VOA标准英语2014--肯尼亚官员相信已做好应对埃博拉的准备

 

Kenya: Health Officials Confident Nation Prepared for Ebola 肯尼亚官员相信已做好应对埃博拉的准备

NAIROBI, KENYA—

Kenya is famed for its medical research  facilities. In the growing wake of the Ebola virus, health officials there now are confident they could quickly contain the disease should the outbreak in West Africa travel east.

Downtown in the heart of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, people go about their daily business.

But Kenyans -- like Africans across the continent -- are concerned that if efforts to contain the current  Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa were to fail, that could leave their country exposed.

Kenya's Health Ministry¹ is charged with overseeing preparedness for infectious disease and epidemics².

Preparation plans

Dr. Nicholas Muraguri, the director of Medical Services, told VOA that if there were an Ebola outbreak, Kenya is prepared.

KEMRI, the Kenya Medical Research Foundation, is where a team of scientists is working to mitigate³ any reported case or outbreak of the virus.

Dr. Shikanga O-tipo led a team of four Kenyan doctors to assist Liberians with technical expertise⁴ on Ebola. He said they have taken steps to prevent an outbreak in Kenya.

“Our routine surveillance was stepped up from 26th of March this year when we were notified there was an outbreak in West Africa. Where we have issued out alerts to the health care system," said O-tipo. "We are screening inbound travellers at our main airport, at the same time we are also educating health workers in the major hospital first, then all over the country.”

Ready to assist

Health officials are hopeful Kenya will remain Ebola-free. But Kenya also is ready to help others. A second group of health experts is set to travel to West Africa in the next few weeks to support containment⁵ efforts.

“We have a contingency⁶ plan that’s been coordinated⁷ by an Ebola outbreak response team which has a number of sub-committees looking at various aspects," said Muraguri. "We also have an elaborate laboratory system that clearly defines how the samples will be collected.”

1 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。

2 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。

3 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

4 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

5 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

6 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

7 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法