美国有线新闻 CNN 美国流感疫情肆虐 970万人感染4800人死亡（在线收听）

Our first subject this January 14th is flu season. The United States is in it right now. It's typically at its worse between December and February but this one started early. Health officials say it began in late September and that it's been a bad season already. The Centers of Disease Control, a government health agency, estimated that there had been at least 9.7 million cases of flu in America by early January, that 87,000 people have been hospitalized because of it and that 4,800 people had died from the flu or the complications it can cause.

The particular strains of the virus that are spreading this year are more likely to hit children and young adults. And this year's vaccine is not an exact match according to a recent report, meaning it may not be as effective as flu vaccines in other years. The CDC says overall the vaccine's about 40 to 60 percent effective at preventing the flu, but it also says it's the best way to protect yourself from the virus. There are some silver linings to this flu season. Even though flu activity was considered high in 33 states at the beginning of the year, it had dropped a bit.

Doctors don't know yet if that means the worse of the flu is behind us. It could still go up again. But they're watching closely to see if it tapers off. Another hopeful sign is that across all age groups, the number of deaths and hospitalizations from the flu is relatively low this time around. That maybe because most of those who die from the flu are elderly and this year's stains are effecting younger people more than them.

今天是1月14日，首先来关注流感季。现在就是美国的流感季。一般来说，12月至次年2月是流感发病高峰期，但今年的流感季来的更早。卫生官员表示，今年的流感季在9月末就已经开始，而且一直非常严重。政府卫生机构美国疾病控制中心估计，截至1月初，美国至少有970万例流感病例，8.7万人因流感入院治疗，4800人因流感或流感引发的病发症死亡。

今年传播扩散的这种流感病毒菌株更可能传染儿童和年轻成年人。最近的一份报告指出，疫苗不太适用于这种病毒，这意味着今年的流感疫苗可能不像往年那样有效。美国疾控中心表示，总体来说疫苗预防流感的有效性在40%到60%之间，但该中心同时表示，接种疫苗是保护自已免遭病毒感染的最佳方式。但这个流感季也有一线希望。尽管今年年初时，流感在美国33个州都相当活跃，但现在其活跃度已经下降。

医生尚不清楚这是否意味着严重流感期已经结束。流感活跃度仍可能再次上升。但他们正在密切关注，以确定流感病例是否会逐渐减少。另一个充满希望的迹象是，这次，所有年龄层因流感致死或住院的人数都相对较低。这可能是因为死于流感的人大多数是老年人，而今年的菌株对年轻人的影响要大于老人。