2006年VOA标准英语-Bird Flu Spreads Anxiety in West Africa

By Franz Wild in Abidjan
Abidjan
29 March 2006

Bird flu has been identified in three West African countries. But widespread anxiety over the threat of the contagious¹ disease has spread farther.

 
Komi Adopke with his slingshot
  
Komi a security guard in Deux Plateaux, one of the leafy suburbs of Ivory Coast's biggest city, Abidjan.

He brings his slingshot to work and spends most of his time looking out for birds, which he shoots out of the trees with small rocks and usually eats.

But Komi has not picked off a bird for several weeks.

He says he does not kill birds anymore because he is scared of bird flu. He says the birds can fly very far and may have brought the flu to Ivory Coast. You never know, he says, so he has stopped eating them, even though they are delicious.

Three West African countries have detected the lethal² H5N1 strain of avian flu in their chickens: Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.

But ahead of the actual disease comes a wave of anxiety. Many people, like Komi Adokpe, have stopped eating chicken because they fear they are exposing themselves to deadly virus.

This is the Southern Fried Chicken restaurant in Accra, Ghana, has no recorded case of bird flu. Mina Wulff has been the manager here for eight years. Business is still flowing, but nowadays there are customers who say they are not touching³ the chicken because they are scared of bird flu.

Mina guarantees her chicken is prepared to the highest standards and none of her customers need worry about bird flu.

"Whatever it is we have to do for it not to affect us, we are doing, so they should not be scared of it," she said. "Our chicken has to be washed well, treated well with your lemon, your salt and your vinegar, and fried very well to the right temperature. Just make sure your chicken is well cooked. Then have it done."

But the threat of bird flu traveling across the 250 kilometers and three borders from Nigeria is weighing heavily on Mina's mind.

"I am very worried, because most of our dishes are based on chicken, so when it gets to Ghana it will be something that could bring down the business and will affect us all," said Mina Wulff.

West African leaders have gone on the offensive to protect the poultry⁴ trade.

Benin's Agriculture Minister Fatiou Akplogan attended a poultry industry show two weeks ago in the hope of persuading people that chicken is safe to eat. He recommended chickens and eggs made in Benin, before tucking into his own chicken lunch.

Last week, representatives from across Africa gathered in Gabon to coordinate⁵ a plan to stop the flu's spread. They want to increase collaboration⁶ between countries and guard borders more carefully.

The Ghanaian government has placed an import ban on all poultry products from Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria.

World Health Organization's representative in Ivory Coast, Doctor Komla Siamevi, says informing people is central to its campaign to stop the virus.

"The problem now is that everybody is afraid. That is the reason we are trying to sensitize everybody, to give the right information to people and also how the country is preparing itself to control the disease if unfortunately it comes to Cote d'Ivoire one day," said Siamevi.

He says overreaction to the flu threat is affecting bird traders.

Bassir Bello's chicken coop  
  
Bassir Bello is such a trader, who keeps around a hundred chickens in a small coop on an Abidjan street corner.

He says he sells between 10 and 20 chickens a day, but this has dropped recently, because his customers are scared of bird flu.

He says his birds do not have the virus, but Bassir's coop represents one of Africa's greatest problems in tackling bird flu.
 
 
A chicken being prepared for Bassir Bello's customers
  
If the customer requests it, Bassir's employee will slaughter⁷ the chicken, pluck it, and chop it up. Many chickens in Africa are kept in peoples' backyards or close to human habitats. It would be a mammoth⁸ mission to find all the chickens, which you see every couple of blocks.

And Bassir knows that his business will be in trouble if the disease makes it to Ivory Coast.

If it does arrive, he says, it will not be good, because nobody will come to buy any chickens.

He says he is worried.

He says, who is not scared of death, and asks, "You? Are you not scared of death?"

It is ironic⁹ that such an aggressive virus has struck African birds, as this Ghanaian testifies.

"All Africans like chicken," he said. "We have so many meals we can use chicken to cook with. Especially African dishes deal with chicken; tomato sauce, a la African sauce. Mostly we have to use chicken to cook with."

1 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。

2 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。

3 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

4 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

5 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 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。

8 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

9 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。