VOA常速英语2021--拜登政府向COVAX注资两笔20亿美元

Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.The Administration of President Joe Biden strongly believes that it is critical for the world to unite and defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. But as new variants¹ of the disease emerge and spread around the world, it has become clear that “we must cooperate if we’re going to defeat COVID-19 everywhere,” said President Biden:“The United States is making a $2 billion pledge to COVAX, with the promise of an additional $2 billion to urge others to step up as well.”The initial $2 billion will be provided in 2021, The second $2 billion tranche will become available over the following year. The funds will go to Gavi, the global alliance for vaccines² and immunization, for administration of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative, or COVAX, which aims to get at least 1.3bn vaccine³ doses, or 20% of the world’s population, to vulnerable communities worldwide.“Indeed,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in late February at the UN Security Council Briefing on COVID-19 and Vaccine Access, “The United States believes that multilateralism, the United Nations, the World Health Organization are essential – not just as an effective international COVID-19 health and humanitarian⁴ response, but also building stronger global health capacity and security for the future.”

以下是一篇反映美国政府政策立场的社论。乔·拜登总统的政府坚信，全世界团结一致击败新冠病毒疫情至关重要。然而，随着病毒新变种在世界各地蔓延，拜登总统清楚地认识到现状，并表示：“如果我们要打败世界各地的新冠病毒，我们就必须合作”。“美国向新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划(COVAX)承诺20亿美元，并允诺追加20亿美元，以敦促其它方面也加大努力。”首笔20亿美元将在2021年提供，第二笔20亿美元将在下一年提供。这些资金将投入全球疫苗免疫联盟(Gavi)，用于管理COVAX，该计划旨在向全世界最弱势群体提供至少13亿剂疫苗，也就是世界人口的20%。美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯2月底在联合国安理会有关新冠病毒疾病和获取疫苗问题的简报会上说：“的确，美国认为，多边主义、联合国、世界卫生组织都必不可少，不仅是作为有效的国际新冠卫生和人道主义响应，而且也是为了建设未来更强大的全球卫生能力和安全。”

“We must defeat COVID-19 and prevent future pandemics. To that end, we’ll work with partners around the globe to strengthen and reform the WHO; to support the Global Health Security Agenda; to build sustainable preparedness for biological threats; to create a warning system that will allow us to respond more rapidly with testing, with tracing, with PPE needed to save lives.”Yet “Even as we expand access to safe and effective vaccines, we know that COVID-19 outbreaks are likely to occur in the years to come,” said Secretary of State Blinken:“Going forward, all countries should participate in a transparent⁵ and robust⁶ process for preventing and responding to health emergencies, so the world learns as much as possible as soon as possible. Transparency, information sharing, access for international experts – these must be the hallmarks of our common approach to what is truly a global challenge.”“As President Biden has made clear, the United States will work as a partner to address global challenges,” said Secretary of State Blinken. “This pandemic is one of those challenges. And it gives us an opportunity, not only to get through the current crisis, but also to become more prepared and more resilient for the future.”That was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.

“我们必须战胜新冠疫情，并防止未来的大流行病。为此，我们将与全球各地的伙伴共同努力，加强和改革世界卫生组织；支持全球卫生安全议程；为应对生物威胁建设可持续的防范能力；创建预警系统，使我们能够更迅速地通过检测、追踪和挽救生命需要的个人防护设备做出反应。”然而，布林肯国务卿表示：“即使我们扩大了获得安全有效的疫苗的渠道，我们也知道新冠疫情很可能在未来几年爆发。”“在向前推进的过程中，所有国家都应当参与预防和应对突发卫生事件的透明和强有力的进程，以便让全世界尽多、尽快了解情况。透明度、信息分享以及国际专家准入——这些都必须成为我们应对一次真正全球性的挑战的共同方针的特点。”布林肯国务卿说：“正如拜登总统所阐明的，美国将作为一个合作伙伴来共同应对全球性的挑战。这场大流行病就是挑战之一。它给了我们一个机会，不仅要度过当前危机，而且要更有准备、更坚韧地面对未来。”这是一篇反映美国政府政策立场的社论

1 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

6 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。