VOA慢速英语2014 美国、联合国加入抗击埃博拉病毒

 

US, UN Join the Fight Against Ebola 美国、联合国加入抗击埃博拉病毒

United Nations officials are calling for $1 billion to fight the Ebola virus in West Africa. Officials say they need the money to keep its spread within “tens of thousands of cases.”

The World Health Organization announced on Tuesday that Ebola has killed more than 2,500 people since the first case was reported earlier this year. That represents half of the more than 5,000 people infected with the disease.

The WHO’s Assistant Director general, Bruce Aylward, says the number of dead has risen 100 percent in just one month. He spoke¹ to reporters in Geneva, Switzerland. In his words, “quite frankly², ladies and gentlemen, this health crisis we’re facing is unparalleled in modern times. We don’t know where the numbers are going on this.”

Mr. Aylward said the UN agency had earlier predicted that the number of cases could reach 20,000. That no longer seemed a lot, he added.

The WHO official said the situation is very different from the Ebola ‘road map’ he presented just two weeks ago.

“As we adjust our plans right now, we are adjusting to assure we have many more beds, more treatment capacity on the ground in these countries. But it will be sometime before, I think, anyone can predict with any sort of sense of certainty, the kind of numbers where we are going to land.”

The Ebola virus has spread from Guinea to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal. Valerie Amos is the UN’s Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian³ Affairs. She notes that Liberia and Sierra Leone have experienced long periods of civil conflict, while Guinea has gone through years of unrest.

“And that is why we must act now, if we want to avoid greater humanitarian consequences in the future. First, we must prevent the compete collapse⁴ of health systems in the affected⁵ countries. Already, it is estimated that more people have died from secondary aspects. For example, malaria⁶, tuberculosis⁷ or in childbirth or from chronic⁸ illnesses than have died from Ebola.”

Also on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said he is expanding the federal government’s effort to fight the Ebola crisis. The president announced plans to deploy⁹ 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa. He made the announcement during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.

The U.S. military will build 17 health care centers with 100 beds in each. The centers will be used to identify and treat more Ebola victims. The United States will also establish a center to train an average of 500 health care workers a week.

1 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。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

7 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

8 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

9 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。