双语新闻:世卫组织宣布甲型H1N1流感大流行

【英文原文】

DJ WHO Confirms Raising Influenza Pandemic Alert To Level 6

摘要：由于甲型H1N1流感的蔓延，世界卫生组织(WHO)宣布了40多年来首次流感大流行。

The World Health Organization declared the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years,due to the spread of the H1N1 swine flu.

The Geneva-based U.N. agency on Thursday raised the pandemic flu alert to six, the highest level, which indicates that the disease is spreading world-wide.

The decision, which followed a sharp rise in the number of confirmed cases in Australia Wednesday, was made at an emergency meeting the WHO held with its experts. The last flu pandemic was in 1968.

The declaration will require all countries, including the dozens that haven't yet reported any cases, to launch pandemic-prevention plans.

Around 35,000 cases of people infected with the H1N1 virus have now been reported in 74 countries, Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, said Thursday.

'Further spread of the disease is inevitable,' Ms. Chan said. So far, the disease appears to be mild and the WHO doesn't expect a sudden or dramatic jump in the number of severe or fatal cases reported.

The agency is urging countries where the disease has already peaked to prepare for a second wave of infections.

Vaccine makers will finish production of seasonal vaccine, and full capacity of seasonal vaccine will therefore be available for the coming flu season in the Northern Hemisphere.

Ms. Chan said that Roche Holding AG, maker of antiviral drug Tamiflu, has made sizable donations of the drug to the organization. The WHO has distributed the first donations and is now getting a further 5.6 million doses from Roche for distribution. The WHO has also invited generic drug makers to start producing antiviral drugs, she added.

In Australia, the number of confirmed cases of swine flu has more than tripled in the past week, reaching 1,263 on Thursday, when three new cases were confirmed in the state of Tasmania. It recorded its first case of the disease on May 9.

'Australia catches our eye particularly not because of the number of cases but because of strong evidence of community transmission,' particularly in the southern state of Victoria and its capital, Melbourne, said Peter Cordingley, a spokesman for the World Health Organization based in Manila. He said the WHO is also focusing on similar evidence in the U.K., Spain, Japan and Chile.

In Hong Kong, the government on Thursday ordered the closure of all nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools for two weeks after a dozen students at one school tested positive for swine flu. Elsewhere in Asia, health officials in Thailand confirmed 30 new H1N1 cases, raising the total there to 46.

About half of the world's confirmed H1N1 cases, or 13,217, are in the U.S., including 27 deaths, according to the WHO.

Mr. Cordingley noted that the term pandemic was 'a measure of the spread of the virus, not the severity of the virus.' The virus's effects are moderate at the moment, he noted. 'But it's still going to infect an awful lot of people.'

【中文译文】

由于甲型H1N1流感的蔓延，世界卫生组织(WHO)宣布了40多年来首次流感大流行。

总部位于日内瓦的世卫组织周四将疫情警戒级别上调至最高的6级，这个级别表示这种疫病在世界范围内蔓延。

澳大利亚周三确诊病例剧增，随后世卫组织召集专家举行紧急会议作出上述决定。上一次流感大流行是在1968年。

宣布流感大流行将要求所有国家实施防疫计划，尚未报告病例的国家也不例外。

世卫总干事陈冯富珍(Margaret Chan)周四说，全球已有74个国家报告了3.5万例感染甲型H1N1流感病毒的病例。

陈冯富珍说，这种疫病的进一步蔓延是无可避免的。这种疾病迄今为止显得较为温和，世卫预计危重和致死病例的数量不会突然或急剧增加。

世卫组织正敦促疫病已经达到高峰的国家准备应对第二波感染。

疫苗生产商将完成季节性疫苗的生产，这样北半球即将来临的流感季节将有足够的季节性疫苗可用。

陈冯富珍说，生产抗病毒药达菲(Tamiflu)的罗氏公司(Roche Holding Ag)已向世卫捐赠了大量这种药品。世卫已经分发了首批捐赠的药品，目前正从罗氏获得又一批560万剂达菲用于分发。陈冯富珍表示，世卫还邀请仿制药生产商开始生产抗病毒药。

澳大利亚过去一周确诊病例人数增加了两倍以上，截至周四达1,263例，周四在澳大利亚塔斯马尼亚州新增3例确诊病例。澳大利亚5月9日报告了首例确诊病例。

世卫驻马尼拉发言人考丁力(Peter Cordingley)说，澳大利亚引起我们注意的原因并不是因为病例的数量，而是存在群体性传播的强烈迹象。他说，世卫同时也在关注英国、西班牙、日本和智利的类似迹象。

香港政府周四下令所有托儿所、幼儿园和小学关闭两周，此前一所学校有十几名学生被确诊为甲型H1N1流感。泰国卫生官员确诊30例新增病例，该国感染甲型H1N1流感的总人数达到46名。

世卫组织的数据显示，全球甲型H1N1流感确诊病例约有一半（13,217例）在美国，其中有27例死亡。

考丁力强调，“大流行”的说法只是衡量病毒的蔓延程度而非严重性。这种病毒的影响目前较为温和，但还是会传染很多人。

【词汇讲解】

1. pandemic adj. (疾病)大流行的

It is recorded that during the 150 years before Tibet was peacefully liberated there were four pandemic outbreaks of smallpox, one of which, in 1925, killed 7,000 people in the Lhasa area alone.
据记载，西藏和平解放前的150年间，天花大流行过4次，其中1925年的一次，仅拉萨地区就有7000人丧生。

2. inevitable adj. 不可避免的，必然发生的

Most lawyers felt such an outcome was nevertheless inevitable.
多数律师认为这是必然的。

3. vaccine n. 疫苗；痘苗

She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.
她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4. antiviral drug 抗病毒药

5. triple adj. 三倍的，三方的，三部分的

He received triple wages for all his extra work.
由于额外的工作他领取了三倍的工资。

6. severity n. 严格，严厉，苛刻

His severity scared the children away.
他的严厉吓跑了孩子们。

【词组练习】

The World Health Organization declared the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, due to the spread of the H1N1 swine flu.
由于甲型H1N1流感的蔓延，世界卫生组织(WHO)宣布了40多年来首次流感大流行。

due to 在本句中表示“由于…… ”，例如：

Her absence is due to illness.
她因病缺席。

due to 还有“欠下债〔账〕，应给予”的意思，例如：

You have not given what is due to me.
你欠我的钱还没有还。