【趣味英语】春节小知
世界节日（1）Spring The bird flu capital of the world
世界禽流感之都（陈继龙 编译）
Jul 27th 2006 | JAKARTA
From The Economist print edition
LAST week, Indonesia announced its 43rd human death from bird flu. It has now recorded more fatalities than any other nation, and instark[1]contrast to all other countries its death toll isc_______①regularly.
印尼上周宣布本国第43人死于禽流感。它的死亡纪录现已超过其它任何一个国家，并且与其它各国形成鲜明对比的是它的死亡人数还在不断攀升。现在看来，情况似乎不但未见好转，反而要愈发地糟糕。
The Indonesian government claims to be committed to fighting the disease, caused by the H5N1 virus, but it does not seem to want to spend much of its own money doing so. （1）After the international community pledged $900m in grants and slightly more in very soft loans to combat the spread of bird flu globally and to help nations prepare for a possible human flu pandemic[2], Indonesia put in a request for the full $900m—all of it in grants.
[replyview]虽然印尼政府声称有责任与这一由H5N1型病毒所致的疾病作斗争，但是它似乎并不希望自己为此投入很多资金。国际社会承诺捐款9亿美金，同时提供稍多数额的超低息贷款（译注：软贷款是指借款国可用本国软货币偿还的贷款。软货币即软通货，如纸币，区别于硬通货如黄金。此类贷款利息很低，主要用于帮助别人），以阻止禽流感在全球扩散，并帮助各国做好可能发生的人流感大范围流行的防范准备，可是此后印尼竟然要求将全部9亿美金据为己有——而且全部以捐款的形式。
A national bird-flu commission was created in March to co-ordinate the country's response but it has yet to be given a budget. Its chief, meanwhile, has just been given a second full-time job—h_______②efforts to rebuild the part of Java devastated by an earthquake in May.
[replyview]今年3月，印尼成立了全国禽流感委员会，旨在协调本国应急反应工作，不过其所需专项资金至今仍未到位。其间，该委员会主席正好又被安排了第二份专职工作——负责遭5月份 地震 毁坏的爪哇岛部分地区灾后重建工作。（译注：此段是指“虽然有了组织机构，但由于缺乏资金以及有关领导无法专心工作，禽流感防治工作不能取得进展。）
Observers say that the available money is being mis-spent, with the focus on humans rather than on animals. The agriculture ministry, for example, is asking for less money for next year than it got this year. （2）This is despite hundreds of thousands of hens dying every month, to say nothing of infected cats, quails, pigs and ducks.Farmers are beingc________③at only 2,000 rupiah (21 cents) per bird, well below market price, thereby discouraging them from reporting outbreaks. The country'sveterinary[3]surveillance services are inadequate. Pledges to vaccinate hundreds of millions of birds have not been met.
[replyview]观察家说，现有资金使用不合理，投放重点应该是动物而不是人。例如，农业部为明年申请到的资金就比今年少。这等于是对每月死去的成百上千只鸡坐视不理，更不用说被感染的猫、鹌鹑、猪和鸭了。农民们每只家禽得到的补偿仅为2000卢比（21美分），远低于市场价格，这使得他们不再积极报告发病情况。该国的兽医监督服务力度也不够，要为数千万只家禽注射疫苗的承诺到现在都没有兑现。
（3）The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is starting to establish local disease-control centres to cope with the effects of a virulent mutation, should one occur, but reckons that only one-third of the country will be covered by year's end.A bunch of international do-gooders[4] that is trying to plug some of the gaps is finding it hard to raise money.
[replyview]联合国粮农组织正在准备建立地方疾病控制中心，以应对可能发生的病毒突变所造成的后果。不过该组织估计到今年底印尼全国只有1/3的地区将建成此类中心。国际上众多想法天真的慈善家也在竭力填补这其中的一些缺口，却发现难以筹措所需资金。（译注：do-gooder不是“做好事的人”，而是指“真心实意有志于为社会谋福利或进行改革，但通常是不现实的人道主义者——一般带有过于天真或浮躁鲁莽，徒劳无功等贬义”。）
（4）In fairness, Indonesia has many priorities to deal with.It is contending with thea________④of earthquakes, a volcanic eruption and a tsunami—all in the last seven weeks. More than 1,500 children die every day from treatable illnesses such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, dengue fever and malaria. Besides, many Indonesians either do not believe the hype—they point to the SARS threat in 2003 that nevermaterialised[5]—or say that if outsiders are so worried they should pay for the necessary measures.
[replyview]平心而论，除了禽流感，印尼还有许多更重要的事情要处理。（译注：priority需要优先考虑的事）过去7个星期内发生的 地震 、火山爆发以及海啸等灾后工作已经让它应接不暇。每天还有超过1500名儿童死于可以医治的疾病，如肺炎、肺结核、登革热和疟疾。此外，多数印尼人要么认为那些宣传实属危言耸听——他们指出，2003年的SARS疫情威胁并没有真的到来——要么就说，外人要是这么担心，那他们就应该自己花钱采取必要的措施。
The UN's bird flutsar[6],David Nabarro, is a diplomat. （5）He calls the issues involved “really tricky” and says recrimination[7] achieves little. It will take “many, many months”, he thinks, for Indonesia to get on top of bird flu. Keep your fingers crossed.
[replyview]联合国禽流感事务高级协调员戴维•纳巴罗则是一个擅长使用外交辞令的人。他称这里面的问题“实在棘手”，并说一味指责只会收效甚微。他认为，印尼尚需“很多、很多个月的时间”才能完全控制禽流感疫情。但愿如此吧。（译注：get on top of 完全控制；keep sb’s fingers crossed 祝成功）[QUIZ]
1. 根据上下文和英文释义，补全单词：
①c_______（v. to increase in number, amount, or level）
②h_______（v. to be in charge of a team, government, organization etc）
③c________（v. to pay someone money because they have suffered injury, loss, or damage）
④a________（n. the period of time after something such as a war, storm, or accident）
2. 英译汉（将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：
3. 汉译英（根据中文，在空白处写出英文）：
[NOTES](LONGMAN)
1. stark adj.刻板的；死板的；完全的；刺耳的；刺目的
2. pandemic adj.&n. 大范围流行的（疾病）；大流行的（疾病）
3. veterinary adj.兽医的
4. do-gooder n.someone who helps people who are in bad situations, but who is annoying because their help is not needed - used to show disapproval 爱管闲事的人；一厢情愿的乐善好施者（通常用于表示不赞成）
5. materialize v.使具体化；实现，成真
6. tsar n.（czar）沙皇；掌权者；被任命的有特权的官员
[KEY TO QUIZ]
[replyview]1. ①climbing 上升；增长（表示“increase”的词汇有：increase • go up/rise • grow • climb • gain • escalate • pick up • widen • be on the increase • intensify • expand • build up）
②heading 负责；领导
③compensate 赔偿；补偿
④aftermath 灾后时期
2.（见译文，仅供参考，欢迎指正）
3．It looks as though things will get worse before they get better.（注：答案肯定不是唯一，但至少你可以学习作者的写法）
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