VOA标准英语2013--Global Immunization: Despite Successes, Much More To Do

 

Global Immunization: Despite Successes, Much More To Do

Measles¹ is one of the leading causes of childhood deaths worldwide. Not only does measles kill, but it can leave children blind, deaf or developmentally disabled, even while they are still in their mothers' wombs. Yet the disease can be prevented with just two doses of a safe and inexpensive vaccine².

When measles broke out in the U.S. state of North Carolina earlier this year, Pamela McCall was one of the health officials who tracked down the cases.

"It is one of those immunizations required for school entry, so most people, most children, are vaccinated³ and most people are vaccinated against it," said McCall.

That's why fewer than a dozen people in North Carolina actually got the disease.  In the U.S., vaccines⁴ have made many diseases rare, or non-existent. Dr. Chesley Richards is with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Vaccines have made an enormous impact on improving health in the United States. Diseases like smallpox⁵, measles, polio, they’ve been eliminated or eradicated⁶ in the United States and in the case of smallpox, it’s been eradicated worldwide," said Richards.

But there's much more to be done.  A long-sought vaccine against malaria⁷ could save some of the more than 660,000 people, mostly children, killed each year by the mosquito-borne parasite⁸.

The Centers for Disease Control says vaccines give children a chance to grow up healthy, go to school, and improve their lives.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, with the National Institutes of Health, agrees.

"If you had to pick out one intervention⁹, if you balance the investment that you make in the research and the implementation¹⁰ and the health benefits, vaccines have to be at either the top of the list or very much on the short list," said Fauci.

Since the Measles and Rubella Initiative was launched twelve years ago, worldwide measles deaths have been reduced by nearly 75 percent, according to the CDC.

Besides preventing many childhood diseases, vaccines also protect against hepatitis, influenza¹¹, and even cervical  cancer.  Soon, they may free the world from the scourge¹² of polio.

Dr. Fauci says vaccines cut health-care costs because preventing a disease is cheaper than treating one.

The World Health Organization is urging countries around the world to invest more in immunization programs so more children can grow up healthy and strong.

1 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

2 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。

3 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

6 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

7 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。

8 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

9 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

10 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

11 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

12 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。