VOA标准英语2010年-Bill Clinton on HIV/AIDS: Much More Ne

Former US president Bill Clinton speaks during a session at the International AIDS Conference Austria, 19 Jul 2010

Former President Bill Clinton addressed the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna Monday. He said while much progress has been made in the fight against the epidemic¹, much more remains² to be done, including on human rights.

Mr. Clinton was the keynote speaker at Monday’s plenary session at AIDS 2010.

“This year’s conference theme – Rights Here, Right Now – reminds us that health care should be a right for everyone, but isn’t,” he said.

While progress has been made, he said, it is not the time to become complacent³.

“Notwithstanding the current economic difficulties, the evidence of the progress that has been made in the last few years is not an excuse to walk away from that right.  It’s an excuse to run toward it for all of us.”

The former president expects the AIDS conference to produce – what he calls – encouraging scientific news.

Aids 2010
President Clinton speaking at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna

That may include Tuesday’s announcement about whether a microbicide called CAPRISA 004 works. Microbicide trials in the past have all failed to show any protection against HIV. But CAPRISA 004, a gel, is the first to contain antiretroviral drugs.

Don’t rest on laurels⁵

Mr. Clinton said successes against the epidemic need to translate into a long-term strategy.

“To paraphrase⁶ what Winston Churchill said when the British finally started winning a battle or two in World War II, this is not the end. It’s not even the beginning of the end.  It is only the end of the beginning.  In other words, we ramped⁷ up.  You’ve done a great job.  But we have to transition now from what has essentially⁸ been a make-it-up-as-you-go-along emergency response to one that we can sustain,” he said.

While praising efforts that have gotten five million people worldwide on treatment, he warned millions more still need life-saving drugs.

“We cannot get to the end of this epidemic without both more money and real changes in the way we spend it.  I think it is profoundly important that we think about both,” Clinton said.

Raised a lot of boats

Mr. Clinton also addressed the debate over spending more on global health programs, as opposed to more specific targets like treatment or maternal⁹ and child health.  He says it’s not a coincidence that fewer women and children are dying annually¹⁰ at the same time PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria¹¹ have increased spending for global health.

“The fight against AIDS has raised a lot of boats – to fight tuberculosis¹² and malaria, to improve health systems, to challenge and motivate governments and NGOs alike, to deliver more and better health care.  Fighting AIDS in the right way clearly improves maternal and child health,” he said.

For example, the Clinton Foundation takes a holistic¹³ approach to preventing mother-to-child transmission OF HIV.

“Our first measure is not an AIDS indicator¹⁴.  It’s whether or not we’re increasing attendance of pregnant women in prenatal care and rates of women delivering with a skilled birth attendant. Seeing those numbers rise, will lower the number of children born with HIV and advance maternal health,” he said.

“And it works the other way around," he added. "If you invest in maternal health, you’re going to lower HIV transmission by educating girls on reproductive health, getting them into care when their pregnant, helping¹⁵ them to deliver at a clinic, or with an attendant.”

Unfair criticism?

The former president also addressed the criticism by activists¹⁶ and many NGOs that donors¹⁷ are not increasing spending for HIV/AIDS as fast as they have in the past.

“The world is awash in troubles," he said. "It is easy to rail at a government and say why doesn’t the government give us more money when they’re giving somebody else money.  But the government gets its money in most of these countries from taxpayers¹⁸ who have lower income today than they did two years ago.  So, if we’re going to make this case, they have to believe that we’re doing our job faster, better and cheaper.  And then we have the moral standing⁴ to go ask people to give us more money.”

President Obama has been the target of harsh criticism by those who say he reneged on his campaign promises to greatly boost spending for HIV/AIDS.  Mr. Clinton said he understands their concerns, but defended Mr. Obama.

“I do not think it is either fair or accurate to say the president has gone back on his promises, as if this was a callous¹⁹ walking away.  When he signed that petition saying he would support greater AIDS funding, it was before the American economy led the world into the worst financial crisis since the Depression.  Since then, he has tried to keep his commitments,” he said.

Bill Clinton advised participants at the AIDS conference to lobby the U.S. Congress to increase AIDS spending.  He says President Obama would never veto an increase in AIDS funding.
 

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 laurels   

n.桂冠，荣誉

参考例句：

• The path was lined with laurels.小路两旁都种有月桂树。
• He reaped the laurels in the finals.他在决赛中荣膺冠军。

6 paraphrase   

vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义

参考例句：

• You may read the prose paraphrase of this poem.你可以看一下这首诗的散文释义。
• Paraphrase the following sentences or parts of sentences using your own words.用你自己的话解释下面的句子或句子的一部分。

7 ramped   

土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• With the arrival of George Lucas, the pace has ramped up. 随着乔治·卢卡斯的到来，速度大大加快。
• They also sold corporate bonds as the global financial crisis ramped up. 在全球金融危机加剧之际，他们还抛售了公司债券。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

10 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

11 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

12 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

13 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

14 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 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》

17 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

19 callous   

adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的

参考例句：

• He is callous about the safety of his workers.他对他工人的安全毫不关心。
• She was selfish,arrogant and often callous.她自私傲慢，而且往往冷酷无情。