VOA慢速英语2014 埃博拉幸存者讲述他们的遭遇

 

AS IT IS 2014-10-23 Ebola Survivors² Speak Out about Their Experience 埃博拉幸存者讲述他们的遭遇

The number of Ebola cases continues rising. But there is some hope for those who survive the disease. Recently, a conference for Ebola survivors was held for the first time in eastern Sierra Leone. The goal was to offer advice to survivors and look at ways they can increase people’s understanding of the disease.

That music is coming from a small church in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Inside the building, 36 Ebola survivors danced in celebration. All 36 have beaten the deadly virus for which there is no vaccine³.

Sierra Leone’s Ministry⁴ of Health and Sanitation⁵ organized the conference of Ebola survivors. The ministry and non-governmental organizations want them to advise other Ebola patients and teach people more about the disease and its prevention.                                                                       

Matthew Dalling is chief of child protection with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. He says survivors often face problems when they return to their communities.

“They go back into communities and they are ostracized⁶, and are told to leave. One or two survivors I met are renting (home) in Kenema city because they can’t go back to their rural villages. So what we want to do is find a way that we can actually get them to go back into their communities to become helpers and to really make them become advocates and champions. We really see them as heroes.”

Fatama Feremusu Sesay is a nurse. She became sick with the disease while caring for an Ebola patient who threw up on her. She blames her infection on the light material she was wearing at the time. She says the vomit⁷ from the patient’s stomach touched her skin.                      

Today the health care worker is happy to be alive. She says she wants to become an activist⁸ in her community because some people still do not believe Ebola is real.

“There was a rumor⁹ that we the nurses, they (the government) have give us a huge amount of money and we are the ones who are killing¹⁰ the people, we inject the people … we (the) killers¹¹.”

It is claims like those that Ebola survivor¹ Dauda Mohamed Fullah wants to stop. He works as a laboratory technician at the government hospital in Kenema. He also has faced rejection¹² from people because he had Ebola. But for him, the hardest part is that other members of his family also got infected and did not survive.

“I think about them sometimes. I have nightmares. In my dreams, I do see them, playing with them. Even last night I had a dream. Yeah, I had a dream, I saw my father and, you know, I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to go to him, but he rejected me, said ‘No.’ So I started carrying in my dreams, so I woke up with tears in my eyes.”

Many survivors have similar experiences. Jamilah Jawara had two children. Both died from Ebola.

“It was June 17th. I lost my two kids, they were in my hands. The first one died, the boy.”

Her daughter died a short time later.                                                                 

These stories can have a huge emotional effect on survivors.

Margaret Harris of the World Health Organization says the idea of having survivors work with patients and in communities is good. But she adds that the survivors need to make sure they are ready and should not feel that they are required to help.                          

Dr. Harris says it is also important to take all necessary steps to stay healthy.

“For instance, people are talking about survivors going, being perfectly¹³ safe from ever being infected again. Well, we haven’t done antibody levels (on them). We know people have survived this thing, but we do not know they are 100 percent protected and we have to make sure they are medically safe.”

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation says the country had 634 Ebola survivors as of October 19th. UNICEF officials say there will be similar conferences planned for survivors across the country. 

Words in this Story 

cases – n. incidents of disease

conference – n. a meeting

celebration – n. an observance honoring a person or event with special activities

chief – n. the head or leader of a group

child – n. a baby; a boy or girl

1 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 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。

5 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

6 ostracized   

v.放逐( ostracize的过去式和过去分词 )；流放；摈弃；排斥

参考例句：

• He was ostracized by his colleagues for refusing to support the strike. 他因拒绝支持罢工而受到同事的排斥。
• The family were ostracized by the neighborhood. 邻居们都不理睬那一家人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

12 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

13 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。