文章简介：这次选了一篇时代周刊的文章，同学们可以体会下美国人的文章风格有哪些不同。

Health

The surprising virulence of this year’s flu

摘自TIME December 25 2017

YOU have to hand it to the influenza virus. For something that’s invisible to the human eye, it certainly has a way of grabbing our attention and anxiety—not just once in a blue moon but every year, winter after winter.

This season the potentially deadly virus is in rare form. Public-health experts are predicting that this year’s flu will be severe for several reasons. Cases are starting up early, which is one indicator of an aggressive virus. Another worry: Australia’s flu season typically augurs that of the U.S., and so far this year, Australia recorded 21⁄2 times as many cases, compared to the same period last year. What’s more, experts report that the flu vaccine, designed to inoculate hundreds of millions of people, may not be as effective as they’d hoped.

Normally in severe flu seasons like this one, the reasons for the suffering are pretty straightforward. Flu vaccines have long been manufactured in a decades-old process that involves growing the influenza virus in millions of chicken eggs, over a period of about four months. That means flu-shot manufacturers need a head start. Every year in the spring, influenza experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) make their best educated guess, based on the previous year’s flu cases, about which strains of the virus will make the rounds in the coming winter. Sometimes they nail it. But sometimes they don’t—and entirely different strains circulate that make people sick.

The virus can also mutate quickly, so by the time the vaccines are doled out, the bugs people are spreading through sneezes and coughs may be different from the ones you were vaccinated against.

That leads to more people catching the flu, even if they are immunized, and getting sick. (Flu-related illnesses can also be deadly, claiming up to 600,000 people per year globally.)

This year, there seems to be something else going on. The viruses in the vaccine are similar to the virus that people are encountering from other sick people. Theoretically, it should then offer good protection against catching the flu.

But it isn’t. Why? For the first time, there is evidence that the way flu shots are made may be contributing to lower effectiveness. Because public-health officials have to guess which versions of the flu will cause disease, they hedge their bets and include several strains in the shot. This year’s shot includes H1N1, H3N2 and an influenza B. Flu viruses are not easy to grow in chicken eggs, so to help the process along, researchers make minor changes to the virus. Those changes, says Brendan Flannery, an epidemiologist in the influenza division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), may be making the H3N2 strain in particular less potent—which would limit the immune response it triggers in the body. Since that immune response is critical to how vaccines work, this could lead to people remaining susceptible to that particular strain of flu going around—even if they got their flu shot.

“There is evidence that growing the vaccine virus in eggs resulted in changes that altered the vaccine’s effectiveness,” he says. When researchers compared the H3N2 strain from infected people with the original H3N2 reference strain designated by the WHO, they did not find many differences. But when they compared the virus in infected people to the vaccine virus that was grown in eggs, they saw changes. Says Flannery: “The take-home message is that vaccine production, growing the virus in eggs, can cause some of the problems we are seeing.”

Scientists are trying to shift away from egg- based vaccine production, but they haven’t found a reliable alternative method yet. Even a new form of vaccination, a nasal spray that was introduced in 2003, is no longer recommended by the CDC, after it seemed to offer less protection against another strain, H1N1, compared with the shots.

So should you try to survive the season without getting vaccinated? That’s not a good idea, say leading experts, since even if the vaccine is not effective against one strain, it will still protect you against other strains that may be making the rounds. And that’s important, especially for preventing transmission of flu among people with weaker or less developed immune systems, such as infants, the sick and the elderly. When it comes to viruses, the science is clear: some protection is better than none.

文章推荐：本文主题是健康，关于流感的一篇文章。健康这类社会话题雅思考试阅读，听力甚至是写作都可能涉及到，而且难度不大，大家可以好好阅读一下。

YOU have to hand it to the influenza virus. For something that’s invisible to the human eye, it certainly has a way of grabbing our attention and anxiety—not just once in a blue moon but every year, winter after winter.

· have to hand it to…不得不佩服

原文例句：

You have to hand it to the influenza virus.

你不得不佩服流感病毒。

注：区分influence & influenza

· grabbing our attention 吸引注意

· once in a blue moon 非常罕见，难得有一次

e.g. Mary and I tried to grab their attention by raising our tone, but it didn't work.

Marry和我试图提高声调吸引她们的注意，但不起作用。

You should be grateful for the extra job offer. Things like that come along only once in a blue moon.

你应该对额外的工作机会抱有感激之心：这样的事可是极其难得。

原文例句：

For something that’s invisible to the human eye, it certainly has a way of grabbing our attention and anxiety—not just once in a blue moon but every year, winter after winter.

翻译：对于这种人眼看不见的东西来讲，流感病毒总有办法吸引到我们的注意力并引起焦虑，而且并不是很少见，而是每年冬天如此。

This season the potentially deadly virus is in rare form. Public-health experts are predicting that this year’s flu will be severe for several reasons. Cases are starting up early, which is one indicator of an aggressive virus. Another worry: Australia’s flu season typically augurs that of the U.S., and so far this year, Australia recorded 21⁄2 times as many cases, compared to the same period last year. What’s more, experts report that the flu vaccine, designed to inoculate hundreds of millions of people, may not be as effective as they’d hoped.

· aggressive 有攻击性的

e.g. Teachers apparently expect a certain amount of aggressive behaviour from boys.

老师显然料到男孩子多少会有些好勇斗狠的行为。

原文例句：

Cases are starting up early, which is one indicator of an aggressive virus.

(流感)病情开始地较早，表明一种攻击性很强的病毒

· vaccine n.疫苗

e.g. rabies vaccine 狂犬病疫苗

· inoculate v.接种(疫苗)

e.g. All the children had been inoculated against hepatitis.

所有孩子都注射了肝炎预防针。

原文例句：

What’s more, experts report that the flu vaccine, designed to inoculate hundreds of millions of people, may not be as effective as they’d hoped.

翻译：此外，研究报道认为旨在为上亿人接种流感疫苗，也许并非他们所希望的有效。

Normally in severe flu seasons like this one, the reasons for the suffering are pretty straightforward. Flu vaccines have long been manufactured in a decades-old process that involves growing the influenza virus in millions of chicken eggs, over a period of about four months. That means flu-shot manufacturers need a head start. Every year in the spring, influenza experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) make their best educated guess, based on the previous year’s flu cases, about which strains of the virus will make the rounds in the coming winter. Sometimes they nail it. But sometimes they don’t—and entirely different strains circulate that make people sick.

· severe 严峻的，很严重的，恶劣的

e.g. severe weather conditions 恶劣的天气情况

· manufacture v.制造，生产

· flu-shot 流感疫苗，预防针

· a head start起步时的优势,优势，领先

e.g. A good education gives your child a head start in life.

良好的教育会让你的孩子在人生的起跑线上比别人领先一步。

· make an educated guess 有根据的推测

相关词：

make a wild guess 瞎猜

· strain n.(病菌的)类型;担忧，焦虑，压力

· make the rounds 串门拜访

e.g. Whenever we went back to the place where my husband was born, we always had to make the rounds of his relatives.

每次去我丈夫出生的地方，我们总是一家家拜访他的亲戚。

原文例句：

Every year in the spring, influenza experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) make their best educated guess, based on the previous year’s flu cases, about which strains of the virus will make the rounds in the coming winter.

翻译：每年春天，世界卫生组织的都会根据往年流感病例，就来年冬天哪些类型的病毒会‘拜望’我们(的问题)做出的猜测，

The virus can also mutate quickly, so by the time the vaccines are doled out, the bugs people are spreading through sneezes and coughs may be different from the ones you were vaccinated against. That leads to more people catching the flu, even if they areimmunized, and getting sick. (Flu-related illnesses can also be deadly, claiming up to 600,000 people per year globally.)

· mutate v.(基因)突变

mutation n.突变(现象)

mutant n.变异体

· dole out 发放

原文例句：(句子较长，理解时可能会有点难度)

The virus can also mutate quickly, so by the time the vaccines are doled out, the bugspeople are spreading through sneezes and coughs may be different from the ones you were vaccinated against.

翻译：病毒可能变异地很快，因而截止到疫苗被发放完，人们通过打喷嚏及咳嗽传播的疾病可能就跟你注射疫苗所防疫的疾病不一样了。

注：此句当中bug为疾病的意思。

· immunize v.使免疫

immune adj.免疫的

immunity n.免疫力

e.g. All parents should have their children immunized.

所有父母都应给孩子打疫苗。

This year, there seems to be something else going on. The viruses in the vaccine are similar to the virus that people are encountering from other sick people. Theoretically, it should then offer good protection against catching the flu. But it isn’t. Why? For the first time, there is evidence that the way flu shots are made may be contributing to lower effectiveness. Because public-health officials have to guess which versions of the flu will cause disease, they hedge their bets and include several strains in the shot. This year’s shot includes H1N1, H3N2 and an influenza B. Flu viruses are not easy to grow in chicken eggs, so to help the process along, researchers make minor changes to the virus. Those changes, says Brendan Flannery, an epidemiologist in the influenza division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), may be making the H3N2 strain in particular less potent—which would limit the immune response it triggers in the body. Since that immune response is critical to how vaccines work, this could lead to people remaining susceptible to that particular strain of flu going around—even if they got their flu shot.

· encounter v.遇到

原文例句：

The viruses in the vaccine are similar to the virus that people are encountering from other sick people.

翻译： 疫苗中的病毒与人们从其他病人身上遇到的病毒相似。

· contribute to 导致(=lead to)

原文例句：

For the first time, there is evidence that the way flu shots are made may be contributing to lower effectiveness.

翻译：有证据证明流感疫苗的制作方式可能导致更低的效度。

· hedge one’s bets两边下注避免损失

原文例句：

Because public-health officials have to guess which versions of the flu will cause disease, they hedge their bets and include several strains in the shot.

翻译：由于公共卫生的官员不得不猜测那种类型的流感导致疾病，所以他们两头下注- 在疫苗当中放了好几种类型(的病毒)。

· epidemiologist流行病学家

原文例句(长难句,句子结构不复杂，插入语可能会影响理解)

Those changes, says Brendan Flannery, an epidemiologist in the influenza division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), may be making the H3N2 strain in particular less potent—which would limit the immune response it triggers in the body.

翻译：CDC(疾病控制及预防中心)流感部门的流行病Brendan Flannery表示，这些变化可能会使特别是H3N2类型的病毒不那么强大，而这将会限制该病毒在体内所引发的免疫反应。

· susceptible易得病的;易受影响的(=vulnerable)

be susceptible/vulnerable to

“There is evidence that growing the vaccine virus in eggs resulted in changes that altered the vaccine’s effectiveness,” he says. When researchers compared the H3N2 strain from infected people with the original H3N2 reference strain designated by the WHO, they did not find many differences. But when they compared the virus in infected people to the vaccine virus that was grown in eggs, they saw changes. Says Flannery: “The take-home message is that vaccine production, growing the virus in eggs, can cause some of the problems we are seeing.

· designate v.指定，指派

e.g. The lake was recently designated a conservation area.

这个湖最近被指定为保护区。

· take-home message 重点信息

Scientists are trying to shift away from egg-based vaccine production, but they haven’t found a reliable alternative method yet. Even a new form of vaccination, anasal spray that was introduced in 2003, is no longer recommended by the CDC, after it seemed to offer less protection against another strain, H1N1, compared with the shots.

· alternative adj.可替代的,供选择的

原文例句：

Scientists are trying to shift away from egg-based vaccine production, but they haven’t found a reliable alternative method yet.

翻译：科学家们正试图转变用鸡蛋生产疫苗的方法，但是他们还没有找到一个可靠的替代方案。

· nasal spray鼻用喷雾

· recommend v.推荐

So should you try to survive the season without getting vaccinated? That’s not a good idea, say leading experts, since even if the vaccine is not effective against one strain, it will still protect you against other strains that may be making the rounds. And that’s important, especially for preventing transmission of flu among people with weaker or less developed immune systems, such as infants, the sick and the elderly. When it comes to viruses, the science is clear: some protection is better than none.

· 精选句子：

That’s not a good idea, say leading experts, since even if the vaccine is not effective against one strain, it will still protect you against other strains that may be making the rounds.

翻译：权威表示，那(不接种疫苗)不是个好主意，因为即使疫苗对于某种类型的病毒无效，它还是会保护你免受那些可能会来‘拜望’我们的其他病毒。

· transmission 传播

transmit v.传播,传授

e.g. Mathematical knowledge is transmitted from teacher to student.

数学知识由教师传授给学生。

原文例句：

And that’s important, especially for preventing transmission of flu among people with weaker or less developed immune systems, such as infants, the sick and the elderly.

(接种疫苗)非常重要，特别是在预防流感在免疫系统较弱或不完善的人群来说尤为重要，比如婴儿，病人以及老人等。

单词回顾：

hand it to… 佩服

grab one’s attention 吸引注意力

once in a blue moon 极为少见

aggressive 有攻击性的

vaccine n.疫苗

inoculate v.接种疫苗

immunize v.使免疫

severe 严峻的，严重的

make an educated guess 有根据的猜测

make the rounds 拜访

hedge one’s bets 两头下注

contribute to 导致

be susceptible to …易感染，易受…影响的

dole out 发放

take-home message 重要信息

mutate v.基因突变

transmission n.传播

influenza 流感

flu shot 流感疫苗

本文作者简介：

王少娟

上海新航道雅思主讲，上海外国语大学教育技术学硕士。对综合英语的阅读教学有深入的研究，教授了数百名学生均取得了优异的英语成绩。讲解细致、逻辑清晰、课堂活跃，丰富的教学经验能帮助学生在学习中和练习中能够更有效的提高英语能力。

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