VOA慢速英语20060603a

IN THE NEWS - Observing a Killer¹: 25 Years of AIDS, and 25 Million DeathsBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Saturday, June 03, 2006


Delegates² speak at UN AIDS conference

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, the United Nations held a high-level meeting to discuss progress against AIDS and to set new goals for the future. The three-day meeting in New York ended Friday. It marked twenty-five years since public health officials in the United States reported the first cases of AIDS.

A new U.N. report says the AIDS epidemic³ appears to be slowing down in its worldwide spread. But new infections continue to increase in some areas and countries. The report says India now has the largest number of H.I.V. infections, but Africa still has the largest number of people with AIDS.

The report describes the progress of countries toward⁴ targets set in two thousand one. U.N. officials say important progress has been made in some cases.

But other efforts have had limited success. For example, the World Health Organization failed to meet its Three-by-Five target. The goal was to get treatment to three million people with H.I.V. in developing countries by the end of two thousand five.

The new report says sixty-five million people have become infected with H.I.V. in the past twenty-five years. Twenty-five million of them have died of AIDS-related sicknesses.

These numbers include four million new infections last year and almost three million deaths. Around the world, about thirty-eight million people are now living with the virus that causes AIDS.

Treatments have improved, but there is still no AIDS vaccine⁵ and no cure.

Still, the U.N. report says there was eight thousand million dollars last year for the worldwide effort against AIDS. That is five times the level of financing⁶ in two thousand one.

AIDS is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome⁷. The first documented cases appeared in a report dated June fifth, nineteen eighty-one. The Centers for Disease⁸ Control described a mysterious infection in five young homosexual men in Los Angeles, California. All had developed an unusual kind of pneumonia⁹.

One month later, the C.D.C. reported four more cases in Los Angeles and six around San Francisco. It also reported twenty-six cases of an unusual kind of cancer in New York and Los Angeles. Other reports followed.

In nineteen eighty-three, researchers discovered the human immunodeficiency virus as the cause of AIDS. The earliest known H.I.V. infection was found in blood stored since nineteen fifty-nine. The blood came from a man in what is now the capital of the Democratic¹⁰ Republic of Congo, Kinshasa.

Last week, a team of scientists reported confirmation¹¹ that H.I.V. came from chimpanzees in the nearby country of Cameroon. The researchers believe the virus passed to humans when hunters came in contact with infected blood. The infection could have crossed borders as people traveled along the Sanaga River and other waterways.

Study leader Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama says AIDS may have started in Africa as early as nineteen ten.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

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 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

5 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。

6 financing   

n.筹措资金

参考例句：

• The main source of our outside financing is bank loan. 我们向外筹措资金的主要渠道是银行贷款。
• They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing. 他们与他们服务的政府互利共存。

7 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

8 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。

9 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

10 democratic   

adj.民主的；民主主义的，有民主精神的

参考例句：

• Their country has democratic government.他们国家实行民主政体。
• He has a democratic work-style.他作风民主。

11 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。