The world can be a frightening place. Images of violence, natural disasters, accidents, and other such dangers permeate our media, sowing fear in many. While these threats should certainly be respected, other far more mundane things in our lives are statistically much more likely to kill us.
大家可曾想过,我们生活在一个多么可怕的世界!媒体铺天盖地地报道各类暴力事件、自然灾害、意外事故,时时散播着恐怖的气息。对这类危险应当提高警惕几乎人尽皆知,但大家可能不知道,事实上,日常生活中许多毫不起眼的小事更可能置我们于死地。
10.More People Die Falling Out Of Bed Than From Roller Coasters
10.坠床比坠过山车更危险
Some people love roller coasters; some people are terrified of them. The high speeds and great heights provide a relatively safe thrill for amusement park goers. However, accidents do happen, and roller coasters kill an average of four people in the US each year.
提起过山车,有人欢喜有人忧。过山车的极速高空体验给游客带来了无限快感。然而,刺激的同时,意外也随之而来,在美国,平均每年有四人因乘过山车死亡。
One-quarter of roller coaster deaths are occupational fatalities involving workers. Half are caused by a rider's medical condition being exacerbated by the ride; these can be prevented by increased signage warning sufferers of certain conditions against boarding. Only the final quarter are caused by some sort of trauma to a park visitor, such as falling out of the roller coaster.Rest assured: You probably won't be killed the next time you ride a roller coaster. You're much more likely to die from falling out of your own bed. Every year in the US, 450 people die this way. Ironically, bed rails sometimes make things worse. Hospitals have found that stubborn patients try to climb over them and fall farther than they would have otherwise.
其中,因过山车而死的职业工作人员占了1/4。约1/2是因为游客的身体状况不适宜此类娱乐活动,过山车带来的高度惊险与刺激会使游客身体状况恶化而死亡,这类情况可以通过增加标牌警告患者避免乘车来解决。死亡人数中,只有四分之一是因为突发事件丧命,比如从过山车中翻落坠空而死。由此看来,乘过山车意外死亡是小概率事件。但你一定想象不到,坠床而死的概率并不低!在美国每年有450人死于坠床。可笑的是,床栏有时会令事情变得更糟。医生发现,有些固执患者试图翻越床栏,却落得摔得更惨的下场。
9.Cows Are More Likely To Kill You Than Bears
9.奶牛比熊更有可能杀死你
Fatal black bear attacks on humans have been rising in North America since the 1960s. Over the past 110 years, 63 people have been killed by black bears, mostly in Alaska and Canada. This amounts to fewer than one person per year. However, since 86 percent of these fatalities occurred after 1960, the current average is closer to two people per year.
自1960年以来,北美熊袭人事件频频发生。过去110年以来,共63人因遭遇黑熊袭击而死,其中大多发生在阿拉斯加和加拿大。这相当于每年有一个人死于黑熊攻击。不过,其中86%的黑熊袭人致死事件发生在1960年之后,所以近几年,每年约两人死于黑熊攻击。
Increased human encroachment into black bear habitats is cited as a probable cause. Most fatal attacks have been perpetrated by lone male bears sampling humans as a new food source. Surprisingly, mother bears defending their cubs or bears that have become familiar with humans are responsible for few fatalities. While injurious encounters with black bears may continue to rise with human expansion, they have a long way to go before they kill more people than cattle, which kill an average of 22 people per year in the United States alone. Most fatal attacks on humans by cattle are deliberate, either by territorial bulls trampling and goring farmers or mothers protecting their calves. Other times, people are simply accidentally crushed.
栖息地一再遭到破坏是黑熊袭人事件频发的一大原因。许多致命攻击是因为成年雄性黑熊把人类当成了新的食物来源。而负责捍卫自己幼崽的母熊,或者已经与人类熟悉了的黑熊则很少会攻击人类,这是个很有趣的现象。虽然因人类的扩张,黑熊袭人致死事件会持续上升,但比起奶牛的杀伤力,黑熊就小巫见大巫了。如果告诉你在美国平均每年造成22人死亡的杀人狂魔是奶牛,你会大跌眼镜吗?更可怕的是,奶牛的杀人行为可以称之为“蓄意谋杀”,原因无外乎领土遭人类侵犯、森林遭人类砍伐或者因幼崽受到伤害而奋力反抗。因此,与意外遭遇黑熊袭击而死相比,人类死于奶牛攻击的情形更加常见。
8.A Rip Current Will Get You Before A Shark Does
8.未落狂鲨口,已入离岸流
Going to the beach is a common and beloved summer pastime for people across the world. Such outings are not without danger, of course. You could get sunburned, stung by a jellyfish, or bitten by a shark.
夏季来临时,人们普遍对去海边玩耍青睐有加。可不要忽略,这项户外活动是有危险的。晒伤、被水母蛰伤或不幸被鲨鱼咬伤的事情并不罕见。
Most unprovoked shark attacks on humans are cases of mistaken identity, where the shark takes one bite and then swims away upon tasting a distinctive lack of seal or fish. Those single bites can still cause serious injury or death. Even these mistakes are comparatively rare; most sharks that attack have been provoked by a human in some way.All the same, if you're in the water and feel yourself pulled away from safety, a rip current is much more likely to be responsible than a shark. Rip currents are more powerful than you may realize. They can pull you away from shore faster than an Olympic swimmer can swim. Trying to directly swim against a rip current, a common reaction, will only lead to fatigue and drowning. It is estimated that over 100 people drown each year in the US due to rip currents. Conversely, despite some swimmers going to such extremes as taunting sharks, someone dies in the US from a shark attack only once every two years. Worldwide, only five die each year.
未受刺激的鲨鱼袭击人类大多是因为认错“人”,当它咬上一口却明显尝不到海豹或鱼的味道时就会自动游走。没错,这错误的一口后果十分严重,人们常因此身负重伤,不幸丧生的也不在少数,好在这种认错“人”的行为是相当少见的。正常情况下,鲨鱼会袭击人类大多是因为它受到了某种形式的刺激。同样地,如果置身水中的你感觉自己被拉离安全水域,离岸流比鲨鱼更有可能给你带来杀身之祸。离岸流的威力超乎你的想象。它把你拉离海岸的速度比奥运会游泳选手的游速还快。人们遇到离岸流时,常常会直接逆流而游,很不幸,这样只会耗费体力,最后溺水而死。据统计,美国每年有一百多人死于离岸流。尽管有些游泳者会参与类似斗鲨这样的极限活动,死于鲨鱼袭击的美国人也只是每两年一例。即使从世界范围看,每年也只有五例。可见,离岸流比鲨鱼更危险。
7.High School Sports Kill More US Citizens Than Terrorists Do
7.远在恐怖分子之上的杀手——中学体育运动
Terrorism has been a defining fear in 21st-century US culture since the horrifying 9/11 attacks in 2001. From Al-Qaeda to ISIS, the news has frequently been filled with frightening terroristic imagery, causing many citizens to fear for themselves and their children.
自从2001年骇人听闻的911袭击后,恐怖主义就成为21世纪美国文化中的一种典型恐惧。从基地组织到伊拉克和大叙利亚伊斯兰国,令人害怕的恐怖主义报道频频出现在新闻上,致使许多公民为他们自己及其子女惴惴不安。
In truth, US children are far more likely to end up dying on their high school playing field than at the hands of a terrorist. Roughly 50 young athletes die each year in the United States due to sports-related injuries. Rural areas are the worst-affected. Common causes of death include overheating (more on that later), brain injuries, and sudden cardiac arrest. It certainly doesn't help that two-thirds of athletes show up to practice significantly dehydrated. Nor does it help that 16 percent of football players who are knocked unconscious from a hit will play more that same day; those who suffer further injury as a result have a 50/50 chance of dying. Sudden cardiac arrest kills 90 percent of the young athletes that it strikes. Terrorism, on the other hand, has taken roughly 12 private US citizens per year, with 2001 an obvious anomaly. For example, terrorism killed nine in 2009, 10 in 2010, 17 in 2011, 10 in 2012, and 16 in 2013. The overwhelming majority of these deaths involved travel to Afghanistan. Not one death occurred within US borders.
事实上,美国儿童死在中学运动场上的机率要比死在恐怖分子手上的机率大得多。美国每年约有50名年轻运动员因运动损伤而死。这一现象在乡村地区最为严重。常见的死因包括运动过激、脑损伤或心搏骤停。但这并不能阻止许多运动员疯狂的训练强度:2/3的运动员训练至严重脱水,16%的足球运动员在被撞击至失去知觉当天依然加强训练。而那些伤势恶化的运动员死亡概率高达50%。出现心搏骤停的年轻运动员中,只有一成能幸免于死。在2001年的大规模袭击后,每年死于恐怖主义的美国公民约有12人,举例来说,分别为2009年的9人、2010年的10人、2011年的17人、2012年的10人及2013年的16人。而且这些人绝大部分是死在阿富汗之行,没有一例是死于美国边境的。
6.Disney World Kills More Than Florida's Alligators
6.丧命于迪士尼乐园的人数远超于死于佛罗里达短吻鳄之嘴的人数
From 2005–2014, eight visitors to Disney World in Orlando, Florida were killed. Heart attacks (sometimes worsened by a lack of readily available defibrillators) and traumatic injuries are common causes. Five workers have also been killed in that time span, including three during a particularly bad season in 2009, by trauma or electrocution.
2005至2014年,佛罗里达州奥兰多市的迪士尼公园事故频发。8名游客在此丧生,死亡原因多为突发性心脏病或外伤。此外,5名员工也在这段时间死亡,仅在2009年的一个事故高发季度,就有3名员工死于外伤或者触电。
Some might consider Florida's alligators to be more frightening than Mickey Mouse. The prospect of being bitten or dragged under and drowned by one of these ancient reptiles is certainly grim. While most alligators only attack if provoked, unprovoked predation does occur. Victims are often completely unaware of the alligator until it attacks. Still, you're more likely to win the lottery in Florida than be killed by a hungry alligator. From 2005 to present, only six people have died in unprovoked alligator attacks. None have died since 2007.
很多人都认为佛罗里达的短吻鳄比迪士尼乐园里可爱的米老鼠可怕得的多。人们一想到被这样古老的爬行动物咬伤或者拖进泥潭里就会浑身颤抖。虽然短吻鳄有时候会无故地去捕食人类,但大多数情况下它们只有受到威胁才会对人类发起攻击,受害者对于他们的偷袭往往毫不知情。从2005到现在,只有6个游客丧生于短吻鳄的无故偷袭。但从2007年起,没有人在这样的事故之中丧命。