2006年NPR美国国家公共电台十一月-Chinese Doctor Nominated to Run the WHO

Here is a signal that China may be assuming a larger role in global politics. The World Health Organization is set to name Doctor Margaret Chan as Director General, and she is the nominee¹ of China. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports.

Doctor Margaret Chan is the first Chinese national to hold a top United Nation's position. Two years ago she joined the Communicable Diseases Division of the World Health Organization to develop a plan for dealing² with an influenza³ pandemic. She was hired by Dr. Lee Jong-Wook who died unexpectedly last spring. After she was selected by the Executive Board in Geneva yesterday, she promised to work tirelessly to honor his commitment to World Health.

I have the commitment, the passion and the humility⁴ to serve the member states of this organization, this great organization. I also have the determination to achieve results for health. I'm sure we have the power to do so. We just need to be very smart in our planning and priority setting, and most of all, be streetwise in our actions.

She is a bird flu expert who has won her stripes the hard way, dealing with a series of major disease outbreaks as Hong Kong's Health Director. An avian flu epidemic⁵ in 1997 that earned her a reputation for being able to take decisive action. Doctor Robert Webster, a virologist with St. Jude's Research Hospital, worked with Doctor Chan in Hong Kong during that outbreak.

Margaret is a listener and makes people work together. She gets at the nitty-gritty of the question and makes decisions that, that are sometimes hard decisions, and I think can deal with the cultural bridge, which is real between the societies. And I think that that's what she has to offer.

Specifically he is talking about difficulties between Hong Kong and Beijing, and between China and the wider world. Some in Hong Kong were critical of what they perceived to be, her slowness in getting Chinese officials to be more open about what was going on during the bird flu outbreak. In the end, hundreds of thousands of poultry⁶ had to be slain⁷.

The poultry marketers at that time were very upset that their markets were shut for three months. She had to pull all the information together: from agriculture, from the Health Department, from the university and, and make the decision to slaughter⁸ all the poultry in Hong Kong, that the decision was really Margaret's in the end, and again was criticized.

She was similarly decisive and successful in getting the SARS epidemic under control. A gargantuan⁹ bureaucratic¹⁰ challenge also awaits her at WHO. The organization's regional offices have built their own fiefdoms among the Ministries¹¹ of Health of countries in their regions, and they don't always take direction from the Director General. That's hurt WHO's reputation. NS of the Global Health Council says that in the two years she's been in Geneva, she has won the respect of the people she'll have to work with.

I don't think it's an accident that she has risen to this very high level. She tends to do things by consensus¹² and with a smile rather than by fiat¹³. And I, I think that will tend to work well as long as she has a clear vision of where she is going.

Doctor Chan's term begins Jan 4 2007. Brenda Wilson, NPR News.
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streetwise
Having the shrewd awareness¹⁴, experience, and resourcefulness needed for survival in a difficult, often dangerous urban environment.
适应都市环境的：在一困难，经常有危险的都市环境中有生存所需要的机敏的意识，经验或才智的
stripe
（表示等级的）臂章，肩章
virologist
病毒学家
nitty-gritty
事实真相, 本质
gargantuan
Of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic.See Synonyms at enormous
fiat
命令, 法令, 许可, 批准

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

4 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

5 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。

6 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

7 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

8 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

9 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

10 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

11 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

12 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

13 fiat   

n.命令，法令，批准；vt.批准，颁布

参考例句：

• The opening of a market stall is governed by municipal fiat.开设市场摊位受市政法令管制。
• He has tried to impose solutions to the country's problems by fiat.他试图下令强行解决该国的问题。

14 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。