VOA标准英语2008年-Hong Kong to Slaughter All Live Poultry in Mark

By Naomi Martig
Hong Kong
12 June 2008

Hong Kong plans to slaughter¹ all live poultry² in the territory's markets following the appearance the H5N1 strain of bird flu. As Naomi Martig reports from Hong Kong, this is the most serious outbreak of the virus in the city where it was discovered in five years.
　

Woman walks past some cooked chickens outside restaurant in Hong Kong, 12 Jun 2008

Hong Kong authorities say the cull³ affects all retail⁴ poultry vendors⁵, and about 3,500 birds will be killed to prevent the spread of the disease.

The move follows an outbreak of the H5N1 virus on Saturday, which led authorities to suspend live poultry imports from mainland China. Days later, the virus appeared in three city street markets - the first outbreak in the markets in five years.

The government plans to compensate⁶ vendors who face losses because of the cull.

Peter Cordingley, a spokesman for the World Health Organization regional office in Manila, says despite the financial concerns that bird flu outbreaks create, officials in Hong Kong were wise in reporting first, and culling⁷ fast.

"Right at the beginning of this outbreak in 2003-2004, there were some governments in the region who were reluctant to tell the world what was going on because they were frightened of the impact on their poultry trade and also about tourism," he said. "They discovered pretty quickly that the costs of not reporting the outbreak were far higher than any costs they might have incurred⁸ in losses of exports and incoming tourists. There is no way around this."

Hong Kong drew praise from international medical experts in 1997, when the virus appeared for the first time ever, and crossed from birds to humans. Eighteen people in the city contracted the virus, and six died. Researchers in Hong Kong quickly identified the new virus, and the government slaughtered⁹ the city's entire poultry population - about one and a half million birds.

That cull appeared to have kept the virus contained until 2003, when it appeared in Southeast Asia and then spread across Asia to Europe and Africa. It killed tens of millions of birds and forced government culls¹⁰ of even more.

Cordingley says Hong Kong set the benchmark in 1997, and now, for the vigilance that is needed to prevent the spread of the disease.

"Hong Kong sits at the edge of a volcano," he said. "If you look at Hong Kong geographically¹¹, it is surrounded by the virus and they managed to keep the virus out because they put in place a whole host of precautions. They've worked very well until now."

Since the latest outbreak began in 2003, more than 240 people have died of bird flu, mostly in Asia. The majority of human bird flu cases involved contact with infected poultry. Experts fear, however, that the virus will change into a form that will spread easily among humans, causing a worldwide epidemic¹².

Southern China is suspected of being the source of several flu epidemics¹³ in the past. In 2002, the virus known as SARS first infected humans there and went on to infect more than 8,000 people around the world, killing¹⁴ almost 800. Because of the risk of contagious¹⁵ illnesses spreading throughout the crowded city, Hong Kong has developed internationally recognized virus research facilities, and a system to rapidly respond to outbreaks.

1 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

2 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

3 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

7 culling   

n.选择，大批物品中剔出劣质货v.挑选，剔除( cull的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mathematicians turned to culling periodic solutions. 数学家们转而去挑选周期解。 来自辞典例句
• It took us a week to find you, a week of culling out prejudice and hatred. 我们花了一个星期的时间找到你们，把偏见和憎恨剔除出去。 来自演讲部分

8 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

9 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 culls   

n.挑选，剔除( cull的名词复数 )v.挑选，剔除( cull的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Big business culls the brightest from among college graduates. 大企业从大学毕业生中选拔最优秀的人材。 来自辞典例句

11 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

12 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。

13 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

14 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

15 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。