新闻周刊:拜登政府没有为未来的新流行病做好准备

Biden Poised¹ to Repeat Mistakes that Led to COVID Pandemic, Biosecurity Experts Say

生物安全专家表示，拜登可能会重复引发新冠疫情的错误

"Without a doubt, COVID-19 has changed the threat landscape," says Peggy Hamburg, former FDA commissioner² and now vice³ president of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonpartisan think tank on global security.

“毫无疑问，新冠肺炎已经改变了威胁趋势，”前食品和药物管理局局长、现任无党派全球安全智库“核威胁倡议”副主席的佩吉·汉堡说。

Yet despite the rising risk of a new, future pandemic caused by a lab leak — or one that emerges from a bioterrorist attack or even natural causes, for that matter —

然而，尽管由实验室泄露——或者生物恐怖袭击，或即使是自然原因——所导致的新的未来流行病的风险不断上升，

the U.S. government, under the leadership of Joe Biden and Congress, seems on course to repeat the mistake made by nearly every one of its predecessors⁴ for the past several decades:

乔·拜登和国会领导下的美国政府似乎正在重蹈过去几十年来几乎每一位前任总统所犯的错误：

failing to take all possible steps to strengthen America's response to a future pandemic or prevent one from happening in the first place.

未能采取一切可能的措施，加强美国对未来流行病的应对，或在第一时间阻止疫情的发生。

One year ago, as SARS-CoV-2 raged through an unprotected population and vaccines⁵ were still months away from authorization⁶,

一年前，当SARS-CoV-2在没有受到保护的人群中肆虐，疫苗还需要几个月的时间才能获得批准时，

workers were wondering how they'd protect themselves through the long winter months and parents were fretting⁷ over how they'd hold down a job while their kids stayed home all day learning in front of a laptop.

人们想知道如何在漫长的冬季里保护自己，父母担心如何保住工作，而他们的孩子整天待在家里坐在笔记本电脑前学习。

Now, despite the widespread availability of vaccines, the surge in COVID cases due to the Delta⁸ variant⁹ is raising fears and uncertainties¹⁰ about the prospects¹¹ of a second pandemic winter among a war-weary public.

现在，尽管在很多地区都可接种到疫苗，但由于德尔塔变种导致的新冠肺炎病例激增，在疲于应对的公众中引发了对疫情第二个冬季前景的担忧和不确定。

The upside of a nation of people bummed¹² out about new mask mandates¹³ and public health restrictions¹⁴ for another school year is a rising understanding of how much pandemics suck and how important it is to prevent them.

国民对新的口罩规定和下一学年的公共卫生限制感到沮丧，其好处是人们更充分地认识到流行病有多糟糕，以及预防流行病的重要性。

With the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still in full swing, public awareness¹⁵ should be at a historic high.

在SARS-CoV-2病毒仍旧活跃的情况下，公众意识应该达到历史最高水平。

One poll, by the progressive group Data for Progress, shows that 71 percent of the public — including 60 percent of Republicans — supports a $30 billion pandemic-prevention plan recently floated by President Biden.

进步组织Data for Progress进行的一项民意调查显示，71%的公众——包括60%的共和党人——支持拜登总统最近提出的300亿美元的流行病预防计划。

1 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

2 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

6 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

7 fretting   

n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的

参考例句：

• Fretting about it won't help. 苦恼于事无补。
• The old lady is always fretting over something unimportant. 那位老妇人总是为一些小事焦虑不安。

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。

9 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。

10 uncertainties   

无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物

参考例句：

• One of the uncertainties of military duty is that you never know when you might suddenly get posted away. 任军职不稳定的因素之一是你永远不知道什么时候会突然被派往它处。
• Uncertainties affecting peace and development are on the rise. 影响和平与发展的不确定因素在增加。 来自汉英非文学 - 十六大报告

11 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

12 bummed   

失望的，沮丧的

参考例句：

• I was really bummed out that there were no tickets left. 没有票了，我非常恼火。
• I didn't do anything last summer; I just bummed around. 去年夏天我游手好闲，什么正经事也没做。

13 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

14 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

15 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。