美国有线新闻 CNN 美国最新流感季有2900万人感染

Today's show starts with a report on a virus, it's not the new coronavirus that's been so much in the news lately. This report is on the old fashion flu and overall it's been much worse than the coronavirus.

今天的节目先来关注一种病毒，不过不是最近新闻中经常报道的新冠病毒。这篇报道有关老式流感，总体来说其比冠状病毒严重得多。

There've been at least 29 million flu cases in America since the flu season got going in late September. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the virus has been widespread in every region of the country and as of last week 48 states and the Commonwealth¹ of Puerto Rico all reported high levels of flu activity. The numbers are closely watched because health officials are trying to get a sense of when this season will taper² off. There are some signs it could be starting to slow down.

自9月下旬流感季开始至今，美国至少报告了2900万例流感病例。美国疾病控制中心表示，流感病毒已蔓延至美国各个地区，截至上周，全美48个州以及波多黎各联邦均报告了高水平的流感活动。这些数字受到密切关注，因为卫生官员正试图了解这一流感季何时结束。现在有迹象表明流感季可能开始放缓。

Office visits related to flu-like symptoms and people who've tested positively³ for the flu both decreased a little bit in mid-February as opposed to early February. It's been an especially bad flu season for children. Though most of those who've died from the flu are elderly. What about the vaccine⁴?

2月中旬，与流感样症状相关的门诊量以及流感检测呈阳性的人数较2月初略有下降。对儿童来说，这是一个尤为糟糕的流感季。尽管大多数流感死亡病例是老年人。那疫苗呢？

The latest numbers from the CDC haven't been finalized⁵ yet but they indicated that this year's flu vaccine has been about 45 percent effective overall in preventing doctor visits for the flu. The CDC says the vaccine is typically between 40 and 60 percent effective at that. So while doctors continue to recommend that people get the vaccine, they admit it's not perfect.

美国疾控中心的最新数据尚未最终确定，不过他们表示，今年流感疫苗在预防流感就诊方面的有效率约为45%。美国疾控中心表示，疫苗的有效率通常在40%到60%之间。因此，尽管医生仍然建议人们接种疫苗，但他们也承认疫苗并不完美。

1 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

2 taper   

n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小

参考例句：

• You'd better taper off the amount of time given to rest.你最好逐渐地减少休息时间。
• Pulmonary arteries taper towards periphery.肺动脉向周围逐渐变细。

3 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

4 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。

5 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》