VOA慢速英语2009年-Agriculture Report - Group Works to Expand
时间:2019-01-11 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2009年(十一)月
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
A cow with East Coast fever
Each year a million cows in Africa die from East Coast fever. The disease is spread by tick bites. Young cows are most at risk; they can die within days. Farmers and herders can lose up to half or more of their calves 1 to East Coast fever.
The disease is widespread in eleven countries. And experts say it now threatens ten million more animals in new areas including southern Sudan.
Researchers first developed an experimental vaccine 2 against East Coast fever thirty years ago. The vaccine works by a process called "infection and treatment." The animals are infected with whole parasites 3 and treated with antibiotics 4 at the same time. This keeps the disease from developing.
Controlling East Coast fever has meant a better life in areas that have gotten the vaccine. For example, the vaccine has been available to a group of Maasai herders in northern Tanzania for about seven years. They used to lose three-fourths of their newborn calves each year. Now, most survive. As a result, many people have extra cattle to sell, and use the money to pay for school for their children.
Young Maasai herding 5 cattle
But making the vaccine more widely available -- especially in rural areas -- has been difficult. Farmers have been using supplies produced in the nineteen nineties. Recently there was a shortage. The International Livestock 6 Research Institute made one million doses at the request of African officials. But that supply is only temporary. Another problem is that the vaccine must be kept extremely cold.
Now, the nonprofit Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines is trying to expand production and lower the cost. GALVmed spokesman Hameed Nuru says mobile phones have helped lower some barriers to distribution.
HAMEED NURU: "Now, with the advent 7 of cellular 8 technology, most of the people we do reach, such as the Maasai pastoralists, they all have cell phones. And they now call the delivery agent who can now come and meet them at a particular place and do the vaccination 9 for them."
The vaccine is not cheap. But Hameed Nuru says the herders get together to sell a bull and use the money to vaccinate 10 all their animals. They understand that they are getting value for their money: A cow is worth nearly twice as much if it is vaccinated 11.
A goal is to have local people develop businesses supplying the vaccine.
HAMEED NURU: "People are now seeing that they can actually make a business from supplying this vaccine and getting out to the very rural areas where there is a market for this."
The efforts are supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the British government.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture report, written by Jerilyn Watson with additional reporting by Steve Baragona. I'm Bob Doughty 12.
- a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
- The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- 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。
- These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的,而与寄生虫无关。
- Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。
- the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
- The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。
- The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
- They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。
- Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
- The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。
- Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
- The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。
- She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
- Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。
- Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
- Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。
- Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样,当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
- Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。
- 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?