African Sleeping Sickness

78 非洲睡眠病在撒哈拉沙漠南部国家猖獗蔓延

DATE=8-6-01
TITLE=DEVELOPMENT REPORT - African Sleeping Sickness
BYLINE=Nancy Steinbach  

（Startat 59")this is the voa special english Developement report.
African Sleeping Sickness is once again threatening many countries south of the Sahara Desert.
The disease¹ is caused by the (1)trypanosome (2)parasite².  The parasite enters the human body through the bite of the (3)tsetse fly.  Doctors say it takes very few parasites³ to (4)infect a person.  If the infection⁴ is not treated, a person's defense⁵ system cannot destroy the parasite, and the person dies.
  Sleeping sickness has been affecting people in Africa for thousands of years.  It is found only in African tsetse flies.  Researchers do not know why tsetse flies carry the disease in Africa, but not in other parts of the world.
Sleeping sickness has been a major problem in Africa two other times in the past century. The disease was almost destroyed in the Nineteen-Sixties, but has since returned.  The (5)World Health Organization says twenty to fifty percent of people suffer the disease in some villages in Angola, Sudan and the (6)Democratic Republic of Congo.
  About forty-five-thousand sleeping sickness infections⁶ are reported to the W-H-O every year.  But officials say as many as four-hundred-thousand people probably (7)suffer from the disease each year.
Medical (8)experts say early treatment can cure African Sleeping Sickness.  But it is difficult to tell if a person has the disease.  Early signs include high body temperature, muscle⁷ pain and a tired feeling.  The signs become worse later when the parasite (9)invades the brain.  Then the (10)victim acts strangely or sleeps all day. Treating sleeping sickness is costly⁸.  The drug used to treat the early signs of the disease is also used to kill a parasite that affects some people with the disease (11)AIDS.  This has increased its price.  The drug used in more severe⁹ Sleeping Sickness infections is a poison¹⁰ that can kill up to ten percent of the patients who use it.  A safer medicine had stopped being produced recently. However, the W-H-O negotiated¹¹ an agreement with a drug company to provide all the medicines to treat sleeping sickness free of charge.
Sleeping sickness experts say more people in Africa should be examined for the disease.  They also say that leaders of affected¹² countries must improve national health care systems to prevent the disease. 
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

(1)  trypanosome [trai'pAnRsQm] n. [动]锥体虫
(2)  parasite [pAr[sait] n. 寄生虫, 食客
(3) tsetse [tetsi] n. [昆]舌蝇,采采蝇
(4) infect [in'fekt] vt. [医] 传染, 感染
(5) World Health Organization 世界卫生组织
(6) Democratic Republic of Congo 刚果民主主义共和国
(7) suffer [sQf[] vt. 遭受, 经历, 忍受; vi. 受痛苦, 受损害
(8) expert [eksp:t] n. 专家, 行家, [军](特等)射手
(9) invade [in'veid] vt. 侵略, 侵袭, 拥挤
(10)  victim [viktim] n. 受害人, 牺牲者, 牺牲品
(11)  AIDS [eidz] abbr. 爱滋病, 获得性免疫功能丧失;

 

1 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。

2 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

3 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

4 infection   

n.传染，影响，传染病

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a virus infection.他受到病毒感染。
• White blood cells fight infection.白血球抵抗感染。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 infections   

传染，感染( infection的名词复数 )； 传染病

参考例句：

• rising rates of MRSA infections in hospitals 医院中抗甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌感染病例不断增长的发生率
• Malnourished children are more likely to succumb to infections. 营养不良的儿童更有可能死于感染。

7 muscle   

n.肌肉，膂力；v.硬挤

参考例句：

• The heart is made of muscle.心脏是肌肉组织。
• He is a man of muscle.他是个大力士。

8 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

9 severe   

adj.严格的，凶猛的，严肃的，严重的，严厉的，朴素的

参考例句：

• The severe storm did for most of the crops.猛烈的暴风雨毁掉了大部分庄稼。
• The pace was too severe to be kept up for long.跟上这步伐太难了，无法持久。

10 poison   

n.毒药；毒害；vt./vi.毒害；投毒

参考例句：

• The bottle is labelled "Poison".瓶上标明“有毒”。
• Don't allow evil thoughts to poison young people's minds.不允许邪念毒害青年。

11 negotiated   

谈判，协商，议定( negotiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 兑现（支票等）； 通过，越过（险要路段）

参考例句：

• The government negotiated with the opposition party over the new law. 政府就新法与反对党进行了协商。
• By careful strategy she negotiated a substantial pay rise. 她精心策划后，谈妥了大幅增加工资的事。

12 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。