2020年经济学人 制药公司让特朗普坐冷板凳(1)

Business

商业版块

Vaccines²

疫苗

Strong medicine

强效药

Drugmakers tell Donald Trump³ to cool his heels

制药商让唐纳德·特朗普坐冷板凳

The world’s 7.5bn people want a vaccine¹ for covid-19 as soon as possible. One person needs it by November 3rd. As President Donald Trump limps towards election day, he wants to report real medical progress against the disease. Earlier this year it seemed possible that one or two pharmaceutical⁴ firms might be able to obtain some sort of limited approval by the time Americans cast their ballots⁵. That may still be possible. It is certainly desirable, given the pandemic’s toll⁶ on lives and livelihoods⁷. But on September 8th, in an unprecedented⁸ move, nine global drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, GSK, Pfizer and Sanofi, announced a pledge to uphold scientific and ethical⁹ standards in the search for a coronavirus vaccine.

全世界的75亿人迫切希望能尽快研制出新冠肺炎的疫苗。还有一个人在11月3日之前就需要这个疫苗。美国总统唐纳德·特朗普步履维艰地迈近选举日，他希望汇报对抗新冠肺炎的真正医疗进展。今年早些时候，特朗普的谋算是有可能实现的，到美国民众投票时，可能给予一两家制药公司有限的批准。特朗普现在依旧可能得偿所愿。鉴于新冠肺炎扼杀生命、损害民生，这当然可取。但9月8日，包括阿斯利康、葛兰素史克、辉瑞和赛诺菲在内的9家全球制药商采取了史无前例的行动，他们宣布承诺在研发冠状病毒疫苗时坚持科学和道德标准。

The message is intended to reassure¹⁰ the public that the companies will not bow to mounting political pressure from the White House to rush through a vaccine without the proper safety and efficacy tests. But it is also a rebuke¹¹ to the president, who has been politicising the drug-approval process—and eroding¹² public confidence in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This could undermine trust in any vaccine that arrives, as sooner or later one almost certainly will.

这一信息旨在向公众保证，这些公司不会屈服于来自白宫的政治压力，不会在没有经过适当的安全性和有效性测试的情况下，仓促推出疫苗。但这也是对总统的一种指责，特朗普总统一直在将药物审批程序政治化，还削弱公众对食品和药物管理局（FDA)的信心。特朗普的举动可能会使美国公民无法信任研制出的疫苗，相关的疫苗几乎肯定迟早能研制出来。

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

5 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

10 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

11 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

12 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。