美国有线新闻 CNN 也门霍乱疫情扩散 北美自贸协定开启首轮重谈

 

Especially if you've been watching for a while, you've heard us talk a lot about the civil war in Syria. But it's not the only Middle Eastern nation struggling with the consequences of war. A conflict in Yemen, which is located between the Red Sea and the Gulf¹ of Aden, started in 2015.

Forces who are loyal to the country's president had been fighting the rebels who drove him out of the country. Thousands have been killed in the conflict, tens of thousands have been wounded and the World Health Organization now says there have been half a million cases of suspected cholera².

It's an intestinal³ infection caused by bacteria. It spreads through contaminated⁴ water and food that comes in contact with it. Because millions in Yemen don't have access to clean water and because garbage collection has stopped in major Yemeni cities, health officials believe cholera is infecting as many as 5,000 people per day. The spread has slowed down over the past month and people who contract the disease are all but certain to survive if they get health care.

What's worsening the problem in Yemen and contributing to the fact that almost 2,000 people have died from te nation's cholera outbreak, is a widespread shortage⁵ of medicine, hospitals and health care workers to help.

Leaders from the U.S., Canada and Mexico huddled⁶ in Washington, D.C. yesterday. It was the official beginning of an effort to renegotiate NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. This is a trade deal between the three countries. It went into effect in 1994. Renegotiating NAFTA is something that Donald Trump⁷ promised to do while he was campaigning to become U.S. president.

A Mexican government official said the goal is to make the agreement work better. A Canadian official said her country wants to protect NAFTA's record of creating jobs and economic growth. A U.S. official said that while NAFTA has benefitted many Americans such as farmers, it's failed for countless⁸ others with at least 700,000 American jobs lost because of NAFTA.

All this gives an indication of the deal's mixed results.

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 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。

3 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

4 contaminated   

把…弄脏，污染( contaminate的过去式 )； 玷污，毒害，腐蚀（人的思想或品德）

参考例句：

• The drinking water has become contaminated with lead. 饮用水被铅污染了。
• The site was found to be contaminated by radioactivity. 发现此地受放射线污染。

5 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

6 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

7 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。

8 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。