AGRICULTURE REPORT - Veterinary Medicine

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Veterinary Medicine
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, March 30, 2004

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

When people feel sick, doctors treat them. So, who treats animals? Veterinarians are doctors for animals. But they also protect human health.

Veterinarians are the first line of defense¹ against animal diseases that can spread quickly. Diseases, like some kinds of bird flu, can spread to humans. Others, like foot and mouth disease, cause economic damage.

Some veterinarians in the United States inspect animals raised for food. Some study diseases. Others work for drug companies and medical companies. And about half of all veterinarians care for more than one-hundred-million cats and dogs that Americans keep for pleasure.

Becoming a veterinarian is hard work. Students take two years of preparatory studies in college. They must learn in the classroom about animal biology, diseases, medicines and treatments.

Then, they attend four years in a college of veterinary medicine. There, students work in laboratories and treatment centers to gain real experience with animal health. They also learn to perform medical operations.

There are twenty-eight schools of veterinary medicine in the United States. More than eight-thousand-five-hundred students study the subject. Seventy-five percent of the students are women. About two-thousand new veterinarians enter the job market each year.

States give veterinarians official permission to treat animals. A veterinarian must take a test to receive a license² from any state where he or she works.

A number of groups help veterinarians. The American Veterinary Medical Association is one of the oldest. It started in eighteen-eighty-nine. The organization officially approves schools that teach veterinary science.

The Department of Agriculture established the National Veterinary Accreditation³ Program in nineteen-twenty-one. The program was designed to teach veterinarians how to work with federal and state officials supervising⁴ animals raised for food. The program gives veterinarians extra training.

Veterinarians have always been important to agriculture and public health. They set broken bones, treat infectious⁵ diseases, perform operations and help animals give birth. Many also are involved in the study of diseases that spread among animals.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

3 accreditation   

n.委派，信赖，鉴定合格

参考例句：

• a letter of accreditation 一份合格证明书
• This paper gives an overview of the Verification, Validation and Accreditation (VV&A) in High Level Architecture(HLA). 对基于高层体系结构(High Level Architecture,简称HLA)的仿真系统的校核、验证与确认(Verification, Validation and Accreditation,简称VV&A)问题进行了详细的介绍及分析。 来自互联网

4 supervising   

v.监督，管理( supervise的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She had something to do in the house, supervising that native. 她待在家里，究竟还有点儿事情可以做做，可以监视那个土人。 来自辞典例句
• In addition, nuisance law fails to provide a systematic mechanism for supervising emissions. 另外，妨害法不能提供一个监督排放的系统性机制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 infectious   

adj.传染的，有传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。
• What an infectious laugh she has!她的笑声多么具有感染力啊！