外刊精读：国际合作是抵抗疫情的关键

编者按：

不论是身处校园还是职场，英语都扮演着不可或缺的角色，而外刊是最好的学习资源。阅读外刊，可以积累地道的搭配，知晓我们熟悉的单词的不同用法，学习英语思维，同时了解世界。苗苗会选取《经济学人》《纽约时报》《时代周刊》等知名刊物上文章，与大家共同学习，探索英语学习方法，关注国际事件。

关于精读，苗苗有几个小建议：

1. 及时复习生词和词组搭配，反复记忆才能深入脑海；

2. 思考句与句、段与段之间的逻辑结构，观察作者是如何衔接句子和段落的；

3. 总结文章观点，日后可以用在写作中；

4. 看完一篇文章，可以凭记忆写一个文章概述或段落结构，尽量使用你从文章中学到的生词和搭配，可以巩固知识

……

剩下的，苗苗和大家一起探索。

大家想从外刊精读栏目学习到什么，欢迎留言～

段落结构：

Many people blame the coronavirus epidemic on globalization and say the only way to prevent more such outbreaks is to deglobalize the world: build walls, restrict travel, reduce trade. However, while short-term quarantine is essential to stop epidemics, long-term isolationism will lead to economic collapse without offering any real protection against infectious diseases. Just the opposite. The real antidote to epidemics is cooperation.

许多人把新冠病毒的流行归咎于全球化，并说防止更多这样爆发的唯一方法是去全球化：修建隔离墙、限制旅行、减少贸易。然而，尽管短期隔离对阻止疫情至关重要，长期的孤立主义将会导致经济崩溃，不会为抵抗传染病提供任何真正的帮助。恰好相反，抵抗流行病的真正手段是合作。

quarantine: 隔离；检疫。

economic collapse: 经济崩溃。Collapse本身有“（体系或机构）崩溃、瓦解”的意思。

【例句】The latter years of his time in office were marked by economic collapse and rights abuse. 在他执政的最后几年 到处都是经济崩溃和权利滥用的景象。

Just the opposite：恰恰相反，写作中可用于转折。

antidote: 缓解办法；对抗手段。

【例句】Regular exercise is the best antidote to tiredness and depression.经常锻炼是消除疲劳和抑郁的最好方法。

Epidemics killed millions of people long before the current age of globalization. In the 14th century, there were no airplanes or cruise ships, and yet the Black Death spread from East Asia to Western Europe in little more than a decade, killing at least a quarter of the population. In 1520, Mexico had no trains or even donkeys, yet it took only a year for a smallpox epidemic to decimate up to a third of its inhabitants. In 1918, a particularly virulent strain of flu managed to spread within a few months to the remotest corners of the world. It infected more than a quarter of the human species and killed tens of millions.

早在全球化时代之前，流行病已经杀死了数百万人了。在14世纪，那时候没有飞机或游船，但黑死病在不到十年的时间里从东亚穿绕到了西欧，杀死了世界上至少四分之一的人口。1520年，墨西哥没有火车，甚至没有驴子，但仅仅一年的时间，天花病便杀死了其将近三分之一的居民。1918年，一种特别致命的流感病毒在数月内成功传播到世界最偏远的角落。它感染了超过四分之一的人类，杀死了数千万人。

decimate: 大批杀死；大量毁灭。

【例句】The pollution could decimate the river's thriving population of kingfishers. 污染可能会造成河边大量繁殖的翠鸟大批死亡。

virulent: 致命的；剧毒的。

strain: (病菌的)类型;(植物或其他有机物的)系，品系，品种。

little more than，at least，up to，more than：这些词都可以用来形容数量，使表达更加准确。意思分别是“不超过”“至少”“接近；至多”“超过”。

In the century that passed since 1918, humankind has become ever more vulnerable to epidemics, because of a combination of growing populations and better transport. Today a virus can travel business class across the world in 24 hours and infect megacities of millions. We should therefore have expected to live in an infectious hell, with one deadly plague after another.

自1918年起一个世纪以来，由于人口增长和交通便利，人类更容易感染流行病。如今，病毒可以在24小时之内乘着商务舱传播到世界各地，并感染有着数百万人口的大城市。因此，我们本该预料到我们生活在一个有传染性的地狱里，有着一个接一个的致死瘟疫。

be vulnerable to: 易感染（某种疾病）的；易患病的。

megacity: 大城市（人口超过100万）。

should have done:

①本来应该（但实际没有），表示与过去实际情况相反的虚拟含义。本文就是该用法。

②对过去事情的推测。He should have arrived at the airport. 他应该已经到机场了。

③表示惊讶的情绪，竟然… I am surprised that he shouldn’t have passed the test. 他竟然没有通过考试，我很惊讶。一般should have done表示“竟然”时，都会跟随一些表示惊讶的形容词。

However, both the incidence and impact of epidemics have actually gone down dramatically. Despite horrendous outbreaks such as AIDS and Ebola, epidemics kill a far smaller proportion of humans in the 21st century than in any previous time since the Stone Age. This is because the best defense humans have against pathogens is not isolation; it is information. Humanity has been winning the war against epidemics because in the arms race between pathogens and doctors, pathogens rely on blind mutations while doctors rely on the scientific analysis of information.

但是实际上，流行病的发生率和影响力都大幅下降了。尽管发生了类似于艾滋和埃博拉这样的可怕疫情，21世纪流行病杀死的人口比例比自石器时代以来的任何时期都低多了。这是因为人类对病原体最佳防御不是隔离，而是信息。人类在和流行病的战争中一直获得胜利，因为在病原体和医生的军备竞赛中，病原体依赖盲目突变，而医生依赖信息的科学分析。

Incidence: （疾病等的）发生率。

Horrendous：糟糕的；可怕的。Horrendous suffering: 极大的痛苦。

Pathogen：病原体。

Mutation：作可数名词时，意为“（生物体的）突变”，作不可数名词时，意为“（基因的）突变”。

During the past century, scientists, doctors and nurses throughout the world have pooled information and together managed to understand both the mechanism behind epidemics and the means of countering them. The theory of evolution explained why and how new diseases erupt and old diseases become more virulent. Genetics enabled scientists to spy on the pathogens’ own instruction manual. Once scientists understood what causes epidemics, it became much easier to fight them. Vaccinations, antibiotics, improved hygiene and a much better medical infrastructure have allowed humanity to gain the upper hand over its invisible predators.

在过去的一个世纪里，全世界的科学家、医生和护士共享信息，并共同设法理解流行病背后的发病机制和应对方法。进化论解释了新疾病突然出现以及旧疾病变得更加致命的原因和方式。遗传学使科学家能够窥探病原体自己的使用说明书。一旦科学家了解了什么导致了流行病，抵御它们就变的容易多了。疫苗、抗生素、不断完善的卫生条件和更好的医疗设施都让人类在和无形的掠食者的斗争中占据上风。

Pool：共用，聚拢（资金、之时、设备等）。

【例句】Three schools in Putney have pooled their resources/money in order to buy an area of waste ground and turn it into a sports field. 派特尼的三所学校将其资源／资金集中起来购买一片废地，把它改建成运动场。

Counter: 反对；反抗。

Erupt：突然出现。

【例句】At the end of the second week, my skin erupted in pimples. 第二周周末，我的皮肤上突然出现了丘疹。

instruction manual：使用说明书。

Vaccination：疫苗。Vaccinate，动词，给…接种疫苗。

Antibiotic：抗生素。

Hygiene：（尤指为防止患病或疾病传播的）卫生。Personal hygiene：个人卫生。

the upper hand：优势；有利地位。

【例句】It was easy to see who had the upper hand. 不难看出谁占上风。

What does this history teach us for the current coronavirus epidemic? First, it implies that you cannot protect yourself by permanently closing your borders. Remember that epidemics spread rapidly even in the Middle Ages, long before the age of globalization. So even if you reduce your global connections to the level of a medieval kingdom, that still would not be enough. To really protect yourself through isolation, you would have to go back to the Stone Age. Can you do that?

这段历史对我们抵抗现在的冠状病毒有什么启示呢？首先，这暗示我们你不能通过永久关闭边境保护你自己。要记得早在全球化时代之前，甚至是中世纪，流行病已经扩散得很快了。所以，即使你将你的全球联系减少到中世纪王国的水平，这仍然不够。要想通过隔离真正保护自己，你必须回到石器时代。你能做到吗？

Medieval：中世纪的。

Second, history indicates that real protection comes from the sharing of reliable scientific information, and from global solidarity. When one country is struck by an epidemic, it should be willing to honestly share information about the outbreak without fear of economic catastrophe— while other nations should be able to trust that information, and should be willing to extend a helping hand rather than ostracize the victim.

第二，历史表明真正的保护来源于可靠科学信息的共享和全球团结。当一个国家遭受流行病的袭击时，它需要诚实地分享有关疫情爆发的信息，而不必担心经济灾难——而其他国家应该能够信任这些信息，并且应该伸出援手而不是排斥受害者。

Catastrophe: 重大灾难。

【例句】If the world is to avoid environmental catastrophe, advanced economies must undergo a profound transition. 世界若要想避免环境灾难，经济发达的国家必须进行深刻变革。

extend a helping hand：伸出援手。

【例句】The developed countries should therefore extend a helping hand to them.  发达国家应向发展中国家施以援手。

Ostracize：排斥；排挤。

【例句】His colleagues ostracized him after he criticized the company in public.他公开批评公司之后，同事们对他采取了排斥态度。

International cooperation is needed also for effective quarantine measures. Quarantine and lockdown are essential for stopping the spread of epidemics. But when countries distrust one another and each country feels that it is on its own, governments hesitate to take such drastic measures. If you discover 100 coronavirus cases in your country, would you immediately lock down entire cities and regions? To a large extent, that depends on what you expect from other countries. Locking down your own cities could lead to economic collapse. If you think other countries will then come to your aid, you will be more likely to adopt this drastic measure sooner.

有效的隔离措施也需要国际合作。隔离和封锁对于阻止流行病的传播至关重要。然而当国家彼此不信任，并且每个国家都感到孤立无援时，各国政府就会犹豫是否要采取强制措施。如果你在本国发现100例新冠病毒病例，你会立即封锁整个城市和地区吗？很大程度上，这取决于你对其他国家的期望。封城可能会导致经济崩溃。如果你认为其他国家会帮助你，你将更有可能尽早采取强制措施。

on one's own：独立地；独自地；主动地。adv.

drastic：激烈的，猛烈的。adj. 近义词：forceful。

drastic measures：严厉措施

【例句】Why haven’t urgent and drastic measures been taken?

lock down: 本义指“船过闸向下游驶去，过闸下驶”，引申义为“封锁”。lockdown为名词形式。

To a large extent：很大程度上。large作为形容词，还可以替换为certain、lesser等，表示“一定程度上”、“较小程度上”。

【例句】I think these talent shows have been commercialized to a large extent.

come to one's aid：帮助，助某人一臂之力。come for one's aid：请某人帮助。

【例句】One day you may be in great need and people you know will be more likely to come to your aid when they know that you would do the same for them.

Perhaps the most important thing people should realize about such epidemics is that the spread of an epidemic in any country endangers the entire human species. In the 1970s, humanity managed to completely eradicate the smallpox virus because all people in all nations were vaccinated against smallpox. If even one country failed to vaccinate its population, it could have endangered the whole of humankind, because as long as the smallpox virus existed and evolved somewhere, it could always spread again everywhere.

对于新冠肺炎这种流行病，人们也许应该意识到的最重要的事情是：流行病在任何国家的蔓延都威胁整个人类。20世纪70年代，由于每个国家所有人都接种了天花疫苗，人类彻底了根除天花病毒。倘若有一个国家没有为其人口接种疫苗，则可能危及全人类，因为只要天花病毒存在并在某个地方变异，它就可能再次在各地传播。

eradicate: 摧毁,完全根除。Vt & n

【例句】The disease has been eradicated from the world.

vaccinate:给…接种疫苗vt.；注射、接种疫苗。vi.

vaccination：接种疫苗。n

【例句】Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?

Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.

evolve：演变; 进化。vt. & vi.

evolve into发展成，进化成vt. evolve from由…进化v.

【例句】

The simple plan evolved into a complicated scheme.

Man was evolved from an ancestor that was probably arboreal.

In the fight against viruses, humanity needs to closely guard borders. But not the borders between countries. Rather, it needs to guard the border between the human world and the virus-sphere. Planet Earth is teeming with countless viruses, and new viruses are constantly evolving because of genetic mutations. The borderline separating this virus-sphere from the human world passes inside the body of each and every human being. If a dangerous virus manages to penetrate this border anywhere on earth, it puts the whole human species in danger.

在与病毒的斗争中，人类需要密切注意边界，但不是国家之间的边界。相反，需要警惕人类世界与病毒领域之间的边界。地球上的病毒不计其数，而且由于基因突变，新病毒也在不断进化。将该病毒与人类世界分隔开的边界线贯穿人体。如果危险病毒设法穿透地球上任何地方的边界，将会致使人类处于危险之中。

border：边界，多指国与国之间或两地区的分界处，即分界线附近的边缘部分。此处指人类世界与病毒领域之间的边界。

virus-sphere：球状病毒。Sphere：球体。n.

teem：①充满, 到处都是, 有很多vi.  teem with：富于，充满。

 ②(指水、雨等)暴降, 倾注

【例句】His mind is teeming with ideas.

Penetrate：①穿过, 刺入, 渗入vt. & vi.

【例句】The knife wound penetrated to the bone.

②了解

【例句】She could penetrate what I was thinking.

put XX in danger：将……置于危险之中。

Over the past century, humanity has fortified this border like never before. Modern health care systems have been built to serve as a wall on that border, and nurses, doctors and scientists are the guards who patrol it and repel intruders. However, long sections of this border have been left woefully exposed. There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who lack even basic health care services. This endangers all of us. We are used to thinking about health in national terms, but providing better health care for Iranians and Chinese helps protect Israelis and Americans too from epidemics. This simple truth should be obvious to everyone.

自上世纪以来，人类以前所未有的方式巩固了这个边界：建立了现代医疗保健系统来充当边界上的隔离墙，护士、医生和科学家是在区域巡逻和击退入侵者的守卫人。然而不幸的是，这个边界的很大部分地区被暴露在外。世界上数以百万人没有基本的医疗保障服务，这危及我们所有人。我们习惯从本国角度考虑医疗问题，但是为伊朗人和中国人提供更好的医疗服务有助于保护以色列人和美国人免于流行病的侵袭。对每个人来说，这么简单的事实显而易见。

fortify：加强，增强，设防于。vt. & vi.

patrol：巡逻；巡查。vt. & vi. 巡逻；巡逻队；侦察队。n.

repel：击退；抵制；排斥；使厌恶。vt.

【例句】Oil repels water.

Intruder：干扰者；侵入者。n.

【例句】Any intruders will be shot on sight.

woefully：悲哀地，令人遗憾地。adv.

be used to doing：习惯于。

Today, humanity faces an acute crisis not only because of the coronavirus, but also because of the lack of trust between humans. To defeat an epidemic, people need to trust scientific experts, citizens need to trust public authorities, and countries need to trust one another.Over the past few years, irresponsible politicians have deliberately undermined trust in science, in public authorities and in international cooperation. As a result, we are now facing this crisis bereft of global leaders who can inspire, organize and finance a coordinated global response.

当下，人类不仅要应对新冠病毒引发的危机，而且还面临严重的信任危机。为了战胜这场流行病，人们需要信任科学家；公民需要信任政府当局；各国需要彼此信任。在过去的几年里，不负责任的政治家故意破坏了人们对科学、政府当局和国际合作的信任。导致我们现在正面临如此危机：全球缺少可以激发、制定和资助协调一致应对策略的领导者。

one another：彼此，互相。

Undermined：在某物下挖洞或挖通道;，侵蚀…的基础；暗中破坏; 逐渐削弱。vt.

【例句】Nothing can undermine their fast friendship.

bereft of：缺少，丧失。

【例句】They are bereft of their dignity.

coordinated：协调一致的。

【例句】The sound has to be coordinated with the picture.

During the 2014 Ebola epidemic, the U.S. served as that kind of leader. The U.S. fulfilled a similar role also during the 2008 financial crisis, when it rallied behind enough countries to prevent a global economic meltdown. But in recent years the U.S. has resigned its role as global leader. The cur- rent U.S. Administration has cut support for inter- national organizations and has made it very clear to the world that the U.S. no longer has any real friends, only interests.

在2014年埃博拉疫情期间，美国曾是这样的领导者。2008年金融危机期间，美国在也起了类似的作用，当时它联合足够多的国家，以防止全球经济熔断。但是近年来，美国辞去了其全球领导者的角色。美国现任政府削减了对国际组织的支持并向世界表明，美国不再拥有任何真正的朋友，只有利益。

rally：重整；恢复；团结。vt. & vi.  集会。n.

meltdown：融化，此处引申为“经济熔断”。

resign as：辞去……职位。

【例句】Streiff resigns as CEO of Airbus.

The void left by the U.S. has not been filled by anyone else. Xenophobia, isolationism and distrust now characterize most of the international system. Without trust and global solidarity, we will not be able to stop the coronavirus epidemic.

美国留下的空白尚未被其他任何人填补。排外心理、孤立主义和不信任成为如今国际社会秩序的特征。没有信任和全球团结，我们将无法阻止新冠病毒的肆虐。

Void: 空白。该词还有“空虚感；失落感”的意思。

【例句】She stood at the edge of the chasm and stared into the void.她站在裂缝的边缘凝视着下面的深渊。

They tried to describe their attempts to fill the void left by their son's death.他们竭力想要描述他们曾如何试图填补儿子死后留下的空虚感。

Xenophobia：对外国人的憎恶，恐惧；仇外。n.

Isolationism：孤立主义。n.

If this epidemic results in greater disunity and mistrust among humans, it will be the virus’ greatest victory. When humans squabble, viruses double. In contrast, if the epidemic results in closer global cooperation, it will be a victory not only against the coronavirus, but against all future pathogens.

如果新冠肺炎这种流行病导致人类之间更大的不团结和不信任，那将是此种病毒最大的胜利。当人类吵架时，病毒会加倍。相反，如果这种流行病带来更紧密的全球合作，那么它将不仅是对抗冠状病毒的胜利，也是对抗所有未来病原体的胜利。

Disunity：不统一；不和。

squabble：（为小事而）争论, 吵嘴。vi.

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