(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is News Plus Special English. I'm Marc Cavigli in Beijing.
India has marked three years since its last reported polio case, putting the country on course to being formally declared free of the disease later this year.
India has made great strides against polio in recent years through a rigorous vaccination campaign.
But for many in the country where polio victims with withered, twisted limbs are not a rare sight on the streets, these advances have come too late.
Polio is a vaccine-preventable disease that has been eradicated in most parts of the world. But it still causes paralysis and death in some countries, including Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Polio usually strikes children under age 5 due to contaminated drinking water.
The virus attacks the central nervous system, causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and even death.
Widespread poverty, dense population, poor sanitation, and a lack of public health system made the task of reaching out to every child much more difficult.
About 3 million volunteers and medical workers have been involved in the nationwide campaign and the number of polio cases in the country have come down from 740 in 2009 to 42 in 2010.
We stay in India. The country is scrambling to protect its beleaguered tiger population after several big cats tested positive for a deadly virus.
Canine distemper virus is common among dogs but deadly to other carnivores. The virus killed at least four tigers and several other animals across northern and eastern India last year.
This is bad news for wild tigers which already endangered by rampant poaching and shrinking habitat.
India undergoes breakneck development to accommodate the staggering growth of its 1.2 billion people. The economic development and population growth means more people and dogs are coming even closer to wildlife.
There is no vaccine for the big cats. The authorities are considering a massive campaign to vaccinate dogs against the disease.
The virus, a close relative of measles, is associated mostly with domestic dogs though it has infected and ravaged other carnivore populations.
In the late 1970s, it brought the U.S. black-footed ferret to the brink of extinction. In Tanzania in 1994, an epidemic likely introduced by tourists' dogs wiped out at least a third of the 3,000-strong African lion population in Serengeti National Park.
India is home to more than half of the world's estimated 3,200 tigers. Despite dozens of tiger reserves in place, the number of tigers have fallen sharply, from an estimated 7,000 in the 1990s, when their habitat was more than twice as large.
中文翻译
这里是News Plus慢速英语,马克·卡维格里从北京为您播报新闻
印度上一例小儿麻痹症发生在三年前,印度将于今年晚些时候正式宣布消除了小儿麻痹症 。
近几年,印度通过彻底的疫苗行动在消除小儿麻痹症方面取得了巨大的进步 。
但是印度街头随处可见瘦弱、肢体扭曲的小儿麻痹症患者,进展来得太晚了 。
小儿麻痹症是一种可用疫苗进行预防的疾病,现在世界上大部分地区都已经消除了这种疾病 。但是尼日利亚、巴基斯坦和阿富汗等国家仍有因小儿麻痹症而造成瘫痪和死亡的事件发生 。
小儿麻痹症通过病毒污染的水进行传染,多发于五岁以下的儿童 。
病毒会侵袭中枢神经系统,导致瘫痪、肌肉萎缩、变形甚至是死亡 。
普遍贫困、人口密集、卫生条件差以及公共卫生体系缺乏使每个孩子都接种疫苗的任务变得更加困难 。
约3百万志愿者和医疗工作者参与了印度接种疫苗的行动,小儿麻痹症病例已经从2009年的740例减少至2010年的42例 。
继续关注印度新闻 。印度数只老虎被检测出感染致命病毒,目前印度正在努力保护其陷入困境的老虎种群 。
犬瘟热病毒在犬类动物中很常见,但对其它肉食动物来说却是致命的病毒 。去年这种病毒至少造成印度东北部地区的四只老虎和数只其它动物死亡 。
这对野生老虎来说是个坏消息,因为猖獗的偷猎行为和日益减少的栖息地使野生老虎已濒临灭绝 。
印度为满足惊人的12亿人口的需求正在飞速发展中 。经济发展和人口增长意味着越来越多的人和犬类将更接近野生动物 。
目前并没有提供给老虎的疫苗 。有关部门正在考虑展开大规模的行动,为犬类接种这一疾病的疫苗 。
这种病毒与麻疹病毒有关,在家犬中最为常见,不过也会感染其他肉食动物 。
上世纪70年代,这种病毒导致美国黑足鼬濒临灭绝 。1994年,游客的宠物狗将病毒传染至坦桑尼亚,导致塞伦盖蒂国家公园里3000只强壮的非洲狮中至少有三分之一死亡 。
据估计全世界有3200只老虎,其中超过一半的老虎在印度境内 。虽然设立了数十个老虎保护区,但是老虎的数量仍大幅减少,据悉上世纪90年代全球有约7000只老虎,栖息地是现在的两倍 。
译文属可可英语原创,未经允许,不得转载
重点讲解
重点讲解:
1. be free of
无…的;摆脱了…的;
eg. She retains her slim figure and is free of wrinkles.
她保持着苗条的身材,脸上也没有皱纹 。
eg. The brass surface must be free of contamination.
黄铜表面必须未经沾污 。
2. be involved in
卷入的;参与的;与…有密切关联的;
eg. If she were involved in business, she would make a strong chief executive.
如果她投身商业的话,她会是一个很有能力的总裁 。
eg. She became involved with political causes after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
在切尔诺贝利核泄漏灾难发生以后,她开始投身政界 。
3. scramble to do sth.
仓促行动;慌忙前往;
eg. The others may have to scramble to make much headway.
其他人可能需要互相竞争以期取得更大的进展 。
eg. The players scrambled to get the ball.
球员争着去抢球 。
4. be associated with
(与…)相关的;相联系的;
eg. Obesity is also associated with asthma.
肥胖症也易导致哮喘的发生 。
eg. Conceit is associated with stupidity and ignorance.
骄傲的朋友是愚蠢和无知 。
5. wipe out
摧毁;毁灭;使灭绝;
eg. The spill could wipe out the Gulf's turtle population.
这次原油泄漏可能会使波斯湾的海龟灭绝 。
eg. The plague once could wipe out a village.
鼠疫曾一度可以夺走整个村庄村民的生命 。
6. in place
(法律、政策、行政体系等)正在运作,就位;
eg. A strong community cannot be built until the basics are in place.
只有基本原则确立了才能建立起一个强大的团体 。
eg. We already have our core team in place.
我们的骨干团队已经就位了 。