VOA慢速英语2021--亚洲农民抗击新一轮禽流感疫情

Asian Farmers Battle New Bird Flu Outbreak

Chicken farmers in several Asian nations are battling severe bird flu outbreaks.

The largest number of influenza¹ cases is in Japan and South Korea. In those countries, 20 million chickens have been destroyed since November.

Outbreaks have been reported over a wide area in Japan during the past two months. Chiba near Tokyo has reported cases and there are reports of the disease more than 1,000 kilometers away on the island of Kyushu. Agriculture ministry² officials say fresh cases are still happening.

"We can't say risk of the further spread of bird flu has diminished⁴ as the migration⁵ season for wild birds will continue until March, or even April in some cases," an official told Reuters.

The cases discovered in Japan and South Korea are similar to viruses that spread through Europe in 2019. Those viruses developed from widespread infections in 2014, said Filip Claes. He is an animal diseases expert with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Bird flu is common in Asia at this time of year because of migratory⁶ bird movements. Now, new forms of the virus have evolved to become more deadly in wild birds. This puts countries on flight pathways at risk, experts say.

India and Indonesia face risks

Last week, the H5N8 virus reached India, the world's sixth biggest poultry⁷ producer. Bird flu has already been reported in 10 Indian states.

"This is one of the worst outbreaks ever in India," said Mohinder Oberoi, an animal health expert and former advisor⁸ to the FAO. He added that there is a lot of public fear about disease in crows, which can fly long distances. "They know they fly far and think they'll infect their poultry, or even people."

Chicken prices in India fell by almost a third last week as people became increasingly fearful of the disease and stayed away from the meat.

Bird flu cannot infect people who eat the meat and the H5N8 virus is not known to have infected humans. But people are still fearful, said Uddhav Ahire, chairman of Anand Agro Group, a poultry company based in the western Indian city of Nashik.

Indonesia is Asia's second largest poultry producer. The country is only a temporary transit⁹ point for wild birds. This has reduced the risk of infections, an official at the country's Agriculture Ministry said.

However, Indonesia still moved to ban live bird imports from countries with H5N8 cases and set up a surveillance system to look for early signs of the virus.

With no major bird flight pathways over Southeast Asia, countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have so far not had H5N8 outbreaks. Those nations could, however, face risks from the movement of people and goods.

The Asian outbreak comes as the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic. It hurt poultry sales early on. But the pandemic has also driven poultry demand up as more people facing virus restrictions¹⁰ turned to home cooking.

Words in This Story

outbreak – n. a sudden start or increase in fighting or disease

influenza – n. a common sickness caused by a virus

diminish³ – v. to cause to become smaller or less important

evolve – v. to change or develop slowly into something that is more complex

poultry – n. the meat of birds (most often describing chicken)

transit – n. related to moving people or things from one place to another

surveillance – n. the act of carefully watching activities of people especially in order to control crime or the spread of disease

1 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。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 diminish   

vi.变少，变小，降低；vt.减少，减小，降低

参考例句：

• We should try to diminish the cost of production.我们应尽力减少生产成本。
• He likes to diminish the skill of others.他喜欢贬低别人的技术。

4 diminished   

减少了的，被贬低的

参考例句：

• He was found not guilty of murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. 他未被判谋杀罪是基于精神失常而减轻了刑事责任。
• The campers' food supply gradually diminished as the days wore on. 随着一天天的过去，露营者的食物逐渐减少了。

5 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

6 migratory   

n.候鸟，迁移

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• This does not negate the idea of migratory aptitude.这并没有否定迁移能力这一概念。

7 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?

8 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

9 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

10 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制