Texas University Receives $18 Million for Research to Preven

 

Greg Flakus
 
The U.S. government has granted Texas A&M University $18 million to find ways to prevent terrorists from attacking the nation's food supply and possibly human health by spreading diseases through livestock¹. No one is certain how real the threat might be, but experts say the cost of not being prepared could be enormous.

While most anti-terrorism efforts concern possible direct threats to humans from such things as bombs, radiation or biological agents, the federal grant to Texas A&M involves biological warfare² aimed at cows, pigs, chickens, and other sources of animal protein. A successful introduction of a disease in U.S. livestock could imperil the nation's food supply. Experts say there could also be diseases introduced to animals that could then spread to humans.

Texas A&M researcher Neville Clarke, who worked on the grant proposal, says of the 60,000 scientists in the old Soviet³ Union who were involved in bio-weapons research about 10,000 were focused on developing diseases that attack plants and animals. He says the threat may not have disappeared with the collapse⁴ of the communist government.

"We know that that technology has been developed and there has been a good deal of thinking about it, and that perhaps some of the materials or even some of the scientists who were involved with that could be working for other folks now," said Mr. Clarke.

One way of approaching the problem of bio-terror aimed at livestock is to refine methods currently in use to deal with accidental outbreaks of disease in animals. Generally, accidental outbreaks occur at one place and can be isolated⁵, as was done recently with the avian influenza⁶ in Southeast Texas. But Mr. Clarke says terrorists could be expected to make things more complicated.

"The more likely scenario⁷, if someone is going to do this intentionally⁸, would be to introduce it at multiple sites," he said. "So you have the increase in the amount of resource that it takes to respond and the complexity⁹ of trying to deal with multiple responses."

One disease that has researchers worried is hoof-and-mouth disease, which is caused by a virus and is highly contagious¹⁰ among cattle, sheep, hogs¹² and other cloven-hoofed animals. Two years ago, officials in Britain ordered the slaughter¹³ of almost 2.5 million animals to stop an outbreak of the disease.

Under the federal grant, Texas A&M will work during the next three years with research partners in four other U.S. universities to develop defense¹⁴ strategies against such diseases. At the same time, a $15 million federal grant will help scientists at the University of Minnesota work on plans to protect the nation's overall food supply. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security will work closely with both universities to develop their plans.

注释：
Texas A&M University 德州农工大学
radiation [7reidi5eiFEn] n. 辐射
agent [5eidVEnt] n. 药剂
grant [^rB:nt] n. 补助，津贴
warfare [5wC:fZE] n. 战争
protein [5prEuti:n] n. 蛋白质
imperil [im5peril] v. 危及
Soviet Union n. 苏联（1922-1991）
refine [ri5fain] v. 改善，改进
outbreak [5autbreik] n. 爆发，发作
scenario [si5nB:riEu] n. 情景
hoof-and-mouth disease 口蹄疫
contagious [kEn5teidVEs] adj. 传染性的，会感染的
hog¹¹ [hR^] n. 肥（公）猪
cloven-hoofed adj. 偶蹄的

1 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

2 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

7 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

8 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

9 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

10 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

11 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

12 hogs   

n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人

参考例句：

• 'sounds like -- like hogs grunting. “像——像是猪发出的声音。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• I hate the way he hogs down his food. 我讨厌他那副狼吞虎咽的吃相。 来自辞典例句

13 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

14 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。