Lisa: Yes, I've head about it. So what?.
Bart: Unfortunately, college women are gaining ground on (追上,接近,逼近...) men for the title of campus drunk.(校園酒鬼的稱號)
Lisa: Really? Drinking among college students has been going on for decades. Why are women drinking more now?
Bart: I don't know, but the percentage of college women drinking to get drunk has more than tripled over the past 15 years, says a new report from Columbia University.
Lisa: I guess that's really not that surprising. Women are beginning to assert themselves more in every aspect of society.
Bart: I know a lot of people are shrugging this off (對某事聽之任知,不予重視)as just a teenage rite of passage, but it's more serious than that. I read in USA TODAY that alcohol is involved in 90% of all rapes, 80% of all vandalism (蓄意破壞公物或他人私有財產(chǎn)的行經(jīng))cases, 40% of all academic problems and 28% of all dropout (輟學)problems.
Lisa: I have to admit, that is shocking! I never realized that booze (酒,痛飲)was so connected with crime.
Bart: What's even worse is that as many as 360,000 of today's undergraduates ultimately will die from alcohol-related causes - more than will get advanced degrees.
Lisa: That's downright (徹底地,十分地))depressing. I'll bet that fraternities (大學男生聯(lián)誼會)and sororities (大學女生聯(lián)誼會)have a lot to do with that.
Bart: You're right. Students in frats (fraternities 的縮寫)report drinking three times as much as the average student. Also studies show that 25% of freshmen admit to binge drinking in comparison to 20% of seniors.
Lisa: Aren't there any campuses that are trying to do anything about this problem?
Bart: Yes, as a matter of fact, the University of Maryland found that 30% of its students actually preferred alcohol-free social events. Officials offered cash awards fro groups sponsoring the best alcohol-free party. hey, would you like something to drink.
Lisa: Yeah, just as long as it's doesn't have any alcohol, sugar or caffeine in it!