VOA标准英语2012--Activists Urge Lifting of HIV Travel Bans
时间：2018-12-16 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(八月)
Activists 1 Urge Lifting of HIV Travel Bans
Marma Palma is an Aboriginal 2 HIV/AIDS advocate from New Zealand who has been living with the virus for 19 years. She defiantly 3 traveled to the U.S. six times while the entry ban for HIV-positive persons was in place. She says her status is a personal matter and no business of any government.
"There [are] only three ways of getting HIV," said Palma. "You can only get it from unprotected sex or sharing needles or mother-to-child transmission. And I am not going to do either of those three things while I am in America. And I felt quite offended that I had to declare that I had HIV."
The U.S. lifted the ban two years ago. There are currently 46 countries that apply some restrictions 4 on HIV-positive people. Many travel bans were put into place in the early days of the epidemic 5 when little was known about the virus.
Advocates argue the restrictions are unnecessary and violate basic human rights.
"Travel bans are bad public policy because they only make people hide who they are," noted 6 Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV Legal Network. "And they also keep people who are key to the HIV response from actually being able to come to a conference like this one and be a part of the fight against AIDS globally."
Michelle Tobin, from Australia, applauds the U.S. for lifting the travel ban. Tobin declared her status to U.S. immigration in 2006 while in transit 7 through Los Angeles to Canada and was pulled aside for questioning.
"To justify 8 the reasons for me being in that particular country, it wasn't a nice feeling," recalled Tobin. "It was like you are being treated like a criminal."
But two questions on U.S. visa applications have come under scrutiny 9. One asks if the applicant 10 has ever been a drug user or addict 11. The other asks: have you engaged in prostitution in the past 10 years? Advocates say drug users and sex workers are an important part of the fight against HIV and should be allowed in the country.
Quincy McEwan, a transgender sex worker advocate from Guyana, says the questions discouraged many of her friends from attending the conference.
"They already knew that there is a system in place that if they were going to get the visa, if they were going to put sex worker on it, they would not have gotten the visa," McEwan said.
Advocates argue today's treatments allow HIV-positive people to live normal lives. In many cases, new drug regimens make the virus undetectable in a patients' blood, making transmission unlikely.
- 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》
- They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
- The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。
- Braving snow and frost, the plum trees blossomed defiantly. 红梅傲雪凌霜开。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
- a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
- 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。
- The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
- Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
- His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
- The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。
- He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
- Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？
- His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
- Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。