VOA常速英语2021--全球新增新冠确诊病例连续三周下降

This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton. The World Health Organization noted¹ Monday that globally the number of new coronavirus cases fell for the third consecutive² week. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called this encouraging news. Tedros said it shows the virus can be controlled "even with the new variants³ in circulation," and that with proven public health measures such as social distancing, the wearing of masks and good hygiene⁴, infections can be prevented. He warned, however, that the world has been at this point before and it is no time to relax. He said, quote, "Over the past year, there have been moments in almost all countries when cases declined, and governments opened up too quickly, and individuals let down their guard, only for the virus to come roaring back.” Tedros said that as vaccines⁵ are rolled out around the world, it's important to continue to take the precautions that keep people safe. He said controlling the spread of the virus saves lives now and reduces the chances of more variants emerging.

欢迎收听美国之音新闻。我是玛丽莎·梅尔顿，为您远程报道。世界卫生组织周一指出，全球新增冠状病毒病例数连续三周下降。世卫组织总干事泰德罗·阿达纳姆·盖布雷耶苏斯称这是一个鼓舞人心的消息。特德罗斯表示，这表明“即使新病毒变种不断传播“，但新冠病毒可以得到控制，这也证明了可以通过维持社交距离、佩戴口罩和良好的卫生习惯等公共卫生措施预防感染。然而，他提醒道，世界已经到了这个地步，现在不是放松的时候。他说，“在过去的一年里，几乎所有的国家都出现了病例减少、政府开放过快、个人放松警惕的情况，结果病毒又卷土重来。”泰德罗斯表示，尽管世界各地都在接种疫苗，但还是有必要继续采取预防措施，确保人们的安全。他说，控制病毒的传播现在可以挽救生命，减少出现更多变种的机会。

U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting 10 Republican senators for talks today about a new round of coronavirus economic relief. The U.S. leader and the lawmakers are far apart on how much should be spent. The Democratic president has proposed a $1.9 trillion package. Republicans are calling for a $618 billion deal. On Sunday, the group sent a letter to Biden, urging him to negotiate on a new relief deal rather than try to get his plan approved solely⁶ with the votes of congressional Democrats⁷. Both Biden and the Republicans are calling for $160 billion for testing, vaccines and personal protective equipment on top of hundreds of billions that were approved last year as the virus swept into the United States. You can follow this story and all the stories we're covering at our website voanews.com. This is VOA news.

美国总统拜登今天将接待10位共和党参议员，就新一轮冠状病毒经济救助方案举行会谈。这位美国领导人和国会议员在该花多少钱的问题上分歧很大。这位民主党总统提出了1.9万亿美元的一揽子计划。共和党人呼吁达成6180亿美元的援助计划。周日，国会民主党致函拜登，敦促他就一项新的救济协议进行谈判，而不是试图让他提出的计划仅在国会民主党人的投票下获得批准。拜登和共和党都呼吁在去年病毒席卷美国时批准的数千亿美元救助计划的基础上，增加1600亿美元用于检测、疫苗和个人防护设备。您可以通过voanews.com进入我们的网站观看更多相关新闻。欢迎收听美国之音新闻。

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

3 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

4 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

5 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。

6 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

7 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》