(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
WHO Uses Greek Letters for Naming COVID Variants
Goodbye B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1.
Hello Alpha, Beta and Gamma.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced May 31 that it has given new names to the several versions, or variants, of new coronavirus spreading around the world. Based on Greek letters, the names are simple and easy to remember.
The international health agency recognized that the scientific names can be difficult to say. It said, "As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing and discriminatory."
As early as 2015, the WHO had advised scientists, officials and the media to avoid naming new infectious diseases after people, animals and places. It said to avoid names like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Spanish Flu, or Legionnaires Disease, which have since become part of medical history. Instead, the WHO said, names should be descriptive terms based on general symptoms, or signs of sickness, caused by the disease.
Dr. Keiji Fukuda was WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Security at the time. He said, "This may seem like a trivial issue to some, but disease names really do matter to the people who are directly affected." He noted that disease names of the past have caused damage to economies, trade, and members of religious or ethnic communities.
Last month, Agence-France Presse reported that the Indian government ordered the country's social media to remove all writings that referred to the "Indian variant." The government said the term could suggest India was to blame for the disease.
The WHO says it will continue to use the scientific name SARS-CoV-2 to describe the coronavirus that was first identified in Wuhan. The disease it causes is still called coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19. And scientists will continue to use the difficult-to-remember names of the variants in their research.
For the public, the variant first identified in Britain will now be called Alpha. The one first identified in South Africa will be known as Beta; the one in Brazil as Gamma; and the one in India as Delta.
As new variants of concern and of interest are identified, the WHO said it will work with experts to name them after Greek letters.
I'm Caty Weaver.
重点解析
重点讲解：
1. Based on 基于
The novel is based on a true story.
这部小说是根据真实的故事写成的。
2. be known as 被称为...
He is little known as an artist.
几乎没人知道他是个艺术家。
3. As a result 结果是
He made one big mistake, and, as a result, lost his job.
他犯了个大错，结果丢了工作。
4. at the time 在那时
At the time the telecoms bubble was at its height.
当时电信业的泡沫正处于极度膨胀时期。
参考译文
世卫组织用希腊字母命名变异病毒
再见，B.1.1.7、B.1.351 和 P.1。
你好，阿尔法、贝塔和伽马。
世卫组织5月31日宣布，已重新为在世界范围内传播的多个新冠变异病毒命名。这些以希腊字母命名的名字简单、易记。
世卫组织意识到，这些变异病毒的学名很拗口。该机构表示：“因此，人们通常根据发现地点来称呼这些病毒，这是污名化和歧视性行为。”
早在2015年，世卫组织就曾建议科学家、官员和媒体避免以人、动物或地域来命名新的传染病。该组织表示，要避免再次出现中东呼吸综合征、西班牙流感或军团病等已成为医学史一部分的名称。相反，世卫组织表示，名称应该是基于这种疾病引起的一般症状的描述性术语。
福田敬二（Keiji Fukuda）博士目前是世卫组织负责卫生安全的助理总干事。他说：“对于某些人来说，这似乎是微不足道的问题，但是疾病名称对于受到直接影响的人群来说事关重大。”他指出，以往的疾病名称对经济、贸易以及宗教或种族社区的成员造成了伤害。
上个月，法新社报道称，印度政府下令该国社交媒体删除所有涉及“印度变异病毒”的文章。政府表示，这个词可能暗指印度为变异病毒的罪魁祸首。
世卫组织表示，将继续使用学名SARS-CoV-2来描述最早在武汉发现的（并非病毒源头）新冠病毒。它引发的疾病仍被成为coronavirus disease 2019或COVID-19。科学家们仍将继续在研究中使用那些难记的变异病毒的名称。
对于公众来说，最早在英国发现的变异病毒现在被称为“阿尔法”。最早在南非发现的变异病毒被称为“贝塔”。最早在巴西发现的变异病毒被称为“伽马”，而最早在印度发现的变异病毒被称为“德尔塔”。
世卫组织表示，随着新发现“应关注变种”和“待观察变种”，他们将与专家合作采用希腊字母为其命名。
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译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
