VOA慢速英语2014 利比里亚关闭大多数边界包含埃博拉

 

AS IT IS 2014-07-31 Liberia Closes Most Borders to Contain Ebola 利比里亚关闭大多数边界包含埃博拉

Last weekend, the president of Liberia announced measures to try to contain the Ebola virus.  President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that her country is closing most of its borders.  The few entry points that will remain open are Monrovia’s international airport, a provincial¹ airport and three major over-land border crossings.  She said all these entry points will have prevention and testing centers.  She added that the Liberia Airport Authority will inspect all incoming and outgoing passengers.  The government has also banned public gatherings² and demonstrations³.

In another development, health officials are attempting to identify who came into contact last week with a man who later died of the Ebola virus.  Patrick Sawyer was 40 years old, and served as an advisor⁴ to Liberia’s Finance Ministry⁵.  Mr. Sawyer took a flight from Liberia to Ghana.  He later changed airplanes in Togo for a flight to Nigeria, where he died last Friday.  Witnesses said he was sick on at least one of his flights.  He reportedly was vomiting⁶ and had diarrhea.  The expulsion of food from the stomach, and body wastes are signs of the disease.

Patrick Sawyer was going to Nigeria for a conference.  He planned to go to the United States to visit with his wife and children.                              

On Monday, Nigerian officials announced that they had identified more than 50 people who came into contact with Mr. Sawyer.  But some fear many more may have had contact with him than is currently known.                                                               

Jide Idris is Health Commissioner⁷ in Lagos State.  He says both the health and aviation departments are searching for other possible Ebola cases.

“We call on all Nigerians to be calm, and not panic and do hereby ensure them that both the state and the federal government are up in arms to ensure that the virus does not escape and that no Nigerian is infected with this virus.”

Ebola has killed about 700 people across West Africa this year.  More than 1,200 others have been infected.  Health workers say an outbreak in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, would be an almost unimaginable disaster.                                      

Experts from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in West Africa.  They are working with government ministries⁸ and international organizations to follow the spread of Ebola cases.

In the past, the Ebola virus currently active in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone killed 90 percent of those who got sick.  The CDC says the death rate for the current outbreak is about 60 percent.  Experts say this shows that early treatment is having an effect.                                         

Stephan Monroe studies emerging diseases for the Centers for Disease Control.  He spoke⁹ during a conference from the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. 

“We know how to stop the outbreak and that is to break the chains of transmission.  And so what does that involve?  It involves first identifying cases through active case findings, and then identifying all of their contacts -- who had contact with them during the time when they were symptomatic, and therefore are at risk of becoming infected themselves, and following those contacts daily for 21 days and if they do develop symptoms, to get them into one of these isolation¹⁰ facilities.”

Stephan Monroe says fear and misinformation are preventing some people from seeking treatment.  He says what the CDC and health organizations are hoping to do is to find trusted members of the affected¹¹ communities to publicize how to contain the disease.

1 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

2 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

3 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

4 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

7 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

8 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

11 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。