疾病消失

Disease be gone!

常速 | 六级（中等）| 797词 | 4min59s

刘立军供稿

Part I. QUESTIONS

Listen to the news and choose the best answer to each question you hear.

Q1. What question does the host ask at the beginning of the episode?

A. How many diseases have been eradicated by WHO?  

B. Which disease can no one get anymore due to global efforts?  

C. What tools are needed to eliminate tropical diseases?  

D. How can individuals contribute to disease elimination?  

Q2. What is the main topic of the episode?

A. The global efforts to eliminate diseases.  

B. The history of smallpox eradication.  

C. The role of vaccines in disease control.  

D. The challenges of eradicating polio.  

Q3. What has been achieved regarding malaria elimination?

A. Thirty-two countries are close to eliminating malaria.  

B. Fifty countries have eradicated malaria through vaccination.  

C. Forty-five countries have eliminated malaria with available tools.  

D. Forty-four countries have eliminated malaria in the last five years.  

Q4. What is required at the local level to eliminate a disease?

A. Support from village chiefs and communities.  

B. Financial aid from international organizations.  

C. Advanced medical technologies and vaccines.  

D. Collaboration with local agriculture departments.  

Q5. Why does Dr. Jérôme emphasize the global commitment to disease elimination?

A. Because vaccination campaigns require international funding.  

B. Because rich countries have more resources to fight diseases.  

C. Because governments need to prioritize tropical diseases.  

D. Because diseases in distant regions can eventually affect everyone.  

Part II. TRANSCRIPT

Disease be gone!

VGS: Countries are eliminating diseases all over the world. In fact, in the last five years alone, forty-four eliminations have been confirmed by WHO. (Q1) There’s one disease that because of the global effort, no one can get anymore. Do you know which one it is? If yes, please write it down in the comments and we’ll talk about it in this episode. (Q2) We’re talking about disease elimination today. What does it take to eliminate a disease on the ground? And what needs to happen before WHO can confirm a disease that a disease has been eliminated? We’re talking to Dr Jérôme Salomon. Welcome, Jérôme. Jérôme, what are these diseases that have been eliminated in the past five years?

JS: So, many diseases, like tropical diseases have already been eliminated. Fifty countries, for example, have already eliminated at least one Neglected Tropical Disease. So that’s a huge success because it’s a very heavy burden for the populations. (Q3) Malaria, forty-five countries have already eliminated malaria, thanks to all the tools that are available. Vector controls, insecticides, bed nets, chemical prophylaxis treatment, and now we have two vaccines to protect children. Important point, we want to protect, for example, pregnant women who can transmit infections to their babies, of HIV, hepatitis B, syphilis. We are working with many countries to eliminate this vertical transmission of very important diseases. And something that, maybe, a lot of women don’t know, we can prevent cervical cancer thanks to vaccination. You know, we have a lot of examples and we are very, very hopeful that we will eliminate thirty two diseases in the next decade.

malaria n. 疟疾  

vector n. 媒介（指传播疾病的生物或物体）  

insecticide n. 杀虫剂  

prophylaxis n. 预防措施；预防治疗  

hepatitis n. 肝炎  

syphilis n. 梅毒

VGS: So what needs to happen on the ground for a disease to be eliminated and for WHO to confirm that it has indeed been eliminated?

JS: When we say ‘elimination’ it’s eliminating a disease as a public health problem, as a public health concern in a region or in a country. It’s a huge work because we need a strong political commitment, coming from the head of state and ministries of course. WHO is helping a lot in terms of technical assistance and guidance. We are working together with education department, with agriculture department, with environment, because it’s global health, it’s a one health approach. (Q4) And then the local level is the most important one because we need to have the villages, the chiefs of the villages, the communities, involved and engaged. We also need NGO’s, we need the strong voices of people with lived experience. We need the young people to also be very committed to explain, to share their experiences, to adapt the tools to all the populations because we need to work without any stigma, without any discriminations and we need all the populations to be fully engaged. We have a very important report to WHO and then WHO can certify. Take a very concrete example, the polio eradication campaign. We need all the populations to be vaccinated. So it’s very important because we are very close to eradication of polio. We have to keep in mind, that the efforts should be strong and we never stop surveillance and having in mind that the virus could be back.

polio n. 小儿麻痹症  

vaccinate v. 给……接种疫苗  

VGS: So when we eliminate polio, does that mean it will be like smallpox, gone forever?

smallpox n. 天花

JS: So it’s important to remember that smallpox is the only human disease that has been eradicated? It was in 1980, so it was forty-five years ago and we are still trying to eradicate a second disease, maybe Guinea worm or polio.

Guinea n. 几内亚（地名）

VGS: Jérôme, what can individuals and communities do to support disease elimination?

JS: They can do a lot. Sometimes we could say, well, neglected tropical diseases or some of these diseases are not concerning because I am very far away. I’m a thousand kilometers away. I’m living in a rich country, that is not affected. (Q5) Which is the wrong idea, because it’s like a fire. You could say, well the fire is far away from my house, I don’t need to call the fireman. But, in fact, you could wait and then the fire will affect your house. So having this global behaviour, meaning we are all committed, we are all affected. I think, even individuals in rich countries could really convince their governments that we need global health architecture, that we need a global health surveillance and we need a global commitment to fight communicable disease and tropical disease. You can be strong ambassadors of public health, sharing messages, teaching people, reaching the unreachable, of your communities. We are living on a very small planet, it’s a small village, we all have a role to play.

communicable adj. 可传染的；可传播的  

VS: Thank you, Jérôme. That was Science in 5 today. Until next time then, stay safe, stay healthy and stick with science.

Part III. KEY

Q1. B.【解析】细节题。根据“There’s one disease that because of the global effort, no one can get anymore. Do you know which one it is?”，可知主持人在节目开头提出的问题是“有一种疾病由于全球的努力，没有人再会患上了。你知道是哪种疾病吗？”，因此，正确答案为B。

Q2. A.【解析】主旨题。根据“We’re talking about disease elimination today. What does it take to eliminate a disease on the ground? And what needs to happen before WHO can confirm a disease that a disease has been eliminated?”，可知主持人开篇即点出核心是谈论疾病消除。要在公众中消除一种疾病需要什么？在世卫组织确认一种疾病已被消除之前需要做些什么？因此，正确答案为A。

Q3.C.【解析】细节题。根据“Malaria, forty-five countries have already eliminated malaria, thanks to all the tools that are available.”，可知已有45个国家消除了疟疾，这得益于现有的各类工具。因此，正确答案为C。

Q4. A.【解析】细节题。根据“And then the local level is the most important one because we need to have the villages, the chiefs of the villages, the communities, involved and engaged.”，可知地方层面是最重要的，因为我们需要村庄、村长和社区的参与和投入。因此，正确答案为A。

Q5. D.【解析】推理题。根据“Which is the wrong idea, because it’s like a fire. You could say, well the fire is far away from my house, I don’t need to call the fireman. But, in fact, you could wait and then the fire will affect your house.”，可知Jérôme博士用“火灾”作比喻，说明看似遥远地区的疾病，最终会像火灾一样波及所有人，因此，正确答案为D。

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