VOA慢速英语 2007 1003a

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Scientists continue to look for ways to deal with the deadly form of bird flu virus. 
Medical workers care for a bird flu patient in Medan, Indonesia, last year
Researchers in Singapore, for example, have developed a new test for the h-five-n-one virus. They call it a "lab on a chip."

If successfully marketed, the hand-held device could be used to look for cases in affected¹ areas and help contain outbreaks. Project leader Juergen Pipper says medical or aid workers would know in less than half an hour if a person is infected.

The device tests material collected from a quick swab of a person’s throat. The test uses magnetic force to control individual droplets³ containing added magnetic particles. The scientists say the droplet² itself becomes a little laboratory that can do things like pump, separate and mix.

They note that an increasing number of similar tests are available to process cells, genetic⁴ material and proteins.

Juergen Pipper says the device can process complex tasks in a way similar to a traditional biological laboratory. The researchers say it works about ten times faster than current tests for the virus and could cost much less.

The developers think the same idea could also be used to find other viruses, including those that cause AIDS, SARS and hepatitis B.

Their research was published in Nature Medicine.

As of Tuesday, the World Health Organization had counted three hundred twenty-nine cases of the bird flu virus since two thousand three.

Sixty percent of the patients died. Many experts worry that the virus could kill large numbers worldwide if it starts to spread easily from person to person.

Indonesia has had the most cases, more than one hundred, and the most deaths. Last Friday a twenty-one-year-old man from west Jakarta became the eighty-sixth victim. Health officials say they do not know how he became infected.

An international team reported last week that the virus is so destructive⁵, it can even infect unborn children. Researchers studied the bodies of two people killed by h-five-n-one. The study appeared in the Lancet.

They found that the virus caused a surprising amount of damage to the lungs. It also spread to the brain and to the digestive and reproductive systems. Ian Lipkin at Columbia University in New York says one victim was pregnant⁶ and the virus had spread to her fetus⁷.

Yet the findings may help point to ways to limit damage by targeting not only the virus itself, but also how the body reacts. 

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁸. I’m Mario Ritter.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 droplet   

n.小滴，飞沫

参考例句：

• The rate of droplet growth under different conditions can be evaluated.可以计算在不同条件下的云滴增长率。
• The test results showed that increasing droplet size was associated with better stability.试验结果表明，增加液滴尺寸将使稳定性提高。

3 droplets   

n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead. 他额头上冒出了滴滴汗珠。 来自辞典例句
• In constrast, exhaled smoke contains relatively large water droplets and appears white. 相反，从人嘴里呼出的烟则包含相当大的水滴，所以呈白色。 来自辞典例句

4 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

5 destructive   

adj.破坏（性）的，毁灭（性）的

参考例句：

• In the end,it will be destructive of our whole society.它最终会毁灭我们整个社会。
• It is the most destructive storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的一次风暴。

6 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

7 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

8 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。