时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(六月)


英语课

By Brian Padden
Alaska
30 June 2006
 
Watch Avian Report


They face no passport controls or border police. They come unchecked by the thousands, and because they do, authorities in the United States fear they could be a potentially lethal 1 threat. They are migratory 2 birds that wing their way from Asia to the Americas, the feared source of a possible continental 3 pandemic. So far there have been no confirmed cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu in North America and U.S. health officials want to keep it that way. In a new effort to prevent the disease from reaching America's shores, the U.S. government has started testing wild birds in Alaska. VOA's Brian Padden was there and has this exclusive broadcast report.


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Chris Nicoli 
  
The Yukon Delta 4 National Wildlife Refuge is a remote and desolate 5 region of the Alaskan tundra 6. It is here that wild birds from both Asia and America come to feed and nest during the summer months. Scientists fear these nesting grounds might just be the gateway 7 through which a deadly strain of avian flu enters the Americas.  


So it is here that biologists such as Chris Nicoli have been dispatched to catch and test birds for avian flu.  He is participating in a U.S. government-sponsored early warning detection program that will test more than 15,000 birds in Alaska this summer. 



Brant Goose
  
  
The Brant Goose is one of the prime suspects being targeted for testing. An area near the Tutakote River is a nesting ground for Brant Geese and Eider ducks, two of the 27 species being tested throughout the state.  


Bob Leddy is coordinating 8 the avian flu early warning surveillance program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska.


"The virus itself is often passed through water and where birds mingle 9 in water," Leddy said. "The species we're looking for here in the Tutakote field camp are primarily Brant, Common Eider and Spectacle Eider. These birds were chosen because they have regular known contact with Asia and may bring the disease back here."  


The biologists test mostly mother birds because they are easier to catch. They either use snap traps placed over a nest of eggs, then wait for the mother bird to return. Or they try to sneak 10 up on a nesting bird using a hand net.


 
Jim Sedinger 
  
Biologist Jim Sedinger with the University of Nevada at Reno has been studying birds in Alaska for more than 20 years. He says what scientists already know about migratory patterns can help them identify and contain a possible outbreak.


"These Brant here mostly go to California and Mexico," he said. "If we found a positive Brant for example, you wouldn't immediately be concerned about poultry 11 in Nebraska."  


So far, no avian flu has been found in the wild birds tested in Alaska. In fact, some in the scientific community say the threat of wild birds spreading the disease has been overstated. Still, Bob Leddy says developing this surveillance network has been critical.


 
Bob Leddy
  
"We know very little about the transmission of avian influenza 12 among populations of birds and then certainly from birds to humans.  We will have many, many samples," Leddy said. "We will ultimately be testing for all strains of avian influenza and we'll have a much better understanding of its prevalence in different species, we'll start to learn about transmission."   


The more biologists learn about transmission, the more effectively this new type of border guard can protect a concerned public from H5N1, the deadly strain of avian flu



1 lethal
adj.致死的;毁灭性的
  • A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
  • She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。
2 migratory
n.候鸟,迁移
  • Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
  • This does not negate the idea of migratory aptitude.这并没有否定迁移能力这一概念。
3 continental
adj.大陆的,大陆性的,欧洲大陆的
  • A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
  • The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。
4 delta
n.(流的)角洲
  • He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
  • The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔,形成了一个三角洲。
5 desolate
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂
  • The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
  • We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后,我们都觉得万分孤寂。
6 tundra
n.苔原,冻土地带
  • The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区,是世界最高的地方。
  • There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。
7 gateway
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法
  • Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
  • A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。
8 coordinating
v.使协调,使调和( coordinate的现在分词 );协调;协同;成为同等
  • He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
  • He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的,难道我们不去请他? 来自电影对白
9 mingle
vt.使混合,使相混;vi.混合起来;相交往
  • If we mingle with the crowd,we should not be noticed.如果我们混在人群中,就不会被注意到。
  • Oil will not mingle with water.油和水不相融。
10 sneak
vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝);偷偷摸摸做;n.潜行;adj.暗中进行
  • He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
  • I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。
11 poultry
n.家禽,禽肉
  • There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
  • What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?
12 influenza
n.流行性感冒,流感
  • They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
  • Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。
学英语单词
acanthoidine
adjacent line
air-breather
ambiguohypoglossal
avoking
bestower
buffer reagent
buy-and-holds
catanator
caveling
chlordan
cost-reimbursement
de-activation
Deinotherioidea
democratic values
desoxypyridoxine
dexamethasones
diameter of working disk
diatonic auxiliary note
discretamine
domain magnetization
double-layer fluorescent screen
dropper plate of free grain
Drusze
dynamicize
editon
elbow equivalent
electrode-travel motor
embraced
endomycopsis hordel
Engler viscosimeter
fairwells
fang-likest
fawns on
federal radio act 1927
fling oneself into the breach
fluoroolefin
free-taking
general staff
grinding media charge
hachi
hard-fightings
Hatsukaichi
HRST
ignition of precipitate
inverse mercator
iodine trap
jM-factor
karhunen loeve transform (klt)
kemerer
laughing-eyed
liege poustie
light-alloy armo(u)r
Longué-Jumelles
lophocoronids
Louis Henri
market chaotic
multistage linear amplifier
Narfeyri
Ngoso
octuplex
optical fiber ribbons
organised-crimes
pass in a program
pelviroentgenography
photoelectrocatalytic reactor
phrenemphraxis
polar moments of inertia
portcullised
practice range
prevelar
primordisl endoderm cells
reave
Rectocillin
residual concentration
Riemann upper integral
rifle shot
safo
saltations
screw-tap
sebiferic acid
second anchor
short-lived asset
sleight-of-hand
sniol
sound-barriers
speed change control
stalk extractor
structurality
Tharrawaw
thirst bucket
thoughted
three-dimensional imaging
throw dust in someone's eyes
transnationally
unwed mother
vel non
voiced sounds
votes down
well-customed
wharfies
wrecking