VOA慢速英语2013 The bomb attacks in Boston

 

The bomb attacks in Boston

From VOA Learning English, welcome to AS IT IS. I’m Mario Ritter.

“This was a heinous¹ and cowardly act. And given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism. Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians², it is an act of terror.”

That was President Obama describing the bomb attacks in Boston, Massachusetts. Today, we briefly³ describe what happened in Boston on Monday. Later in our program, we will hear about a deadly viral disease in China.

That was the sound of one of the explosions in Boston. Three people died as a result of the bombings. More than 170 others were wounded. Reports say the bombs were designed to hurt as many people as possible.

The investigation⁴ is moving forward quickly. No individual or group has claimed responsibility. Investigators⁵ are studying the bombed areas, video images and other evidence.

President Obama spoke⁶ to the American people hours on Tuesday. He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, had important questions to answer.

“What we don’t yet know however, is who carried out this attack or why, whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization foreign or domestic, or was it the act of a malevolent⁷ individual.”

The two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The area was crowded with runners, their supporters and families. The 42-kilometer race had started about four hours earlier.

The president praised the bravery of emergency workers and runners who donated blood after the long-distance race. He had this to say about their response.

“So if you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil, that’s it: selflessly, compassionately⁸, unafraid.”

The bombings took place on Patriot’s Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts. The Boston Marathon has been a part of the celebrations for more than 100 years.

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China has been struck with a deadly outbreak of bird flu, or avian influenza⁹. The first deaths from the virus, H7N9, took place in Shanghai in March. Now avian flu has spread to several provinces, and researchers are concerned. Avi Arditti has more.

Early last month, people in Shanghai started getting sick from the latest version of the avian influenza virus. The number of people infected has since increased and cases have spread to other provinces.  At least 13 people have died, and cases have been reported in several provinces and the capital Beijing. Researchers are concerned about the danger to humans because they are still trying to identify exactly how the disease spreads.

China is increasing surveillance measures after officials closed poultry¹⁰ markets in Shanghai last week and destroyed thousands of birds. Officials acted after the virus was found in local pigeons.  In Taiwan, officials have made anti-viral medicines available at lower prices for the public.

The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this is the first time that this version, H7N9, has been found in humans.  It is unclear if the H7N9 virus can be treated with antiviral drugs like Tamiflu.

Malik Peiris is scientific director of the Pasteur Research Center at Hong Kong University. He is also the first scientist to isolate¹¹ the SARS virus that killed hundreds of people 10 years ago.  He says many less severe cases of this avian flu outbreak may go unrecognized.

“I think you have to be cautious about interpreting mortality rates because, usually, only the most severe cases are investigated.  There could be milder cases that go unrecognized.  So, on the one hand, this would make the mortality and the severity less.  But of course, on the other hand, it would mean there is more transmission occurring in humans.”

Malik Peiris says it is important to find where the virus started so a vaccine¹² can be developed.

“Learning from H5N1, it is quite an unpredictable virus in that there are hundreds of people working closely with poultry who do not seem to get infected.  But there is the one person who may have quite a tenuous¹³ contact who [does] … So, I think what is crucial is to go upstream, along the poultry marketing¹⁴ chain, ideally to the farms, and identify which species is the main source.”

Hong Kong recently marked the 10th anniversary of the disease SARS. That outbreak infected thousands and spread from China to three continents.  Many there are fearful that a lack of information from the Chinese government, which aided the spread of SARS, could be repeated with H7N9.

Thomas Abraham is director of the public health media program at Hong Kong University. He said social media has changed the way people find out about such outbreaks.

“One of the early [H7N9] cases in Shanghai, even though the hospital said nothing, the patient’s admission slip was photographed and put up on Weibo [China’s Twitter].  This kind of information flow is a dam that is unstoppable.  It is an entirely¹⁵ new environment the Chinese authorities are working in.”

World Health Organization officials have called for calm. And researchers continue to try to learn more about the outbreak. Laurie Garrett is with the Council on Foreign Relations.  She warns that international cooperation can break down during large disease outbreaks as they did during the swine flu pandemic of 2009.

“What 2009 taught us with the swine flu [pandemic] is that global solidarity¹⁶ can break down very fast.  Countries start closing airports and quarantining travelers; they start hoarding¹⁷ drugs and vaccines¹⁸. It is not a pretty picture.”

I’m Avi Arditti.

Now, this AS IT IS news short. Venezuela’s presidential election on Sunday was closer than expected. Election officials declared acting¹⁹ president Nicholas Maduro the winner, with just over 50 percent of the vote. Supporters of opposition²⁰ leader Henrique Capriles have been protesting the official results. Mr. Capriles urged them to keep on protesting. Mr. Maduro is considered the chosen successor of former President Hugo Chavez.

1 heinous   

adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的

参考例句：

• They admitted to the most heinous crimes.他们承认了极其恶劣的罪行。
• I do not want to meet that heinous person.我不想见那个十恶不赦的人。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 malevolent   

adj.有恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒？
• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。

8 compassionately   

adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地

参考例句：

• The man at her feet looked up at Scarlett compassionately. 那个躺在思嘉脚边的人同情地仰望着她。 来自飘（部分）
• Then almost compassionately he said,"You should be greatly rewarded." 接着他几乎带些怜悯似地说：“你是应当得到重重酬报的。” 来自辞典例句

9 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。

10 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?

11 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

12 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。

13 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

14 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

15 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

16 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

17 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

18 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

19 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

20 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。