VOA标准英语2015--恐惧是遏制埃博拉的最大障碍

 

IFRC: Fear Hampering¹ Ebola Fight 恐惧是遏制埃博拉的最大障碍

The West Africa Ebola outbreak began just over a year ago in Guinea, but health officials still cannot say when it will be contained. The International Federation² of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says while progress has been made, much more needs to be done to prevent a relapse. More than 20-thousand cases has been reported and nearly eight-thousand deaths.

The Red Cross’ Katherine Mueller gives an assessment³ of the Ebola epidemic⁴ in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“The Ebola outbreak is not under control yet. We do see some leveling off of cases for Liberia, for example. However, we’ve seen it before that somebody attends a funeral. They come back. They’re infected. They infect their village and cases spike⁵. So it really doesn’t take much to have another increase in cases,” she said.

Mueller is the IFRC’s Africa communications manager. She worries that people may become complacent⁶ after hearing that the number of new cases has slowed in some places.

“That’s actually one of the things we’re concerned about is once people in the country start seeing this leveling off of cases that they’re figuring, yeah, we’re beating this thing and it’s too early to say that. This is the new normal of living with Ebola -- that it’s just not going to go away,” she said.

Part of the organization’s efforts include going to remote areas in the three hardest hit countries.

“So far, our volunteers have reached almost three-and-a-half -million people with their messages about how to protect themselves and how to stop the spread. We’re having some success, but we’re also finding that still a lot of those messages are not being heard. So we really need to figure out how to talk to these communities in a way that they all understand and actually implement⁷ the messaging. Talking with the religious leaders, the community leaders – people who are really well-respected – traditional healers – and getting the messages shared by them,” she said.

Mueller said that some of the major obstacles to raising awareness⁸ are fear and mistrust, both of the governments and some Westerners.

“A lot of them have never seen white people before. So white people came in when Ebola came in. And communities are connecting the two and in a lot of cases are blaming the Western aid workers, who are there, for bringing Ebola into their communities. So those are some of the challenges that we’re up against,” she said.

And there are also logistical challenges.

“We definitely do not have enough beds to be able to support all the people who would need them. What we’re also noticing, though, is that there’s this geographical⁹ spread of the virus. So, we go in and we set up a treatment center in Kenema, Sierra Leone, for example, and then the virus has spread to other remote communities. And that actually makes it harder to manage because if we move the resources from one area to another, cases start spiking¹⁰ in that original area,” said Mueller.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is asking its partners to expand their operations in the rural areas.

Mueller said that amid the crisis, there are success stories.

“People are surviving this disease. At our treatment center in Kenema in Sierra Leone, we’ve had more than 200 people discharged from the treatment center. Now, not all of them have been confirmed Ebola patients, but a good majority have been. We’ve also had local nurses who have survived. And they’re now actually coming back and joining the Red Cross and they’re volunteering at the treatment center to look after the children, who can’t be together with their parents, who are also at the center.”

The main goal is to reach zero Ebola cases in West Africa. However, she said, it’s important to start talking about investing in African health systems, training medical personnel and greatly improving access to health care.

The IFRC has called a meeting for the end of January to begin planning long-term operations in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

1 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

2 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

3 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

4 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

5 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

6 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

7 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

8 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

9 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

10 spiking   

n.尖峰形成v.加烈酒于( spike的现在分词 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。 来自辞典例句
• We could be spiking our own guns. 我们可能要遭到失败。 来自辞典例句