VOA慢速英语--印度的新冠感染达到创纪录的水平

India is struggling to deal with shortages¹ and many deaths as a possible new variant² of the coronavirus keeps new infections at record levels.

On social media and on television, there are pictures of people asking for oxygen outside hospitals. People also are mourning in the street for loved ones who died while waiting for treatment.

One woman explained the death of her younger brother, age 50. He was turned away by two hospitals and died waiting to be seen at another. He could not get the oxygen he needed to keep breathing.

She blamed Prime³ Minister Narendra Modi's government for the crisis⁴.

"He has lit funeral pyres in every house," she cried in a video by The Caravan⁵ magazine.

On Sunday, or the fourth straight day, India set a record for the world's highest number of new coronavirus infections. The increase hurts the government's claim of victory over the pandemic.

On Monday, India ordered its military to help control the growing number of new coronavirus infections, as countries including Britain, Germany and the United States promised to send urgent⁶ medical aid.

Around 350,000 new infections brought India's total to more than 16.9 million, behind only the United States. Recently, the Health Ministry⁷ reported another 2,767 deaths in a 24-hour period.

The number of deaths reported could be lower than the real number. That is because not all cases are confirmed. Some deaths are recorded as being from other causes.

The growing crisis is easy to see in India's burial places and crematoriums.

Burial places in the capital, New Delhi, are running out of space. Funeral pyres light up the night in some cities.

In the central city of Bhopal, some crematoriums are burning 50 funeral pyres each day. Yet there are still hours-long waits.

At the city's Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematorium, workers said they cremated⁸ more than 110 bodies on Saturday. However, the government said the total number of coronavirus deaths is just 10 in the city of 1.8 million.

"The virus is swallowing our city's people like a monster," said Mamtesh Sharma, an official at the crematorium.

The large number of bodies has forced the crematorium to stop individual death ceremonies.

"We are just burning bodies as they arrive," said Sharma. "It is as if we are in the middle of a war."

Mohammad Shameem is an official at New Delhi's largest Muslim cemetery⁹. About 1,000 people have been buried during the pandemic.

"I fear we will run out of space very soon," he said.

It is at the full hospitals, however, where the virus can be easily seen. People have died waiting in line to see a doctor. Some do not make it to the line. They die on the nearby road.

Health officials are trying to increase patient care and find more oxygen.

India's Solicitor¹⁰ General Tushar Mehta spoke¹¹ before the Delhi High Court Saturday and said "nobody in the country was left without oxygen." However, television and social media video appear to show a different situation.

In January, India's prime minister declared victory over the coronavirus. He called India the "world's pharmacy¹²" because of its production of vaccines¹³. Yet, the country failed to prepare for a possible surge¹⁴, health experts say.

Dr. Krutika Kuppalli is an assistant professor of medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. He said the government should have used the past year to create new systems to defeat a possible surge of virus cases.

"Most importantly, they should have looked at what was going on in other parts of the world and understood that it was a matter of time before they would be in a similar situation," Kuppalli said.

Words in This Story

variant –n. something that is different in some way from others of the same kind

pyre – n. a pile of wood for burning a dead body

crematorium – n. a place where the bodies of dead people are cremated (burned to ash)

monster – n. a strange or horrible imaginary¹⁵ thing

surge – n. a sudden increase to an unusually high level

1 shortages   

n.不足( shortage的名词复数 )；缺少；缺少量；不足额

参考例句：

• Food shortages often occur in time of war. 在战争期间常常发生粮食短缺的情形。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• At the same time, worldwide food and fuel shortages eased. 同时，世界性粮食和石油短缺的现象终止了。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

3 prime   

adj.首要的，主要的；最好的，第一流的

参考例句：

• The prime minister spoke of the general insecurity in the country.总理谈到了全国普遍存在的不安全。
• He met with the Prime Minister of Japan for an hour.他和日本首相会见了一个小时。

4 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

5 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

6 urgent   

a.紧急的，急迫的，紧要的

参考例句：

• He asked to see the manager for something urgent. 他有急事求见经理。
• A part of this urgent task was allotted to us. 这项紧急任务的一部分分给了我们。

7 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。

8 cremated   

v.火葬，火化（尸体）( cremate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He wants to is cremated, not buried. 他要火葬，不要土葬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bodies were cremated on the shore. 他们的尸体在海边火化了。 来自辞典例句

9 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

10 solicitor   

n.初级律师，事务律师

参考例句：

• The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
• The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。

11 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。

12 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

13 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。

14 surge   

n.汹涌，澎湃；vi.汹涌，强烈感到，飞涨；vt.放开，松手

参考例句：

• The surge travelled southwards along the coast.浪涛沿着海岸向南涌去。
• It failed to stimulate a surge of investment in industry.这没有能刺激工业投资的激增。

15 imaginary   

adj.想象中的，假想的，虚构的，幻想的；虚数的

参考例句：

• All the characters in this book are imaginary.此书中的所有人物都是虚构的。
• The boy's fears were only imaginary.这小孩的恐惧只是一种想象。