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.

自 2000 年以来，全球范围内的自杀率下降了 29%。这个数字意味着 280 万条生命得以幸存于世——这是同一时期内殒命于战场的人数的三倍之多。

Why are people now less likely to take their own lives? Urbanisation and greater freedom have helped. Accounts of those who attempt suicide, and of the relatives of those who succeed, suggest that many young Asian women were driven to despair by violent husbands and overbearing in-laws. As people move to cities and the grip of tradition loosens, women have more choice about whom they marry or live with, making life more bearable. Leaving the village helps in another way, too. Because farming involves killing things, rural folk are likelier to have the means to kill themselves—guns, pesticides—to hand.

为什么人们轻生的几率更小了呢？一部分原因在于城市化的进展和更大的行动自由。一个个故事告诉我们，许多年轻的亚洲女性是被施暴的丈夫和咄咄逼人的姻亲推上绝路的。这些故事，有的来自自杀未遂的人，有的来自逝者的亲属。随着人们移居城市，传统习俗的势力减弱，女性对于结婚或同居对象的选择更加自由，她们的生活也变得不那么难以承受。离开农村还带来了另一种改变。农耕免不了杀生，因此，农村的人们离那些可以夺走自己生命的器物也更近——比如枪支和农药。

Suicide is surprisingly impulsive. A study of young Chinese women who had tried to kill themselves showed that three-fifths had been contemplating suicide for less than two hours, and one in ten for less than a minute. Of 515 people who had survived the leap from San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge between 1937 and 1971, 94% were still alive in 1978—which suggests that a suicide postponed is likely to be a suicide prevented.

让人意外的是，自杀是一种冲动的行为。针对曾经试图自杀的中国年轻女性的一项研究显示，有五分之三的人起了自杀的念头后，不到两小时就真的这么做了。考虑时间不到一分钟的，十人中就有一人。在 1937 年到 1971 年间，从旧金山的金门大桥一跃而下却又生还的 515 人中，94%的人直至 1978 年仍然在世。这一数据表明，如果轻生者从深渊边上退回来一次，他们都可能再也不会走上悬崖。

—————  文章来源 / 经济学人

重点词汇

urbanisation/ˌɜːrbənəˈzeɪʃn/

n. 城市化（的进程）

account/əˈkaʊnt/

n. 描述，故事

e.g.

oral accounts

written accounts

overbearing/ˌoʊvərˈberɪŋ/

adj. 专横傲慢的，咄咄逼人的

grip/ɡrɪp/

n. 束缚；控制力

e.g.

Get a grip on yourself.

bearable/ˈberəbl/

adj. 可以忍受的

e.g.

unbearable

means/miːnz/

n. 手段；工具

e.g.

a means to an end

Mobile payment has made many traditional means of payment obsolete.

pesticide/ˈpestɪsaɪd/

n. 杀虫剂，农药

impulsive/ɪmˈpʌlsɪv/

adj. 冲动的；（人）易冲动的

e.g.

driven by impulse (n.)

contemplate/ˈkɑːntəmpleɪt/

v. 考虑，打算

e.g.

contemplate taking one's own life

Suicide is impulsive and often attempted without much contemplation. (n.)

postpone/poʊˈspoʊn/

v. 推迟，延缓