美国政府在佛蒙特州发现300头绵羊感染上了疯牛病

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13 美国政府在佛蒙特州发现300头绵羊感染上了疯牛病

DATE=4-10-01
TITLE=AGRICULTURE REPORT - Sheep Seized for Possible Mad Cow Disease BYLINE=George Grow

（Start at 59"）This is Bill White with the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.
United States government agents seized more than three- hundred sheep from two farms in the state of (1) Vermont last month. It was the first time American federal officials seized farm animals suspected of having a form of Mad Cow Disease.
The sheep were taken to a government laboratory in Iowa where they were destroyed. Tissue from the animals will be tested for the disease. The action comes one year after the Agriculture Department said tests showed several of the sheep might have the disease.
Mad Cow Disease is also called （2）Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or B-S-E. B-S-E causes holes in the brain. The disease was first found in cows in Britain almost twenty years ago.
In humans, the rare but deadly disorder¹ is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The disease has killed about one- hundred people in Europe, most of them in Britain. They reportedly ate meat from infected animals.
There has never been a confirmed case of B-S-E in the United States. Three farms in Vermont imported sheep from Belgium and The （3）Netherlands in Nineteen-Ninety-Six. The Agriculture Department said it learned two years later that the sheep might have been given feed (4) infected with B-S-E. Agriculture Department officials asked state officials to closely watch the condition of the animals.
Last year, the Agriculture Department announced plans to seize and destroy the sheep from the three farms. One of the farmers agreed to sell his twenty-one sheep to the Agriculture Department to be destroyed.
However, the other two farmers rejected the plan. They took legal action to block the plan. Lawyers for the farmers questioned the effectiveness of the test the government used to support its order. A federal appeals court ruled that the Agriculture Department was acting² within its right. The government has agreed to pay the farmers for the fair market value of the sheep.
A lawyer for one of the farmers called the (5) seizure³ sad and unnecessary. However, Agriculture Department officials said they had no choice but to act. They said the sheep were a threat to the health of farm animals nationwide.
Activists⁴ from People for the Ethical⁵ Treatment of Animals protested the destruction of the sheep. The group also urged people to stop eating meat.
This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.
 
注释：
(1)  Vermont[ v[:5mRnt]n.佛蒙特州(美国州名)
(2) bovine[ 5b[uvain ]adj.迟钝的, 牛的, 耐心的
(3) Netherlands[5neT[l[ndz]n.荷兰, 地区名
(4) infected[in`fektid]adj.(伤口)被感染的
(5) seizure[ 5si:V[ ]n.抓,没收,夺取

1 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。