美国国家公共电台 NPR--The World Health Organization turns 75

The World Health Organization turns 75

Transcript¹

The World Health Organization turns 75 today. Forged in the years following World War II, many hoped people would finally work together to eradicate² some of the world's worst diseases.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Every so often on this program - in a story about the pandemic, for example - we mention the World Health Organization. I've said it myself without really thinking about what the WHO really is, what it does or why it exists at all. Our science reporter Ari Daniel has been thinking about the WHO. It turns 75 today, and Ari asked where it came from.

ARI DANIEL, BYLINE³: When Alexandre White looks back on the year 1945, as World War II was shuddering⁴ to a close, he sees a planet in ruins.

ALEXANDRE WHITE: It was a pretty difficult and fraught⁵ time for the world 75 years ago.

DANIEL: White's a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. More than 50 countries had been involved in combat. And from a human health perspective, here was the great worry.

WHITE: The concern was very much severe infectious disease threats that arise from refugees and soldiers returning to their homes.

DANIEL: So a bunch of countries began pushing for some kind of global something that would be in charge of keeping the people of the world healthy. This entity⁶ would monitor illness and control the spread of infectious disease through, among other things, vaccination⁷ campaigns. But...

WHITE: There was a good amount of resistance and concern. This was the period where we're seeing, you know, a good deal of jockeying for political position with the rising power of the United States as well as the Soviet⁸ Union.

DANIEL: Both of which felt that an organization like this would threaten their growing power. So it was other countries, like Brazil and China, that in 1948 pushed to establish the World Health Organization as part of the United Nations. Here's an excerpt⁹ from a film produced that year by the U.N. Public Information Office.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: In its first assembly, July 1948, Director General Dr. Chisholm declared that this organization was physically¹⁰ prepared to raise the health level of all people and to forever destroy the human afflictions of malaria¹¹, cholera¹², tuberculosis¹³ and syphilis.

DANIEL: Wafaa El-Sadr is executive vice¹⁴ president of Columbia Global.

WAFAA EL-SADR: It was a time when there was great promise that if we come together, we can solve big problems. It was a sense of the promise and the possible.

DANIEL: That promise was evident in what many see as the WHO's signature achievement - working in partnership¹⁵ to eradicate smallpox¹⁶ by 1980. Muhammad Zaman is a global public health professor at Boston University.

MUHAMMAD ZAMAN: Think about having a disease in the world that over the course of centuries, perhaps millennia¹⁷, has wiped out entire communities, and then one day to look back and say that disease no longer exists.

DANIEL: But turns out that smallpox was a unique victory. The WHO continues to battle many of those same diseases it first hoped to eradicate - malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, syphilis, soon thereafter, polio, and, eventually, Ebola. In 2014, the WHO was criticized for its handling of an Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Ifeanyi Nsofor is a fellow at the Aspen Institute. He says the WHO was too slow to declare the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency.

IFEANYI NSOFOR: Because we know that that really unlocks so many things that should happen to help contain that epidemic¹⁸.

DANIEL: Like treatments, resources, coordination¹⁹.

NSOFOR: Eventually, they got around to it. But more than 11,000 people had died across West Africa.

DANIEL: And then COVID-19 came along. And once again, the WHO was thrust into the public spotlight²⁰, where its response received mixed reactions, though many have praised its early action to declare a pandemic and mobilize an international effort to control the virus. Still, some say the organization's spread thin. Wafaa El-Sadr asks...

EL-SADR: What can it add today to be more effective, particularly in a very changing world?

DANIEL: She'd like to see the WHO focus on the world's most vulnerable, to bring the hope and resources of the WHO to those in greatest need.

For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel.

(SOUNDBITE OF FRAMEWORKS' "DELPHINA")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 shuddering   

v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• 'I am afraid of it,'she answered, shuddering. “我害怕，”她发着抖，说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She drew a deep shuddering breath. 她不由得打了个寒噤，深深吸了口气。 来自飘（部分）

5 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

6 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

7 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

10 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

11 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

12 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

13 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

15 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

16 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

17 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

18 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

19 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

20 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。