2006年VOA标准英语-Indian Health Minister: Bird Flu Outbreak

By Patricia Nunan
New Delhi
20 February 2006

Veterinarian doctors collect eggs at poultry¹ farm at Navapur, February 20, 2006  
  
Indian officials say the country's first outbreak of bird flu is under control, as government teams continued to cull² chickens in the western state of Maharastra. Officials are also going door-to-door to check for any people showing signs of contracting the potentially fatal form of the H5N1 virus.

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Officials say they have sent thousands of protective suits for use by workers, some of who are in their second day of culling³ tens of thousands of birds in the western state of Maharastra. This is where India's first outbreak of the H5N1 virus was confirmed Saturday in poultry.

Authorities have also sent to the state some 11,000 doses of Tamiflu, the anti-viral drug used to treat ordinary cases of flu.

Speaking before parliament Monday, Health Minister Ambamani Ramadoss says there is no reason to panic.

"As of this date, there is no confirmed case of human avian influenza," he said. "I'd like to assure the house the situation is being closely monitored and is under control."

Health workers have fanned out to some 50 poultry farms in the area of Navapur, roughly 400 kilometers northeast of the state capital of Bombay. Officials estimate half a million birds will be slaughtered⁴, then buried or burned to stop the spread of the avian flu.

Health care workers are going to each house in the area to check for people showing any flu-like symptoms. So far, at least two people have been quarantined, as a safety measure.

State authorities had earlier reported that a 27 year-old poultry worker had died after showing bird-flu like symptoms, but the exact cause of his death has not yet been determined⁵.

India's neighbor Nepal, meanwhile, has banned the import of poultry and related products from India, as a precautionary measure.

1 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?

2 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

3 culling   

n.选择，大批物品中剔出劣质货v.挑选，剔除( cull的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mathematicians turned to culling periodic solutions. 数学家们转而去挑选周期解。 来自辞典例句
• It took us a week to find you, a week of culling out prejudice and hatred. 我们花了一个星期的时间找到你们，把偏见和憎恨剔除出去。 来自演讲部分

4 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。