例如，“death toll 死亡人数”（也可以像原文一样表示成“the death count”）；“通行费”，例如，“toll station n. 收费站”；“钟声”，尤其是指西方教堂的钟声，例如，“The church bell tolled the hour. 教堂的钟声报时。”
3.关于倍数的表达：
第一种:数字+times+as+原级+as+比较对象；例如，“Unemployment among blacks was twice as high as that for white.黑人的失业人数是白人的两倍。”
第二种:数字+ times+ the size/length/ depth/height/width/quantity/ amount/etc+ of+比较对象；例如，“Air pollution in the city had reached five times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。”
第三种:数字+ times+比较级+ than+比较对象；例如，“It was ten times more difficult than I expected.这事比我预想的要困难十倍。”
第四种：:将数字与-fold连用构成形容词或副词；例如，“The value of the house has increased fourfold since 1939.房价自1939年以来增加到原来的4倍。”
第二段：India also offers more exotic exits. Tiger, elephant, lion and leopard attacks claim perhaps 500 human lives in a bad year. Less advertised are the immensely greater risks of dying from rabies or from snake bites. Of the 300 snake species found in India, the 60 that are highly venomous do away with nearly 60,000 people every year, the highest per-capita rate in the world. The weather can be deadly, too. Lightning strikes kill over 140 times as many people in India—2,876 in 2019—as they do in America. Many victims are farmers wading in rice paddies. But last July a single bolt killed 16 youths taking selfies atop the ramparts of a fort.
参考译文：印度还出口更多的异国特产。糟糕的情况下，老虎、大象、狮子和豹子在一年中的袭击就可能会夺走500条人命。死于狂犬病或被蛇咬伤的风险大得多，但是这方面宣传地较少。在印度已发现的300种蛇中， 60种有剧毒的蛇每年就会夺去近6万人的生命——世界上最高的人均比率。天气也可能是致命的。在印度，雷击造成的死亡人数是美国的140多倍，2019年为2876人。许多受害者是在稻田里涉水的农民。但去年7月，一道闪电杀死了16名在堡垒上自拍的年轻人。
知识点解读：
1.exotic：adj，外来引进的，例如，“There are some exotic words in English language. 英语中有一些外来词。”这里我们需要学习exo-这个前缀，即表示“exo- 表示"外部的, 外面”，有利于大家在阅读中猜词，例如，“exact [ex- 外出，出 + act 做 →“用尽全力，废尽心思做出来的东西” →]adj.精确的& v.苛求; 迫使”；“expect [ex出+pect=spect看→看出去,看外面→期待] v. 预期;”，大家要学会举一反三。
2.claim：声称, 断言，是一个重点词汇，常用的表达为“claim for 要求；索取”；例如，“They made a claim for higher pay. 他们提出更高报酬的要求。”近义词有如下：
assert 主观意味强，指自认为某事就是如此，而不管事实如何。 maintain 与assert近义，但assert指坚决维护某种主张或观点。 testify 多指在法庭作证。 affirm 侧重在作出断言时表现出的不可动摇的态度。 allege 多指无真凭实据，不提供证据的断言或宣称。
形近词对比如下：
declaim:演讲（讲话）、抨击，例如，“A preacher stood declaiming in the town centre. 一位传教士在市中心慷慨陈词”。
Proclaim: 声明；宣告，公布；例如，“The ringing bells proclaimed the news of the birth of the prince. 钟声宣告了王子的诞生。”
Reclaim: 要求收回，例如，“I have tried to reclaim my money without success. 我没能把钱取回来。”
3.Die from:死亡，死因是外因；相对应的die of也是表示“死亡”，但是死因是内因，例如，“die from an earthquake，die of illness。”
4.Do away with: 废除，去掉；弄死，例如，“Do away with the bad habits that might damage your health.去掉那些有可能损害你健康的坏习惯。”。
第三段：India also suffers some deadly social ills. The overall murder rate is lower than America’s. But an average of 92 Indians are killed each year after being accused of witchcraft. The country’s suicide rate, at 12.9 per 100,000 people in 2019, is lower than average for countries in its income group (14.1) but high for its region (10.2) and above the global average (9), according to the World Health Organisation.
参考译文：印度也承载很多致命的社会弊端。总的谋杀率比美国低，但平均每年有92名印度人在被指控为巫术后被杀害。根据世界卫生组织的数据，2019年该国的自杀率为每10万人中有12.9人，低于其收入组国家的平均水平（14.1），但对其所在地区来说是高的（10.2），高于全球平均水平（9）。
知识点解读：
1.Social ill:社会弊病，文学翻译必备词汇，是非常地道的英文表达，例如，“Of particular concern to the Government is the rise in major social ills. 政府还特别关注主要社会弊病上升的现象。”
2.suicide：自杀，地道的表达为“commit suicide 自杀”；例如，“She committed suicide after leaving a suicide note. 她留下封遗书后自杀了。”
第四段：What is striking is that the rate for women (11.1) is among the highest in the world, reflecting a disturbing level of domestic misery. So-called “dowry deaths” remain common: women are killed or driven to suicide by in-laws who think the dowry they brought when they married was too small. The shocking number of Indians who die every year from falling into sewers—142 in 2020—has a telltale twist, too. Most victims are men at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, condemned to the drudgery of cleaning other people’s waste.
参考译文：令人震惊的是，印度妇女死亡的比率（11.1）是世界上最高的之一，这反映了令人不安的家庭苦难程度。所谓的 “嫁妆死亡”仍然很普遍：婆家人认为妇女结婚时带来的嫁妆太少而将其杀害或逼迫其自杀。每年死于下水道的印度人数量令人震惊，2020年有142人死于下水道，这也是一个明显的转折。大多数受害者都是处于种姓等级制度底层的男性，他们注定要从事清理他人垃圾的苦差事。
知识点解读：
1.striking：显著的，突出的，尤指突出到引人注目的那种，例如，“She is a very striking young woman. 她是一位非常引人注目的年轻女子。”其近义词有如下：
prominent: 显著的；突出的；例如，“She was a formidable style of lady, with spectacles, a prominent nose, and a loud voice . 她是一位神气十足的女士，戴着眼镜，鼻子很大，嗓音很响亮。”
其余的同意替换还有“excellent”；“brilliant”；“remarkable”；“marked”等，大家要注意积累。
2.common：普通的，这里我们主要要对比common与ordinary的区别，common 多用于指物，侧重很常见，不稀奇，常见的表达有“in common with 与…一样”；“common sense 常识”；ordinary 用于物，指每天发生，十分平淡无奇；用于人，指无特别之处，很一般，普通人一般用“ordinary people”，而不是用”common people(有平庸之意)”，在学习的时候一定要多注意词汇之间的细致区别。
第五段：As everywhere, the vast majority of the 10m Indians who die each year succumb to more ordinary ailments, the leading one being plain old heart trouble. Life expectancy in India today, at 69.6 years, is just three years short of the world average. But it is worth considering what that number might be if India’s government were to pay as much attention to addressing, say, tuberculosis, which has killed some 2m people in the past five years, or air pollution, whose five-year death toll is estimated to exceed 8m，as it has to Covid.
参考译文：各地每年死亡的1000万印度人中，绝大多数都是死于更普通的疾病，其中最主要的是普通的心脏问题。今天，印度的预期寿命为69.6岁，仅比世界平均水平少3年。但是，值得考虑的是，如果印度政府对解决结核病（在过去五年中造成印度约200万人死亡）和空气污染问题（在过去五年中造成印度约800万人死亡）给予跟解决新冠疫情同样多的关注，那么这个死亡数字可能会是多少。
知识点解读：
1.succumb to:屈服于，在翻译中是个十分传神的表达，例如，“She succumbed to weariness and went to bed.她疲惫不堪，上床睡觉了。”
2.ailment：小病；不安，不是严重的病，关于疾病的表达还有如下，大家要注意区分：
disorder:原意指“混乱”，例如，“in disorder 混乱”。但是在医学上特指疾病，例如，“mental disorder 精神病”。 Illness：泛指一切疾病。 Sickness：可与illness换用，常用于表达“恶心”，例如，“she felt a wave of sickness wash over her. 她感到一阵恶心。”。 disease 指具体的疾病，且通常较严重，例如，“infectious disease 传染病”。
3.Life expectancy：预期寿命，固定表达。
4.address：有非常多的意思，在这里我们重点分析其作为“处理、解决”的意思，常见的表达有“address the problem”解决问题；常见的“解决问题”的表达还有： solve:最常见的表达，solve the problem； resolve:用法同solve一致； tackle:tackle the problem，常有解决大麻烦的意思；
5.exceed：超过；超越，常用的地道表达为，“exceed in 在…方面超过”，例如，“If a variety were to flourish so as to exceed in numbers the parent species, it would then rank as the species. 如果一个变种的繁殖，超过它的亲种数量，它就会被列为物种。”
常见的表达“超过”的还有： Excel：在成就或学识上胜过他人，常有“优秀”之意，例如，“He excels in mathematics. 他擅长数学。” Surpass：一般用来表示“超过预期”，例如，“The results surpassed all our expectations. 结果比我们期望的都好。”
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