2007年VOA标准英语-George Soros Pledges $3 Million to Fight Lethal

By David McAlary
Washington
14 March 2007

International financier George Soros is giving $3 million to help public health experts fight a lethal¹, drug-resistant² form of tuberculosis³ in sub-Saharan Africa. VOA's David McAlary in Washington reports that the money will be used to learn how to manage TB in communities hit hard by the AIDS virus.

George Soros (2006 photo)

Soros' financial pledge will fund a coalition⁴ of non-governmental health groups for work in Lesotho on how to prevent and treat an extremely drug-resistant form of tuberculosis that is fueled by the HIV epidemic⁵.

This so-called XDR TB is resistant to most tuberculosis drugs. It is an evolution of previous forms that resist fewer drugs and are collectively known as multi-drug resistant TB.

XDR TB was first reported in KwaZulu Natal⁶, South Africa, neighboring Lesotho, and the death rate for people infected by both diseases there is as high as 85 percent. XDR TB is now found in 28 countries, including the United States and all other industrial nations.

Soros says his $3 million donation is needed to make progress against it in the absence of global attention to the problem.

"We were always afraid that if multi-drug resistant tuberculosis meets HIV/AIDS, that it could be really devastating," he said. "This is now happening in southern Africa. It is an issue that is not getting the attention that it deserves because it mainly affects poor countries."

The health coalition includes Soros' Open Society Institute, the World Health Organization, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and Partners in Health, a non-governmental group working to fight disease in poor countries.

They say XDR TB threatens to reverse progress against HIV and call on wealthy governments to do more to halt the dual⁷ epidemics⁸. The World Health Organization estimates that $650 million is needed to fight XDR TB annually⁹ in addition to funding already pledged for less lethal strains.

A co-founder of Partners in Health, former World Health Organization AIDS Department director Jim Yong Kim, says the financial need is urgent.

"Without Mr. Soros' visionary gift and without some sort increased commitment from the U.S. government and others, we're going to be in a situation where the problem is going to get worse and worse and worse," he said. "I think in a few years, if we don't respond, we'll all be sorry."

The program the health coalition plans to carry out with George Soros' money in Lesotho would develop guidelines to treat highly drug resistant tuberculosis in HIV patients, whose ability to stave off illness is weakened by the virus. Once proven, these measures could then be exported to other nations facing both diseases.

Kim's co-founding colleague at Partners in Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital physician Paul Farmer, says work he helped carry out in Russian prisons over the past decade shows that death rates for highly drug resistant TB can be brought down.

"XDR TB does not need to be a death sentence," he said. "If we can combine good infection control, good prevention strategies, and good therapy, we are confident based on our past experience that we can curb¹⁰ this epidemic."

1 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

2 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

3 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。

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 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。

6 natal   

adj.出生的，先天的

参考例句：

• Many music-lovers make pilgrimages to Mozart's natal place.很多爱好音乐的人去访问莫扎特的出生地。
• Since natal day,characters possess the visual elements such as dots and strokes.文字从诞生开始便具有了点画这样的视觉元素。

7 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

8 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

9 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

10 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。