WADA chief excited about Beijing 2022 testing method

WADA chief excited about Beijing 2022 testing method

Xi replies to letters from U.S. mayors

Chinese President Xi Jinping has replied separately to letters from the mayors of Tacoma and Steilacoom in the U.S. state of Washington.

Victoria Woodards and Dick Muri recently wrote to the Chinese leader, extending Spring Festival greetings and wishing Beijing a successful Winter Olympic Games.

In his reply, Xi Jinping reaffirmed China's commitment to delivering a simple, safe and splendid Olympics.

He also sent greetings to the residents of the two cities.

Beijing 2022 torch relay starts

The Beijing Winter Olympic torch relay is ongoing¹ with just two days to go before the start of the Winter Games.

"I now announce the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics torch relay."

Vice² Premier³ Han Zheng announced the start of the relay that will pass through the three host zones until Friday.

The first torch bearer was 80-year-old Luo Zhihuan, who won China's first world championship in winter sports.

135 torchbearers joined the morning relay on Wednesday, including astronaut Jing Haipeng, former NBA player Yao Ming, and film director Zhang Yimou, who will direct the opening ceremony of the Games.

New testing method at Beijing 2022, exciting development for anti-doping: WADA president

President Witold Banka of the World Anti-Doping Agency has spoken highly of a new testing method at Beijing 2022.

The testing only takes a few drops of blood from the athlete's fingertip to dry on a blotting⁴ paper for scientists to analyze⁵ certain substances.

It was used at last year's Tokyo Olympics for trials and will make its formal appearance at the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Putin accuses West of ignoring Russia's concerns

Russian President Vladimir Putin is accusing the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Moscow's top security demands.

He made the remarks in his first comments in more than a month on the standoff with the West over Ukraine.

"While ignoring our concerns, the U.S. and NATO are citing every country's right to freely choose the means of ensuring its security. But it's not just about letting someone to freely choose their means of ensuring security. It's only one of the parts of the indivisibility of security formula."

Russia has demanded that NATO not expand to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations, that it refrain from deploying⁶ offensive weapons near Russia, and that NATO roll back deployments to Eastern Europe.

Putin reiterates⁷ that the security of one nation should not be strengthened at the expense of others.

Coup⁸ fails in Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau's President says loyalist forces remain in control after a failed coup at the Government Palace on Tuesday.

Umaro Sissoco Embalo says the coup attempt was an isolated⁹ act carried out by a group of drug traffickers.

More COVID-19 cases confirmed as Tonga starts nationwide lockdown

Tonga reported three new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total in the latest outbreak to five.

Officials say all the infected are under quarantine, and some of them have begun to show symptoms like fever.

The previously¹⁰ COVID-free country confirmed two infections on Tuesday after testing workers at a port that is receiving relief materials.

The government has decided¹¹ to impose a nationwide lockdown to curb¹² the spread of the virus.

Pfizer asks for authorization¹³ of COVID-19 vaccine¹⁴ for children under 5.

Pfizer is asking the United States to authorize¹⁵ extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5.

If the administration agrees, Pfizer shots containing just one-tenth of the dose given to adults could be dispensed¹⁶ to children as young as 6 months.

The company is testing three shots after two of the extra-low doses turned out to be strong enough for babies but not for preschoolers, and the final data from the study isn't expected until late March.

That means the FDA may consider whether to authorize two shots for now, with potentially a third shot being cleared later if the study supports it.

Sean O'Leary is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Colorado.

"I think it makes some sense in terms of why they might need three doses in this age group, and I certainly can understand where both the company and the FDA are coming from in terms of wanting to move this along, anticipating that there's going to be a third dose down the line."

The FDA will convene¹⁷ a panel of independent researchers and physicians later this month to help review the Pfizer data.

The ultimate decision could come within the month.

Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX back to sky three years after tragic¹⁸ crash

Ethiopian Airlines has returned its Boeing 737 MAX jet back to the skies around three years after a tragic crash that killed over 150 people.

Passengers onboard Tuesday's flight included the airline's board chairman and officials from Boeing as well as the government.

The incident in March 2019 prompted airlines around the world to ground the 737 Max series.

Ecuador oil spill pollutes protected Amazonian zone

An oil spill in the Amazon region of Ecuador is causing significant damage to the environment.

The spill was caused by a rock fall which ruptured¹⁹ a key oil pipeline²⁰ on Saturday.

So far, it has left thousands of Indigenous²¹ people without access to water and fishing.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

4 blotting   

吸墨水纸

参考例句：

• Water will permeate blotting paper. 水能渗透吸水纸。
• One dab with blotting-paper and the ink was dry. 用吸墨纸轻轻按了一下，墨水就乾了。

5 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

7 reiterates   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The Chinese government reiterates that the question of Taiwan is China's internal affair. 中国政府重申，台湾问题是中国的内政。 来自汉英非文学 - 汉英文件
• Wang Jianzhou reiterates a fact and a viewpoint in Davos. 王建宙在达沃斯重申一个事实和一个观点。

8 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

9 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

10 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

13 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

14 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。

15 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

16 dispensed   

v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

18 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

19 ruptured   

v.（使）破裂( rupture的过去式和过去分词 )；（使体内组织等）断裂；使（友好关系）破裂；使绝交

参考例句：

• They reported that the pipeline had ruptured. 他们报告说管道已经破裂了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wall through Berlin was finally ruptured, prefiguring the reunification of Germany. 柏林墙终于倒塌了，预示着德国的重新统一。 来自辞典例句

20 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

21 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。