Статья из NYT для изучающих английский (intermediate)

In Korea, a Boot Camp (учебный лагерь/тренировочный лагерь) Cure (лекарство) for Web Obsession (одержимость)

MOKCHEON, South Korea — The compound (огороженная территория) — part boot camp, part rehab center (реабилитационный центр) — resembles (похожа на) programs around the world for troubled youths. Drill instructors drive young men through military-style obstacle courses (курс по преодолению препятствий), counselors lead group sessions, and there are even therapeutic workshops (семинары) on pottery (гончарное ремесло) and drumming.
But these young people are not battling alcohol or drugs. Rather, they have severe cases (сложные случаи) of what many in this country believe is a new and potentially deadly addiction (смертельная зависимость): cyberspace.
They come here, to the Jump Up Internet Rescue School, the first camp of its kind in South Korea and possibly the world, to be cured.
South Korea boasts of being the most wired nation (компьютеризированная нация) on earth. In fact, perhaps no other country has so fully embraced (обнимать/переносное значение – с готовностью принимать (какое-либо новшество)) the Internet. Ninety percent of homes connect to cheap, high-speed broadband (широкополосная сеть), online gaming is a professional sport, and social life for the young revolves around (вращается вокруг) the “PC bang,” dim Internet parlors (вечерние Интернет-салоны) that sit on practically every street corner.
But such ready access to the Web has come at a price (дорого) as legions of obsessed (одержимых) users find that they cannot tear themselves away from their computer screens.
Compulsive (навязчивое/непреодолимое) Internet use has been identified as a mental health issue (вопрос умственной нормальности) in other countries, including the United States. However, it may be a particularly acute (актуальной) problem in South Korea because of the country’s nearly universal Internet access.
It has become a national issue here in recent years, as users started dropping dead (падать замертво) from exhaustion (истощение) after playing online games for days on end (много дней напролет). A growing number of students have skipped (прогуливают) school to stay online, shockingly self-destructive (самоуничтожительное/вредящее себе) behavior in this intensely competitive society.
Up to 30 percent of South Koreans under 18, or about 2.4 million people, are at risk of Internet addiction, said Ahn Dong-hyun, a child psychiatrist at Hanyang University in Seoul who just completed a three-year government-financed survey (исследование) of the problem.
They spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting. Of those, up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction, like an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance (терпения) that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms (синдром абстиненции) like anger and craving (тоска по/жажда чего-л/сильное желание чего-л) when prevented from logging on.
To address the problem, the government has built a network of 140 Internet-addiction counseling centers, in addition to treatment programs at almost 100 hospitals and, most recently, the Internet Rescue camp, which started this summer. Researchers have developed a checklist (контрольный список вопросов) for diagnosing the addiction and determining its severity (опасности (заболевания)), the K-Scale. (The K is for Korea.)
In September, South Korea held the first international symposium on Internet addiction.
“Korea has been most aggressive (здесь: активна) in embracing the Internet,” said Koh Young-sam, head of the government-run Internet Addiction Counseling Center. “Now we have to lead in dealing with its consequences (последствия).”
Though some health experts here and abroad question (сомневаются/ставят под вопрос) whether overuse (чрезмерное использование) of the Internet or computers in general is an addiction in the strict medical sense, many agree that obsessive computer use has become a growing problem in many countries.
Doctors in China and Taiwan have begun reporting similar disorders (нарушения) in their youth. In the United States, Dr. Jerald J. Block, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University, estimates that up to nine million Americans may be at risk for the disorder, which he calls pathological computer use. Only a handful (малое количество) of clinics in the United States specialize in treating it, he said.
“Korea is on the leading edge (на передовой),” Dr. Block said. “They are ahead in defining and researching the problem, and recognize as a society that they have a major issue.”
The rescue camp, in a forested area about an hour south of Seoul, was created to treat the most severe cases. This year, the camp held its first two 12-day sessions, with 16 to 18 male participants each time. (South Korean researchers say an overwhelming majority (подавляющее большинство) of compulsive computer users are males).