VOA慢速英语2021 数学专家称全球所有新冠病毒装不满一个汽水罐

A British math expert says all the COVID-causing virus that currently exists in the world could easily fit inside a single can of soda¹. The finding shows just how much damage can be caused by very small virus particles.

一位英国数学专家表示，全球现存的所有新冠病毒可以轻松放入一个汽水罐中。该研究结果表明了极其细小的病毒颗粒会造成多大的损害。

Christian² Yates of the University of Bath studied worldwide rates of new COVID-19 infections and made estimates of the amount of virus in an infected person's blood. He found that there are about two quintillion - or two billion billion - SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in the world at any one time.

巴斯大学的克里斯蒂安·耶茨研究了新冠病毒的全球感染率，并对感染者血液中的病毒数量进行了估算。他发现世界上任意时刻都大约有200亿亿个新冠病毒颗粒。

Yates said he came up with that result by measuring the distance across one virus particle - about 100 nanometers, or 100 billionths of a meter. He then found the total amount of space the virus takes up.

耶茨表示，他通过测量病毒颗粒之间的距离（大约是100纳米，也就是一千亿分之一米）得出了这一结果。然后他发现了这种病毒占用的空间总量。

He said the total is still less than can be contained in a single 330 milliliter soda can. He noted³ that total includes the fact that the particles will leave a lot of space in between when placed together.

他说，这个总量仍然低于一个330毫升的汽水罐的容量。他指出，这个总量包含了以下事实：当放置在一起时，这些粒子之间会留出很大空间。

"It's astonishing to think that all the trouble, the disruption, the hardship and the loss of life that has resulted over the last year could constitute just a few mouthfuls," Yates said in a report on his findings.

耶茨在他的研究报告中表示：“ 想到过去这一年来所有这些麻烦、破坏、艰辛和失去的生命，只是几口的量的病毒造成的，就很惊人。"

More than 2.3 million people have died in the COVID-19 pandemic so far. There have been about 107 million confirmed cases worldwide.

到目前为止，已经有超过230万人死于新冠肺炎大流行。全球大约有1.07亿例确诊病例。

1 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。