VOA慢速英语20060816a

HEALTH REPORT - At AIDS Conference, More Efforts Urged to Empower WomenBy Caty Weaver¹

Broadcast: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Prevention is a central issue being discussed at the sixteenth International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada. Twenty-four thousand delegates² are at the conference which ends Friday.


Bill and Melinda Gates in Toronto

Bill and Melinda Gates called for faster research to develop preventions like microbicides for women to use when they have sex. The hope is that such products could protect against infection with the virus that causes AIDS.

Melinda Gates said the way to change this epidemic³ is to put power in the hands of women. In southern Africa, for example, about sixty percent of adults living with HIV are women.

Bill Gates said women today often have no choice but to depend on men not to infect them. A woman should never need her partner's permission to save her own life, he said as the conference opened Sunday.

The world's richest man said stopping AIDS is the top priority⁴ of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation⁵.

On Monday, former President Bill Clinton said more people would get tested for HIV if an aggressive effort took place to fight the stigma⁶. But reducing fears of social rejection⁷ is not enough. Mister⁸ Clinton said people also need a guarantee they would get medicine to suppress⁹ the virus.

Researchers at the conference presented the results of a new study of HIV testing. It involved more than one hundred thousand people tested in California last year. Some received a quick test, with results in about twenty minutes. The others received a test that is more commonly used; the results takes two weeks.

The researchers say twenty-five percent of the people who had the longer test did not return to learn the results. But that was true of only two percent of those who had the quick test.

George Lemp of the University of California led the study. He says quick tests could be especially important in developing countries with limited transportation.

Speakers at the AIDS conference also discussed high rates of new HIV infections among black Americans. Julian Bond¹⁰ is chairman of the NAACP, a leading civil rights group. He said African-Americans must, in his words, face the fact that AIDS has become a black disease¹¹.

Public health officials say half of all new HIV infections in the United States are in blacks. African-American delegates at the conference said they will prepare a five-year plan to reduce infection rates and increase testing.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. All of our weekly reports can be found at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 delegates   

代表，代表团成员( delegate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conference was attended by delegates from 56 countries. 此次会议有来自56个国家的代表出席。
• Delegates expressed strong opposition to the plans. 代表强烈反对这些计划。

3 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。

4 priority   

n.优先处理的事，居先，优先（权）

参考例句：

• The development of the national economy is a top priority.发展国民经济是应予以最优先考虑的事。
• Things should be taken up in order of priority.办事应有个先后次序。

5 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

6 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

7 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

8 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

9 suppress   

vt.压制，镇压，查禁，抑制，阻止

参考例句：

• He continued to suppress the people and serve the imperialists.他继续镇压人民，为帝国主义效劳。
• She was struggling to suppress her sobs.她拼命不让自己哭出来。

10 bond   

n.结合，债券，契约，粘合剂，保证人，键，关栈保留；vt.存入关栈，粘着；vi.结合

参考例句：

• This glue makes a good firm bond.这种胶水粘得很结实。
• His word is his bond.他是讲信用的。

11 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。