VOA常速英语2021--世卫专家称武汉实验室泄露新冠病毒毫无根据

A member of the World Health Organization-led team searching for clues to the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, said Thursday that work needed to be done to trace genetic¹ elements of the virus in bat caves. Emily Wither² of Reuters reports. Peter Daszak, a zoologist³ and animal disease expert, said the team in Wuhan had been receiving new information about how the virus led to a pandemic. He said there was no evidence to suggest it emerged from a lab, but they were examining the potential link to bats. "The real work we are doing here is to trace back from the first cases back to an animal reservoir." One scenario⁴ being scrutinized⁵ more closely by the team is the possibility that the virus could have been circulating long before it was first identified in Wuhan at the end of 2019. The investigators⁶ have so far visited hospitals, research facilities and the seafood⁷ market where the first outbreak was identified. That's Reuters Emily Wither.

世界卫生组织领导的一个在中国武汉寻找新冠起源线索的小组成员星期四表示，需要在蝙蝠洞穴中追踪病毒的基因单元。请听路透社记者艾米莉·威瑟报道。动物学家和动物疾病专家彼得·达扎克表示，武汉的研究小组已经收到了有关新冠病毒如何引发疫情的新信息。他表示，没有证据表明新冠病毒来自实验室，但他们正在研究与蝙蝠的潜在联系。“我们在这里做的真正工作是从最初的病例追溯到动物宿主。”研究小组正在更仔细地研究的一种设想是，该病毒可能早在2019年底首次在武汉被发现之前就已经在传播。到目前为止，调查人员已经走访了医院、研究机构和发现第一次疫情的海鲜市场。我是路透社记者艾米莉·威瑟。

Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori apologized on Thursday for sexist comments he repeatedly made about women talking too much, but said he would not resign. Reuters Emer McCarthy has more. There have been calls for Yoshiro Mori to step down after he said that female board members talked too much. The 83-year-old made the comments at a Japanese Olympic Committee meeting this week, according to a report in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. In a hastily called press conference on Thursday, the former Japanese prime minister said his comments were wrong. The saga⁸ is likely to alienate⁹ a Japanese public that's already wary¹⁰ about hosting the Games during the health crisis. A recent poll showed that 80 percent of the public thought it shouldn't go ahead as scheduled in July. That's Reuters Emer McCarthy.

东京奥运会负责人森喜朗周四就自己多次发表的有关女性说太多话的性别歧视言论道歉，但表示不会辞职。请听路透社记者埃默·麦卡锡带来详细报道。部分民众呼吁森喜朗下台，森喜朗此前曾表示，女性董事会成员话太多。据《朝日新闻》报道，83岁的森喜朗是在本周的一次日本奥委会会议上发表上述言论的。在周四匆忙召开的记者招待会上，这位日本前首相称自己的言论是错误的，但他仍然对自己的立场表示蔑视。这一事件很可能会疏远日本公众，他们已经对在健康危机期间举办奥运会持谨慎态度。最近的一项民意调查显示，80%的公众认为奥运会不应该在7月份如期进行。我是路透社记者埃默·麦卡锡。

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits has dropped but it remains¹¹ historically high. We get more from AP's Mike Hempen¹². The Labor¹³ Department says 779,000 people applied¹⁴ for jobless aid last week, down 33,000 from the previous week. However, before the virus surfaced in March, applications never topped 700,000. The latest unemployment data showed just under 18 million people were still receiving jobless benefits in mid-January. But once vaccinations¹⁵ become more widely distributed and administered in coming months, economists¹⁶ expect growth to pick up at a sustained clip. Mike Hempen, Washington. You can find more on our website voanews.com. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd, VOA news.

美国寻求失业救济的人数有所下降，但仍处于历史高位。请听美联社记者迈克·亨彭带来详细报道。美国劳工部称，上周有77.9万人申请失业救济，比前一周减少3.3万人。然而，在3月份病毒出现之前，失业救济申请人数从未超过70万。最新的失业数据显示，1月中旬仍有不到1800万人领取失业救济金。但一旦疫苗在未来几个月得到更广泛的分发和管理，经济学家们预计经济增长将持续增长。迈克·亨彭，华盛顿报道您可以通过网址voanews.com浏览更多相关新闻。我是大卫·伯德，为您远程报道美国之音新闻。

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 wither   

vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡

参考例句：

• She grows as a flower does-she will wither without sun.她象鲜花一样成长--没有太阳就会凋谢。
• In autumn the leaves wither and fall off the trees.秋天，树叶枯萎并从树上落下来。

3 zoologist   

n.动物学家

参考例句：

• Charles darwin was a famous zoologist.查尔斯达尔文是一位著名的动物学家。
• The zoologist had spent a long time living with monkeys.这位动物学家与猴子一起生活了很长时间。

4 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

5 scrutinized   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The jeweler scrutinized the diamond for flaws. 宝石商人仔细察看钻石有无瑕庇 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop. 我们一起把甜食店里买来的十二块柠檬蛋糕细细打量了一番。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

8 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

9 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。

10 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 hempen   

adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的

参考例句：

• The net destined to support the car was made of very solid hempen cord. 承受着吊篮的网子是用非常结实的麻绳编的。
• Plant the crop such as wheaten, corn, potato, horsebean, hempen, cole aptly, a year one ripe. 适宜种植小麦、玉米、马铃薯、蚕豆、大麻、油菜等作物，一年一熟。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

15 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》