VOA慢速英语2015 巴基斯坦逮捕拒绝为孩子接种脊髓灰质炎疫苗的父母

AS IT IS 2015-03-12 Pakistan Arrests Parents for Refusing Polio Vaccines 巴基斯坦逮捕拒绝为孩子接种脊髓灰质炎疫苗的父母

Pakistan has arrested hundreds of parents and ordered police to arrest hundreds more for failing to cooperate in efforts to stop polio. Officials acted because the parents refused to have their children vaccinated³ against the disease. They would not let health care workers give polio vaccine¹ to the children.

The Pakistani government action is part of new efforts to fight the disease. Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio virus remains⁴ a problem.

The parents were arrested during a polio vaccination⁵ campaign in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Polio cases have been confirmed in the area. The detained parents were sent to jails for refusing the polio vaccine for their children. Officials say the detainees will be freed only after writing an apology and promising⁶ their children will get the vaccine.

The three-day campaign aimed to vaccinate² more than 2.7 million children across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. In 2014, Pakistan reported 306 new polio cases, its highest number in 14 years. This year, the country has recorded 13 polio cases, mostly in the northwest.

The rise in cases last year led international donors⁷ to pressure the government to make sure immunization campaigns reach every child.          

Rotary⁸ International is among the donors helping⁹ Pakistan and other countries improve their anti-polio efforts. Aziz Memon is the group’s National PolioPlus Chair for Pakistan. He admits security concerns and political unrest have hurt the effort. He says the country can help remove polio as a health threat.

“We are almost done. Pakistan is a stumbling block and hopefully in a year you will see that the plans we have, we will be able to give you some good news.”

Mr. Memon and United Nations health officials are hopeful that Pakistan’s new measures can help it defeat polio in the coming years. They point to the country’s effective immunization campaigns in earlier years. Those efforts left officials to declare Pakistan nearly polio free in 2012.                          

Religious groups in rural Pakistan have long seen the anti-polio campaign as part of a Western plot to keep Muslims from reproducing. And, Islamic militants¹⁰ suspect Western governments are using the campaign to gather intelligence. That suspicion results from reports four years ago that America’s Central Intelligence Agency organized an effort to vaccinate Pakistanis against hepatitis. CIA agents were said to have used the immunization drive to find al-Qaida leader Osama bin¹¹ Laden¹².

The suspicion of CIA involvement has led to deadly attacks on anti-polio teams and bans on vaccination campaigns in tribal¹³ areas of Pakistan. The resulting violence led to the death of more than 70 people, including health care workers.

Last Monday, security concerns forced health officials in Baluchistan Province to postpone¹⁴ a 10-day polio immunization campaign. Health workers also demonstrated in the Zhob area of Baluchistan to protest the killings¹⁵ last month of four members of a polio team. The protesters demanded Pakistan’s government bring those responsible to justice.           

Words in This Story

vaccine – n, a substance containing killed or weakened organisms given to a person or animal to produce protection against a disease

campaign – n. a connected series of events, such as military actions during a war

apology – n. an expression of regret for a mistake or accident for which one accepts responsibility

promising – v. agreeing to do something

cases (medical) – n. incidents of disease

1 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。

2 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

3 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

7 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 rotary   

adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的

参考例句：

• The central unit is a rotary drum.核心设备是一个旋转的滚筒。
• A rotary table helps to optimize the beam incidence angle.一张旋转的桌子有助于将光线影响之方式角最佳化。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

12 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

13 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

14 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

15 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。