2006年VOA标准英语-Bird Flu Outbreak in Thailand Renews Fears Amon

By Barry Newhouse
Bangkok
01 August 2006

Tourism representatives in Thailand have expressed concern after last week's first reported bird flu death in the country in seven months.  Tourism is critical to the Thai economy and the industry is urging the government to control the latest bird flu outbreak.

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Thai livestock¹ officials search and spray disinfectant a car passing through Nakhon Phanom province, northeastern Thailand  
  
The Thai tourism industry is urging the government to take action to wipe out bird flu before October, the start of the peak tourist season.

The tourism sector² has just rebounded³ from the major setbacks of the 2004 tsunami⁴ and the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome⁵.
 
With peak season approaching, Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya of the Thai Tourism authority says officials are expecting strong numbers.

"It looks good - from reports I have obtained from the major tourist destinations: Chiang Mai, Ayutthaya, Phuket, all looking good. And I think hoteliers are happy with the bookings so far," he said.

But last week's announcement of the re-emergence of the virus in northern Thailand and the death of a 17-year-old boy from bird flu has raised concerns that the disease could still wreak⁶ havoc⁷ on the country's $12 billion tourism industry.

Operators fear the tourists could disappear if the virus spreads.  The SARS outbreak in 2003 dramatically reduced the number of visitors to Thailand in a matter of weeks, although travelers to the country were not considered to face a significant risk.

John Kodlowski of the tourism industry's Pacific Asia Travel Association, said the SARS experience and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami taught Southeast Asian governments the importance of quickly communicating and addressing health risks.  He says in the case of bird flu, officials appear to be doing a good job. 

"Generally speaking the industry is happy with the way governments are handling it, but of course they always expect them to be right on top of the issue and they expect them to be very open and honest in communicating real risks, real threats and actual activities - what they are doing," he said.

Although it was criticized for its initial slow response to the first bird flu outbreak in 2003, Thailand is now considered to be among the countries best prepared to deal with the virus.

Bird flu outbreaks in Thailand have been largely confined to rural areas where people come into direct contact with infected birds. Health officials have contained those outbreaks by slaughtering⁸ thousands of birds.  The H5N1 virus has not yet mutated into a form easily passed among humans and most of the more than 130 people who have died from the disease caught it directly from birds. 

The latest bird flu outbreak appears to be mainly a worry of Thai tour operators, not tourists.

Bangkok's downtown tourist operators are still busy arranging travel packages for the some 13 million tourists who arrive here each year.

Best Peerapong mans the desk at Inter-Trans Travels and says some of his clients are familiar with bird flu, but it has not cut into his business. 

"Customers they come into my office but they do not worry about, no one worries about bird flu," he explained.

The Thai government insisted that the latest outbreak of bird flu could be controlled and also pledged to help poorer neighboring countries fight the disease.

1 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 rebounded   

弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效

参考例句：

• The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in. 球从门柱弹回，欧文头球将球攻进。
• The ball rebounded from his racket into the net. 球从他的球拍上弹回网中。

4 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

5 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

6 wreak   

v.发泄；报复

参考例句：

• She had a burning desire to wreak revenge.她复仇心切。
• Timid people always wreak their peevishness on the gentle.怯懦的人总是把满腹牢骚向温和的人发泄。

7 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

8 slaughtering   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The Revolutionary Tribunal went to work, and a steady slaughtering began. 革命法庭投入工作，持续不断的大屠杀开始了。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• \"Isn't it terrific slaughtering pigs? “宰猪的！ 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说