VOA标准英语2012--India Achieves Milestone in Global Polio Eradication

India Achieves Milestone¹ in Global Polio Eradication²

International reaction
To help India celebrate one year since its last reported case of polio, U.S. Health Secretary, Dr. Kathleen Sebelius, came to administer oral polio vaccine³ to Indian children. Health officials see the polio-free anniversary as a turning point in the global polio eradication program.
The number of polio cases reported in India dropped from 741 in 2009 to only 42 in 2010, and just one case was reported in 2011.
"What we are seeing today after 12 months without a child paralyzed by polio is that proof-positive that polio can be eradicated⁴," said The World Health Organization’s Assistant Director-General, Dr. Bruce Aylward, who leads the group's global polio eradication program. "We can overcome the biological challenges, we can overcome the operational challenges to ensuring this disease is eradicated once and for all."
Out of list
\In the coming weeks, India will be removed from the WHO's list of countries where polio is endemic, unless a new or previously⁵ unreported case emerges. Dr. Aylward says polio endemic countries can take lessons from the strategies that worked in India.
''Northern Nigeria and Pakistan are now the key to completing global eradication," said Dr. Aylward. "The challenge now, the priority now is applying the same lessons, the same ingenuity⁶, the same innovation, the same accountability framework, the same kind of perseverance⁷ that we saw in India to get the job finished in those two countries.''
Dr. Neeraj Mistry, the managing director at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, which developed the first oral polio vaccine more than a half century ago, says India’s success against its unique public health challenge is critically important to the global eradication effort.
“In India they worked with imams to actually put out the messages - that [produced] greater local acceptance and cultural acceptance of these health interventions⁸," said Dr. Mistry."Similarly, in other parts of the world, we can find community leaders that maybe in the form of traditional healers or even faith-based leaders in communities, that will be able to put out the messages that give greater cultural acceptance to such interventions.”
Danger
Polio, which can be prevented only by immunization, is caused by the wild polio virus, which attacks the central nervous system and can cause paralysis⁹, muscular atrophy¹⁰, and permanent deformity. It can also cause death. It infects mostly children living in unsanitary conditions. Experts say as long as even one child is infected there is a danger of others contracting the debilitating¹¹ infection.

1 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

2 eradication   

n.根除

参考例句：

• The eradication of an established infestation is not easy. 根除昆虫蔓延是不容易的。
• This is often required for intelligent control and eradication. 这经常需要灵巧的控制与消除。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

5 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。

6 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

7 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

8 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

9 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

10 atrophy   

n./v.萎缩，虚脱，衰退

参考例句：

• Patients exercised their atrophied limbs in the swimming pool.病人们在泳池里锻炼萎缩的四肢。
• Many hoped he would renew the country's atrophied political system.很多人都期望他能使该国萎靡的政治体系振作起来。

11 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。