VOA慢速英语2018 刚果民主共和国埃博拉疫情蔓延

Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo Spreads

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement Friday that it is raising its assessment¹ of the public health risk from Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak from “high” to "very high" at the national level.

世界卫生组织星期五在一份声明中说，它把在刚果民主共和国爆发的埃博拉病毒对该国公众健康的风险从“高”提高到“非常高”的级别。

WHO raised the regional risk to "high" from "moderate" and kept its assessment of the global risk at "low".

世卫组织把刚果所在的非洲区域的埃博拉风险级别从“中等”提高到”高“风险，而全球的“低”风险级别维持不变。

The measure came after a new case of Ebola was confirmed in one of three health zones in Mbandaka, a city of more than one million people in the northwestern province of Equateur.

世卫组织发表声明之前，在刚果西北地区赤道省有100多万人口的城市姆班达卡确认了一例新的埃博拉病毒感染病例。

Mbandaka is located about 150 kilometers from the rural area of Bikoro, where the outbreak was detected earlier this month.

姆班达卡距离本月早些时候最先发现埃博拉病毒流行的比科罗农村地区大约150公里。

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it a concerning development.

世卫组织总干事谭德塞博士（Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus）说这是一个令人关注的变化。

The agency said it was deploying² about 30 experts to conduct surveillance in the city. An initial batch³ of 4,000 experimental Ebola vaccines⁴ arrived Wednesday in the capital, Kinshasa.

世卫组织表示向姆班达卡派遣了30位专家监测局势。第一批的4000支实验性埃博拉疫苗星期三运抵刚果首都金沙萨。

A total of 44 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Ebola have been reported since the outbreak was detected last week, including at least 23 deaths.

自从埃博拉病毒上星期在这一地区爆发以来，总共有44个核实、可能或疑似病例，其中23人死亡。

The worst Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified in 1974 occurred in 2014, when more than 11,000 people died in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

埃博拉病毒1974年被确认，世界上最严重的埃博拉病毒流行发生在2014年。在几内亚、利比里亚和塞拉利昂等西非国家有1万1000多人死于埃博拉病毒。

Words in This Story:

outbreak – n. a sudden start or increase of fighting or disease

epidemic⁵ – n. a situation in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people

commendable⁶ – adj. worthy⁷ of praise and approval

quarantine – n. the period of time during which a person or animal infected with a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

bleach⁸ – n. a strong chemical that is used to make something clean or white

scenario⁹ – n. a description of what could possibly happen

1 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

2 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。

3 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

4 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。

5 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。

6 commendable   

adj.值得称赞的

参考例句：

• The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。
• Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

7 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

8 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？

9 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。