2007年VOA标准英语-Climate Change Brings Malaria to New Areas of K

By Katy Migiro
Nairobi
07 June 2007

As G-8 leaders debate what action they are going to take to tackle climate change, poor communities in Kenya's highlands are already feeling the impact of global warming.  Katy Migiro reports from our Nairobi bureau that increased temperatures are bringing malarial³ mosquitoes to areas that were previously⁴ safe from the disease that kills more Africans than any other.

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Malaria is spread by mosquitoes

Africa is considered the continent that has done the least to contribute to climate change, but that has not made it immune to the problems caused by climate change.

Warmer, wetter weather is taking malaria into new regions, including the highlands of Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Kenyan scientist Shem Wandiga has studied malaria in the Lake Victoria region over the last 30 years. He says that warmer temperatures have brought malarial mosquitoes to the highlands around Mount Kenya - areas that, until a few years ago, were completely malaria free.

Gerald Mwangi Walterfang of the Kenyan NGOs Alliance against Malaria says people in Kenya's highland¹ regions are particularly vulnerable to malaria, often dying quickly, because they do not have any immunity⁵ to the disease.

"If you have malaria and you have no access [to medicine] and you don't have funds to go to private hospitals, you are looking at death within less than 24 hours," he said.

Malaria is the number one cause of death in Kenya, as it is across Africa.  Children are particularly vulnerable.  Up to 40,000 infants die of malaria in Kenya each year.

Drugs to cure malaria cost around $10, way beyond the budget of the majority of Kenyans, who live on less than $2 a day.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis⁶ and malaria is financing the distribution of free drugs and bed nets across Kenya.

But Professor Wandiga says that such efforts, while laudable, are not enough. Many families are too poor to afford beds and sleep on mats on the floor.  It is hard to securely cover such sleeping areas with mosquito nets.

Professor Wandiga says the only truly effective way to reduce the number of deaths caused by malaria in Africa is by eliminating poverty.

"Economic empowerment we have seen in our survey helps people to be less vulnerable to malaria," he said.  "So poverty accentuates⁷ vulnerability to malaria. You want to provide preventive measures if the disease occurs, but if you are able to give people the means to support themselves and look after themselves then they will be less susceptible⁸ to malarial mortality."

The world's top scientists, reporting to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, predict that climate change will also increase the prevalence of other diseases, including Rift⁹ Valley fever, meningitis and cholera¹⁰.

1 highland   

n.(pl.)高地，山地

参考例句：

• The highland game is part of Scotland's cultural heritage.苏格兰高地游戏是苏格兰文化遗产的一部分。
• The highland forests where few hunters venture have long been the bear's sanctuary.这片只有少数猎人涉险的高山森林，一直都是黑熊的避难所。

2 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

3 malarial   

患疟疾的，毒气的

参考例句：

• Malarial poison had sallowed his skin. 疟疾病毒使他皮肤成灰黄色。
• Standing water like this gives malarial mosquitoes the perfect place to breed. 像这样的死水给了传染疟疾的蚊子绝佳的繁殖地点。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

6 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

7 accentuates   

v.重读( accentuate的第三人称单数 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于

参考例句：

• The dark frame accentuates the brightness of the picture. 深色画框更显出画的明亮色彩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her sunburnt skin accentuates the fairness of her hair. 她那晒黑了的皮肤突出了她的一头金发。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

9 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

10 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。