VOA慢速英语2021 世卫组织使用希腊字母命名新冠病毒变种

Goodbye B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1.

再见，B.1.1.7、B.1.351 和 P.1。

Hello Alpha, Beta and Gamma.

你好，阿尔法、贝塔和伽马。

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced May 31 that it has given new names to the several versions, or variants², of new coronavirus spreading around the world. Based on Greek letters, the names are simple and easy to remember.

世卫组织5月31日宣布，其已为在世界范围内传播的新冠病毒的多个变种赋予了新的名称。这些以希腊字母为基础的名称简单易记。

The international health agency recognized that the scientific names can be difficult to say. It said, "As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing³ and discriminatory."

世卫组织认识到这些变种的学名很难念。该机构表示：“因此，人们通常以检出地点来称呼这些变种，这是污名化和歧视性的。”

As early as 2015, the WHO had advised scientists, officials and the media to avoid naming new infectious diseases after people, animals and places. It said to avoid names like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome⁴, Spanish Flu, or Legionnaires Disease, which have since become part of medical history. Instead, the WHO said, names should be descriptive terms based on general symptoms, or signs of sickness, caused by the disease.

早在2015年，世卫组织就曾建议科学家、官员和媒体避免以人、动物或地点来命名新的传染病。它说要避免像中东呼吸综合征、西班牙流感或军团病这种已经成为医学史一部分的名称。相反，世卫组织表示，名称应该是基于这种疾病引起的一般症状的描述性术语。

Dr. Keiji Fukuda was WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Security at the time. He said, "This may seem like a trivial issue to some, but disease names really do matter to the people who are directly affected⁵." He noted⁶ that disease names of the past have caused damage to economies, trade, and members of religious or ethnic⁷ communities.

福田敬二博士目前是世卫组织负责卫生安全的助理总干事。他说：“对于某些人来说，这似乎是微不足道的问题，但是疾病名称对于受到直接影响的人群来说确实很重要。”他指出，过去的疾病名称对经济、贸易以及宗教或种族社区的成员造成了伤害。

Last month, Agence-France Presse reported that the Indian government ordered the country's social media to remove all writings that referred to the "Indian variant¹." The government said the term could suggest India was to blame for the disease.

上个月，法新社报道称，印度政府下令该国社交媒体删除所有提到印度变体的文章。政府表示，这个词可能暗示印度应该对这种疾病负责。

The WHO says it will continue to use the scientific name SARS-CoV-2 to describe the coronavirus that was first identified in Wuhan. The disease it causes is still called coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19. And scientists will continue to use the difficult-to-remember names of the variants in their research.

世卫组织表示，将继续使用学名SARS-CoV-2来描述最早在武汉发现的新冠病毒(注：最早发现并非指病毒源头)。它引发的疾病仍被成为coronavirus disease 2019或是COVID-19。科学家们还将继续在他们的研究中使用那些难以记住的变体名称。

For the public, the variant first identified in Britain will now be called Alpha. The one first identified in South Africa will be known as Beta; the one in Brazil as Gamma; and the one in India as Delta⁸.

对于公众来说，最早在英国发现的变种现在被称为阿尔法。最早在南非发现的变种被称为贝塔。最早在巴西发现的变种被称为伽马，而最早在印度发现的变种被称为德尔塔。

As new variants of concern and of interest are identified, the WHO said it will work with experts to name them after Greek letters.

世卫组织表示，随着新发现“须关切变种”和“待观察变种”，它将与专家合作以希腊字母对其命名。

1 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

2 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

3 stigmatizing   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Laing regards the concept of mental illness as both unscientific and stigmatizing. 菜恩认为精神病的概念是不科学的和诬蔑性的。 来自辞典例句
• The existing social benefits are considered to be stigmatizing and repressive. 现存的社会福利被指责为是无价值的、残暴的。 来自互联网

4 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

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 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。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。