TE精读|The pandemic / 开普饭

今天这篇关于病毒的文章比较简单，结构鲜明，在这个covid-19蔓延全球的时刻带给了我们三条关于中国治理的经验，正如文章结尾所说的：

It will test all the political systems in both rich and developing countries. China has bought governments time to prepare for a pandemic. They should use it.

这场病毒已经暴露了中国政治制度的强势与弱点，它也将考验着所有的国家。中国已经带给了这些政府时间，大家应该借鉴它。

这篇文章脉络十分清晰，结构鲜明。

第一段开门见山点出各国应当rang人们准备好应对这场病毒的攻击。

第2—5段为大家简要展示了如今中国抗击病毒的现状，因此第六段引出这场战争中中国有三个重要的教训给大家借鉴。

6—9段讲述第一个教训：要及时向公众说实话。

10段讲了第二个教训：政府要采取措施减缓病毒的传播。

11段讲了第三个教训：要完善健康系统。

最后一段总结全文，中国给各国政府带来了准备的时间，大家应该采用这些经验教训。

In public health, honesty is worth a lot more than hope. It has become clear in the past week that the new viral disease, covid-19, which struck China at the start of December will spread around the world. Many governments have been signalling that they will stop the disease. Instead, they need to start preparing people for the onslaught.

viral disease：病毒性疾病

signal verb

1 to make a sound or an action in order to give information or tell someone to do something :

She signaled, and the waiter brought the bill.

The whistle signaled the end of the match.

signal that

The bell signaled that school was over.

on‧slaught / ˈɒnslɔːt / noun

1 a large violent attack by an army

onslaught on/against

In December they launched a full-scale onslaught on the capital.

这里指各国准备应对这场病毒的突击，与前文中的which struck china呼应。

pre‧pare / prɪˈpeə / verb

to provide someone with the training, skills, experience etc that they will need to do a job or to deal with a situation

prepare somebody for something

a course that prepares students for English examinations

Schools should do more to prepare children for the world of work.

What does a coach do to prepare his team for the Superbowl?

本段一开始就写公共卫生领域的honesty 是比 hope还要重要，直接就点明作者的立场，同时也暗示着一些东西。

总：各国政府需要开始让人们做好应对病毒冲击的准备。

Oﬃcials will have to act when they do not have all the facts, because much about the virus is unknown. A broad guess is that 25-70% of the population of any infected country may catch the disease. China’s experience suggests that, of the cases that are detected, roughly 80% will be mild, 15% will need treatment in hospital and 5% will require intensive care. Experts say that the virus may be ﬁve to ten times as lethal as seasonal ﬂu, which, with a fatality rate of 0.1%, kills 60,000 Americans in a bad year. Across the world, the death toll could be in the millions.

catch the disease：染上疾病

de‧tect / dɪˈtekt / verb

to notice or discover something, especially something that is not easy to see, hear etc :

Many forms of cancer can be cured if detected early.

China’s experience suggests that, of the cases that are detected, roughly 80% will be mild, 15% will need treatment in hospital and 5% will require intensive care.

中国的经验表明，在发现的病例中，大约80%是轻度的，15%需要住院治疗，5%需要重症监护。

in‧ten‧sive / ɪnˈtensɪv / adjective

involving a lot of activity, effort, or careful attention in a short period of time :

a one-week intensive course in English

a day of intensive negotiations

le‧thal / ˈliːθ ə l / adjective

causing death, or able to cause death → fatal :

a lethal weapon

death by lethal injection

a lethal cocktail of drink and pills

fatality rate：死亡率

fa‧tal‧i‧ty / fəˈtæləti / noun

[ uncountable ] formal the fact that a disease is certain to cause death :

The most serious form of skin cancer has a 30 percent fatality rate.

death toll：死亡人数

病毒现状一：在世界各地，死亡人数可能在数百万。

If the pandemic is like a very severe ﬂu, models point to global economic growth being two percentage points lower over 12 months, at around 1%; if it is worse still, the world economy could shrink.As that prospect sank in during the week, the s&p 500 fell by 8% (see Finance section).

shrink / ʃrɪŋk / verb

1 to become smaller, or to make something smaller, through the effects of heat or water :

I’m worried about washing that shirt in case it shrinks.

2 to become or to make something smaller in amount, size, or value OPP grow :

The city continued to shrink.

Sink-sank：智囊团

病毒现状二：全球经济下降。

Yet all those outcomes depend greatly on what governments choose to do, as China shows. Hubei province, the origin of the epidemic, has a population of 59m. It has seen more than 65,000 cases and a fatality rate of 2.9%. By contrast, the rest of China, which contains 1.3bn people, has suﬀered fewer than 13,000 cases with a fatality rate of just 0.4%. Chinese oﬃcials at ﬁrst suppressed news of the disease, a grave error that allowed the virus to take hold. But even before it had spread much outside Hubei, they imposed the largest and most draconian quarantine in history. Factories shut, public transport stopped and people were ordered indoors. This raised awareness and changed behaviour. Without it, China would by now have registered many millions of cases and tens of thousands of deaths.

sup‧press / səˈpres / verb

if important information or opinions are suppressed, people are prevented from knowing about them, even if they have a right to know :

The police were accused of suppressing evidence.

grave adjective

1 grave problems, situations, or worries are very great or bad → serious :

The situation is becoming very grave.

dra‧co‧ni‧an / drəˈkəʊniən / adjective

very strict and cruel

draconian measures to control population growth

quar‧an‧tine / ˈkwɒrəntiːn / noun

a period of time when a person or animal is kept apart from others in case they are carrying a disease

in quarantine

The monkeys were kept in quarantine for 31 days.

病毒现状三：抗疫情的结果在很大程度上取决于政府选择做什么。

The World Health Organisation was this week full of praise for China’s approach. That does not, however, mean it is a model for the rest of the world. All quarantines carry a cost—not just in lost output, but also in the suﬀering of those locked away, some of whom forgo medical treatment for other conditions. It is still too soon to tell whether this price was worth the gains. As China seeks to revive its economy by relaxing the quarantine, it could well be hit by a second wave of infections. Given that uncertainty, few democracies would be willing to trample over individuals to the extent China has. And, as the chaotic epidemic in Iran shows, not all authoritarian governments are capable of it.

for‧go / fɔːˈɡəʊ / verb

to not do or have something pleasant or enjoyable SYN go without :

I had to forgo lunch.

lock / lɒk $ lɑːk / verb

lock somebody/something away phrasal verb

1 to put something in a safe place and lock the door, lid etc SYN lock up :

He locked his money away in the safe.

2 to put someone in prison SYN lock up :

I hope they lock him away for years.

3 lock yourself away to keep yourself separate from other people by staying in your room, office etc

re‧vive / rɪˈvaɪv / verb

2 [ intransitive and transitive ] to become healthy and strong again, or to make someone or something healthy and strong again → recover :

The economy is beginning to revive.

an attempt to revive the steel industry

The doctors revived her with injections of glucose.

given preposition

taking something into account SYN considering :

Given the circumstances, you’ve done really well.

given that

Given that the patients have some disabilities, we still try to enable them to be as independent as possible.

tram‧ple / ˈtræmp ə l / verb

1 to step heavily on something, so that you crush it with your feet

trample on/over/through etc

There was a small fence to stop people trampling on the flowers.

Given that uncertainty, few democracies would be willing to trample over individuals to the extent China has.

鉴于这种不确定性，很少有民主国家愿意像中国那样践踏个人。

cha‧ot‧ic / keɪˈɒtɪk / adjective

a chaotic situation is one in which everything is happening in a confused way :

a chaotic mixture of images

病毒现状四：世界卫生组织（who）本周对中国的做法赞不绝口。

Yet even if many countries could not, or should not, exactly copy China, its experience holds three important lessons—to talk to the public, to slow the transmission of the disease and to prepare health systems for a spike in demand. A good example of communication is America’s Centres for Disease Control, which issued a clear, unambiguous warning on February 25th. A bad one is Iran’s deputy health minister, who succumbed to the virus during a press conference designed to show that the government is on top of the epidemic.

holds three important lessons：提供了三个教训

trans‧mis‧sion / trænzˈmɪʃən / noun

the process of sending or passing something from one person, place, or thing to another

transmission of

the transmission of disease

spike / spaɪk / noun [ countable ]

a sudden large increase in the number or rate of something

a spike in interest rates

deputy health minister:卫生部部长

suc‧cumb / səˈkʌm / verb

if you succumb to an illness, you become very ill or die of it

succumb to

About 400,000 Americans succumb each year to smoking-related illnesses.

中心句：中国的经验提供了三个重要的教训，要与公众开诚布公，减缓疾病的传播，并为卫生系统应对需求激增做好准备。

Even well-meaning attempts to sugarcoat the truth are self-defeating, because they spread mistrust, rumours and, ultimately, fear. The signal that the disease must be stopped at any cost, or that it is too terrifying to talk about, frustrates eﬀorts to prepare for the virus’s inevitable arrival. As governments dither, conspiracy theories coming out of Russia are already sowing doubt, perhaps to hinder and discredit the response of democracies.

Sugarcoat：make superficially attractive or acceptable.

粉饰

"you won't see him sugarcoat the truth"

ˌself-defeating adjective

事与愿违的; 适得其反的; 弄巧成拙的

causing even more problems, or causing exactly the same problems and difficulties that you are trying to prevent or deal with :

Constant dieting can be self-defeating.

ru‧mour / ˈruːmə / noun

information or a story that is passed from one person to another and which may or may not be true 谣言

in‧ev‧i‧ta‧ble / ɪˈnevətəb ə l / adjective

certain to happen and impossible to avoid :

A further escalation of the crisis now seems inevitable.

dith‧er / ˈdɪðə / verb

to keep being unable to make a final decision about something

dither over/about/between

He accused the government of dithering over the deal.

con‧spi‧ra‧cy / kənˈspɪrəsi / noun 阴谋

1 a secret plan made by two or more people to do something that is harmful or illegal → conspire

There were many conspiracy theories (= beliefs that something is the result of a conspiracy ) surrounding Princess Diana’s death.

sow / səʊ / verb

to do something that will cause a bad situation in the future :

repressive laws that are sowing the seeds of future conflicts

sow doubt/confusion/dissatisfaction etc

an attempt to sow doubt among the jury members

hin‧der / ˈhɪndə / verb

to make it difficult for something to develop or succeed SYN hamper :

His career has been hindered by injury.

policies that will hinder rather than help families

dis‧cred‧it / dɪsˈkredət / verb

1 to make people stop respecting or trusting someone or something :

The company’s lawyers tried to discredit her testimony.

经验一（1）：即使是善意的掩盖真相结果也会适得其反。

The best time to inform people about the disease is before the epidemic. One message is that fatality is correlated with age. If you are over 80 or you have an underlying condition you are at high risk; if you are under 50 you are not. Now is the moment to persuade the future 80% of mild cases to stay at home and not rush to a hospital. People need to learn to wash their hands often and to avoid touching their face. Businesses need continuity plans, to let staﬀ work from home and to ensure a stand-in can replace a vital employee who is ill or caring for a child or parent. The model is Singapore, which learned from SARS, another coronavirus, that clear, early communication limits panic.

cor‧rel‧ate / ˈkɒrəleɪt, / verb

if two or more facts, ideas etc correlate or if you correlate them, they are closely connected to each other or one causes the other

correlate with

Poverty and poor housing correlate with a shorter life expectancy.

Underlying：潜在的

con‧ti‧nu‧i‧ty / ˌkɒntəˈnjuːəti / noun

1 the state of continuing for a period of time, without problems, interruptions, or changes :

We should ensure continuity of care between hospital and home.

ˈstand-in noun 代替者

1 someone who does the job or takes the place of someone else for a short time :

Gilbert failed to find a stand-in and so could not go to the party.

经验一（2）：向人们通报这种疾病的最佳时间是在流行病发生之前。早期清晰的沟通将限制恐慌。

China’s second lesson is that governments can slow the spread of the disease. Flattening the spike of the epidemic means that health systems are less overwhelmed, which saves lives. If, like ﬂu, the virus turns out to be seasonal, some cases could be delayed until next winter, by which time doctors will understand better how to cope with it. By then, new vaccines and antiviral drugs may be available. When countries have few cases, they can follow each one, tracing contacts and isolating them. But when the disease is spreading in the community, that becomes futile. Governments need to prepare for the moment when they will switch to social distancing, which may include cancelling public events, closing schools, staggering work hours and so on. Given the uncertainties, governments will have to choose how draconian they want to be. They should be guided by science. International travel bans look decisive, but they oﬀer little protection because people ﬁnd ways to move. They also signal that the problem is “them” infecting “us”, rather than limiting infections among “us”. Likewise, if the disease has spread widely, as in Italy and South Korea, “Wuhan-lite” quarantines of whole towns oﬀer scant protection at a high cost.

new vaccines and antiviral drugs：新疫苗和抗病毒药物

fu‧tile / ˈfjuːtaɪl / adjective

actions that are futile are useless because they have no chance of being successful

a futile attempt/effort

a futile attempt to save the paintings from the flames

My efforts to go back to sleep proved futile.

it is futile to do something

It was futile to continue the negotiations.

stag‧ger / ˈstæɡə / verb

to arrange people’s working hours, holidays etc so that they do not all begin and end at the same time :

Jim and his wife stagger their work hours so one of them can be at home with the kids.

de‧ci‧sive / dɪˈsaɪsɪv / adjective

an action, event etc that is decisive has a big effect on the way that something develops

decisive factor/effect/influence etc

Women can play a decisive role in the debate over cloning.

经验二：中国的第二个教训是，政府可以减缓这种疾病的传播。

The third lesson is to prepare health systems for what is to come. That entails painstaking logistical planning. Hospitals need supplies of gowns, masks, gloves, oxygen and drugs. They should already be conserving them. They will run short of equipment, including ventilators. They need a scheme for how to set aside wards and ﬂoors for covid-19 patients, for how to cope if staﬀ fall ill, and for how to choose between patients if they are overwhelmed. By now, this work should have been done.

en‧tail / ɪnˈteɪl / verb 使……成为必要；需要

1 to involve something as a necessary part or result :

A new computer system entails a lot of re-training.

Some foreign travel is entailed in the job.

That entails painstaking logistical planning

这需要艰苦的后勤规划

pains‧tak‧ing / ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ / adjective

very careful and thorough SYN meticulous :

The work had been done with painstaking attention to detail.

Logistical：后勤的

con‧serve 1 / kənˈsɜːv / verb

1 to protect something and prevent it from changing or being damaged SYN preserve → conservation :

We must conserve our woodlands for future generations.

ventilators.通风设备

scheme / skiːm / noun [ countable ]

an official plan that is intended to help people in some way, for example by providing education or training

program American English :

The money will be used for teacher training schemes.

set aside something:to save for a particular purpose留出

and for how to choose between patients if they are overwhelmed.

以及如何在患者不堪重负时在患者之间做出选择

经验三：第三个教训是为即将到来的情况准备好卫生系统。

This virus has already exposed the strengths and weaknesses of China’s authoritarianism. It will test all the political systems with which it comes into contact, in both rich and developing countries. China has bought governments time to prepare for a pandemic. They should use it.

authoritarianism：独裁主义

总结：这是一场面对所有国家、所有政治制度的严峻考试，中国已经用它自己的经历给了各国政府一些教训，也为各国政府准备了时间，各国政府应当在其中吸取经验教训。

TE精读|The pandemic

相关推荐