双语调查：教育是减少青少年酗酒最佳途径

　　The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that this law has made a difference: the number of drunk drivers under 21 who were involved in crashes resulting in death fell by 61 percent between 1982 and 1998. The NHTSA also estimates that from 1975 to 2003, having a minimum drinking age of 21 (already in effect in some states before 1984) saved nearly 23,000 lives on America's roads.

　　国家公路交通安全管理局指出，该法案确实产生了很大的影响：1982年至1998年间，导致死亡的

　　Experts argue over how these studies were done, however, and what effect the law has had. "Just like during national Prohibition, the law has pushed and forced underage drinking and youthful drinking underground, where we have no control over it," alcohol law expert David Hanson told the news organization MSNBC last year.

　　然而，许多专家对这些调查的操作方法以及该法律的实际作用存有质疑。饮酒法律专家戴维•汉森去年对新闻机构MSNBC说，“就像在禁酒期一样，这项法律只是将未成年饮酒和青年人饮酒的问题推到了地下而已，而这样我们就彻底失去了对这些问题的控制。”

　　James McCardell agrees. In 2007, the former president of Middlebury College started the group Choose Responsibility to push the problem back into public debate. He argues that education is the best way to reduce teen alcohol abuse, and he would like to see the drinking age lowered to 18. "Education works," McCardell told MSNBC in 2007, "but it's never been tried. Now it's mandatory only after you've been convicted of DUI. That is not an act of genius."

　　詹姆斯•麦卡德尔也表示赞同。2007年，这位米德尔伯里学院的前校长发起成立了“选择责任”组织，旨在将这一问题再度推向公众的关注范围之内。他指出，教育是减少青少年酗酒的最佳途径，他还提倡将合法饮酒年龄降至18岁。麦卡德尔于2007年对MSNBC说，“教育是很有效的手段，但却从未被采用过。现在只有在你被判酒后驾车后才需接受强制教育。这可不是明智之举。”

本文选自《北外网院》的博客，点击查看博客原文