unit5_硕士生英语综合教程2_课本原文_电子版

(15a) Before H1N1 became known as H1N1, it was popularly referred to as “swine flu” because scientists determined that it contained mostly pig flu genes. (That’s not surprising: pigs can be infected with both avian and human flus and are an ideal genetic mixing bowl.) 在甲流被确认为甲流病毒之前，人们称其为“猪流感”。因为科学家认为这类病毒中绝大多数为猪流感基因。（猪既会禽流感感染，又会遭到人类流感病毒感染，因此猪成为这种新病毒完美的基因混合载体也就不感到奇怪了。）

(15b) The term swine flu was confusing, since the virus was circulating in people and was not being transmitted by swine (unlike the avian flu H5N1, which is passed primarily by birds), but it was instructive. It reminded us that new flu viruses begin not in people but in animals and that the first humans to be affected tend to be those who are in close contact with animals.

“猪流感”这种称法实在令人难以理解，因为这类病毒在人类中传播，而并不是由猪来传播（这点与禽流感的 H5N1病毒不同， H5N1主要是通过禽类之间相互传播），但是这一点也警惕了人类。新型流感病毒首先在动物身上发现，而并非在人类身上，但是，第一个感染病毒的患者实为经常与动物亲密接触。

16 That means the right kind of virological surveillance might be able to detect

potentially dangerous viruses while they’re still in animals and even stamp them out before they establish themselves in people. The problem is that animal health gets only a fraction of the funding and talent devoted to human health — the World Organization for Animal Health is a poor cousin to the World Health Organization — even though the two realms are intertwined.

这意味着如果对病毒严密监控，将很有可能将一些潜在的危险病毒只存在于动物体内时就将其消

灭，以阻止其日后进一步扩展到人类身上。现在的问题是，与人类健康研究相比，以动物的健康研究为由只能申请到一小部分资金和人才支持，尽管这两个组织之间相互依托，动物世界卫生组织也不过世界卫生组织的一个旁系分支机构。

17 Over the past seven years, H1N1, H5N1 and SARS have all emerged out of animals

to infect and kill human beings. That trend must be stemmed. One smart idea is the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, an NGO that monitors populations that are highly exposed to animals — such as hunters in Africa — in hopes of detecting new viruses as early as possible. “You need earlier and earlier capacity not to overlook the clinically evident cases that can reveal a new outbreak and give you maximum time for preparation,” says Institute of Medicine president Dr. Harvey Fineberg, who will lead an independent panel review of the WHO’s response to the H1N1 outbreak.

在过去的七年中，甲流，禽流感，非典型性肺炎这些流行传染病无不在威胁摧残着人类的生命。这种趋势必须得到有效的遏制。有人提出这样的想法，全球病毒预测行动组织，作为一个非政府组织密切监测那些与动物频繁接触的人群，比如非洲的狩猎者，以求当新型病毒出现时能够尽快监测到疫情。“你必须要具备极强的敏感性，不能忽略那些小诊所出现的简单病例，这些病例可能帮你预测到一场即将爆发的重大疫情，并给你提供最多的时间去应对。”作为一名曾经对世界卫生组织应对甲流爆发情况进行评测的独立领导者，美国医学研究院主席哈维.范伯格博士评论如上。