寄生草莓的英文俱樂部

原文請見：Why Zika Is This Year’s Scary Virus

這是給中級閱讀班小孩的上課材料。

上學期使用的教材是這一套的第五冊。

在重點式帶過這本課本的一些輕量級的文章之後，文法也跑完了一圈了，這學期給孩子們一些比較中量級的東西。

前些日子剛好茲卡的疫情發燒，就給孩子們看一些跟茲卡有關的文章。

這篇文章對小學的孩子而言份量不輕，語法的部分，雖然不像經濟學人那樣充滿了修飾性的構句方式，但是仍然有一些比較需要斟酌的文體，單字的部分也有一些屬於領域性的單字，對孩子們而言是個滿有挑戰的東西。

上過了兩堂，覺得成果還不錯，以這種巴拉巴拉字一大堆而且又沒有附加音頻的文章，在上過一堂以後，上過的兩段，孩子竟然都能夠朗讀，說真的，這種功力連我都要有點拜服了。現在的小孩還真的有點了不起。

下面是這篇文章的中譯，有空再來做解析。有上課的同學們如果需要中譯可以參考。

另外，關於文章結構的解析，圖中標示：

•                       表示以對等連接詞所連接的並列文字。
•                       表示並非文章主體之修飾或補述性文字 ( 非主要敘述文字)
•                       表示對上述非主體文字的進一步補充和修飾，也就是補充的補充。

Why Zika Is This Year’s Scary Virus  

It is “spreading explosively” in the Americas and may be the next public health emergency.

茲卡病毒正在美洲爆炸性的傳播中，而且可能成為下一個公共健康的危機

第一段

Scary new viruses emerge abruptly in our modern world, provoking stark headlines and demands for bold government action—but in most cases the causes are complex and have developed, unnoticed, over years or decades. 

我們的現代世界突然出現了許多可怕的新病毒，不僅造成了重大的新聞事件，也引起政府的一些大膽的措施。然而大部份新病毒的案例原因都相當複雜，甚至可能早已經發展數年或是數十年，只是沒有人知道而已。

• provoking stark headlines 可以說是一種側寫的修辭方式，以"在報紙上有鮮明的標題"，表示這些事件受到關注的程度。我們當然可以平鋪直敘的說，"這些病毒引發的疾病在當時都對人們有著重大的影響"，這是直述法；但也可以用這種側寫的方式，這些事件在發生的當時都是新聞頭條，來表達這些事件的重要以及影響的程度。

That’s true again for Zika, a virus unknown to most people until recent days, and now suddenly the subject of somber warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, which announced on Thursday that the virus is “spreading explosively.”

茲卡病毒也是這樣的例子，這種病毒一直到最近才引起大家的注意，在這之前，對於大部份的人而言都是很陌生的，然而現在它突然成為疾病控制以及預防中心，和世衛組織 (WHO) 所發出的疾病警告的主角。本週四世界衛生組織宣布，茲卡病毒正以爆炸性的速度傳播當中。

The alarm stems from an epidemic of birth defects in Brazil, which may be linked with Zika virus infection of mothers during pregnancy.

這些警訊的發出，是由於發生在巴西的一些廣泛的先天性缺陷而引起的，而這些先天性缺陷可能與母親在懷孕時感染茲卡病毒有關。

Amid this furor, it’s worth distinguishing fact from supposition and placing the Zika phenomenon in a broader context.

在這個恐慌之中，我們應該分清楚哪些是事實，哪些僅僅是臆測，並且用一個更廣的視野來觀看茲卡現象。 

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第二段

This virus was first isolated in Uganda in 1947, within a small enclave called Zika Forest, near the west shore of Lake Victoria, where researchers from the Rockefeller Foundation were studying yellow fever.

這種病毒首次被分離出來，是在 1947 年烏干達的一個稱為茲卡森林的飛地中，鄰近維多利亞胡的西岸。當時洛克斐勒基金會的人員正在當地研究黃熱病。

Ironically, the earliest known victim of Zika virus infection in Africa was an Asian macaque—a rhesus monkey, set out in a cage in a treetop as bait for the mosquitoes that carry yellow fever virus.

諷刺的是，最早已知的茲卡病毒在非洲的受害者是亞洲獼猴—恆河猴，這隻猴子是被放在樹上的籠子裡用來當作吸引黃熱病媒蚊的餌。

Instead of that virus, its blood yielded this new thing, dubbed Zika. The virus had never been seen before, but it had probably lurked chronically in African monkeys, or some other native reservoir, for millennia.

然而，在這隻猴子的血液中並沒有發現黃熱病毒，取而代之的卻是一種被稱之為茲卡的新生物種。這種從來沒有看過的病毒可能潛伏在非洲猴子體內或是原始保留區千年之久。

The same virus later turned up, in the same forest, within mosquitoes of the Aedes genus, and those mosquitoes are now identified as vectors of Zika, transmitting the virus from host to host when they bite.

這一種病毒隨著依蚊以及其他病媒蚊的叮咬在宿主之間傳播。

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第三段

Eventually it was found infecting people, too, not just in Africa but also in Asia—from Senegal to Cambodia, in fact, a wide range throughout which Aedes mosquitoes reside.

最終，這種病毒也感染了人類，不僅僅是非洲，甚至包括亞洲，從塞內加爾到柬埔寨；事實上，是包括一整個依蚊生存的廣大區域。

The symptoms, such as headache, fever, a rash, bloodshot eyes, were generally mild.

症狀包括，頭痛、發熱、皮疹、眼睛充血，但這些症狀都還相對溫和。

Then, in 2007, Zika virus caused more than a hundred cases on Yap, a tiny island in the southwestern Pacific, having somehow gotten there from the Asian mainland.

2007 年，茲卡病毒透過某些方式從亞洲大陸傳播出來，在一個西南太平洋的小島 Yap 上造成一百多個病例。

Aedes mosquitoes were present on Yap and passed the virus from one victim to another. But no one suffered badly enough to be hospitalized.

Yap 島上也有依蚊的蹤跡，他們將病毒在受害者之間傳播，可是當時並沒有造成嚴重到需要就醫的病例。

Six years later, Zika emerged more dramatically in French Polynesia, sending an estimated 28,000 people (11 percent of the population) into medical care.

六年之後，茲卡病毒在法屬玻里尼西亞戲劇性地出現，把 28000 人 (當地人口的 11 %) 送進了醫療中心。

Among 72 patients with severe neurological symptoms, 40 contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome, a dangerous autoimmune dysfunction, sometimes triggered by infection. That was the first signal that Zika virus infection could be dire.

其中 72 個病例有嚴重的神經症狀，有 40 個有吉蘭 - 巴雷綜合徵。這是一種非常危險的自身免疫功能障礙，有時是由感染所引起的。這是茲卡病毒感染第一次危險訊號。

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第四段

The second signal came in April of last year, with a spate of Zika virus infections diagnosed in northeastern Brazil—a new location for the virus, on the South American mainland, and with a huge population of susceptible humans now within reach.

第二次的危險訊號發生在去年四月在巴西東北部的茲卡大流行。這是茲卡第一次傳播到南美洲大陸上，在此地的廣大人口都將受到影響。

Worse news came in October: a drastic increase in cases of microcephaly (smallness of head, linked to incomplete brain development) among infants born to mothers in the northeast.

更糟的事情是在十月，東北部的新生兒小頭症（頭部過小，與腦部發展不完全有關）的病例急遽增加。

Amniotic fluid from at least two of those mothers contained evidence for the presence of Zika virus, suggesting (but not proving) the link between Zika and microcephaly.

在這些案例中，至少有兩位母親的羊水中有茲卡病毒存在，暗示了（但並非證明）茲卡和小頭症之間的關聯性。

As the numbers rose further and anxiety grew, the WHO and the CDC issued warnings, and the WHO called a meeting for February 1, to consider proclaiming Zika a public health emergency.

隨著病例數量增加以及焦慮的升高，世界衛生組織以及疾病控制中心發出警告，世界衛生組織並在二月一日召開會議，考慮宣布茲卡為公共健康的危機。

Alas, as we saw during the Ebola events of 2014, such a declaration doesn’t necessarily trigger a coordinated and efficacious international response.

然而，就如同我們在2014 年伊波拉病毒事件中所見，這樣的宣布並不一定會引起國際間的整合和有效的回應。

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

第五段

This is a story of biogeography as well as medicine and public health, and of the consequences of human travel and transport.

這是一個跟生物地理學和醫藥衛生有關的故事，也是人類四處旅行和交通的結果。

How did Zika virus get to Brazil? Possibly it traveled in the blood of athletes—when competitors from French Polynesia and other Pacific islands came to Rio de Janeiro, in August 2014, for the Va’a World Sprint Championship in outrigger canoeing.

茲卡病毒是怎麼到巴西的？有可能是住在運動員的血液裡面旅行到巴西的。這些運動員可能是來自法屬玻里尼西亞或是其他太平洋島嶼，在 2014 年八月來到里約熱內盧參加世界泛舟大賽。

(Some commentators have wondered whether the 2014 World Cup in soccer brought Zika to Brazil, but that extravaganza included no teams from Pacific islands.)

（有些評論解說員懷疑茲卡病毒可能是在2014 年的世界盃足球賽時被帶到巴西的，但是這場足球盛事中並沒有包含來自於太平洋島嶼的隊伍。） 

Still, bringing the virus was one thing; spreading it was another.

然而，攜帶病毒是一回事，傳播則是另一回事。

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第六段、

Vectors were necessary, for transmitting it from human to human.

把病毒在人體之間傳播是需要病媒的。

One competent mosquito (Aedes aegypti, commonly called the yellow fever mosquito) is an African creature that probably hitchhiked to the Americas on sailing ships at the time of the slave trade.

其中一種病媒蚊 ( 依蚊，一般視之為黃熱病媒蚊）原居住在非洲，可能是在早期搭奴隸船的便車到美洲的。

Another, known as the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), arrived more recently, reaching not just South and Central America but also the southern United States, probably by way of egg-laden water amid shipments of used tires from Asia. 

另一種則是亞洲的白紋伊蚊，是比較近期才散布到南美洲、中美洲，以及美國南部，可能是蚊子在舊輪胎的積水中產卵，而被運到了美洲。

If those mosquitoes hadn’t been transplanted by human activity, decades and centuries before Zika virus, then the virus itself couldn’t have taken hold here between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

如果這些蚊子未曾在茲卡病毒的數十年或是數個世紀之前，隨著人類的活動被移植到美洲，那這些病毒本身不可能在太平洋和大西洋之間找到立足之地。

What next? Urgent concern for all pregnant women, or women who may become pregnant, of course, not just in Brazil but throughout all the warmer zones of this hemisphere, wherever Aedes mosquitoes are present.

下一步該怎麼辦呢？最緊急的問題就是懷孕婦女，或是即將懷孕的婦女們，不只是巴西，還包括這個半球的有依蚊出沒的溫暖地區的婦女。

The WHO has cautioned that Zika is likely to spread throughout the Americas, except for Canada and Chile.

世界為生組織警告，茲卡病毒極有可能會傳播到整個美洲，除了加拿大和智利。

Additional cases of Zika virus infection have already occurred in Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, and other South and Central American countries, and several of those countries, including El Salvador, Jamaica, and Colombia, have already advised women to delay pregnancy.

新的茲卡病毒感染病例已經出現在哥倫比亞、委內瑞拉、薩爾瓦多、墨西哥，以及其他的南美和中美洲國家，而這幾個國家之中，包括薩爾瓦多、牙買加、和哥倫比亞已經對婦女提出延後懷孕的警告。

Zika infections carried by travelers have been brought back to Minnesota, New York, Hawaii (where a microcephalic baby was born), and other states in the U.S.

茲卡病毒的傳染已經隨著旅行人口帶到了明尼蘇達、紐約、夏威夷( 在此有一個小腦症的新生兒出生)，以及美國的其他州。

The question about such cases, in the U.S. or elsewhere, is: Will infected people infect Aedes mosquitoes, who will infect other people?

問題是，這些受到感染的人們是否會"感染"依蚊，而使得病毒進一步傳播？

It’s big question, given that the Asian tiger mosquito is now also present across southern Europe, including much of Italy, and both the tiger mosquito and the yellow fever mosquito inhabit most Asian cities.

這是一個大哉問，有鑒於亞洲虎蚊也出現在南歐，包括義大利，而這兩種虎蚊和黃熱病媒蚊也都出沒在大部份的亞洲城市。

By one account, more than half the humans on Earth live within areas infested by Aedes mosquitoes.

一個很重要的因素，超過全球一半以上的人口是居住在依蚊出沒的區域。

Public health officials will need to be vigilant in reducing the opportunities—in the form of standing water near human habitations—for those mosquitoes to lay eggs that mature to adulthood.

公共衛生官員們需要有所警覺，減少讓這些成熟蚊子產卵的棲地，例如人類居處附近的死水。

They will need also to be sensitive to social realities: You can’t simply tell poor, disempowered women without access to birth control means, “Don’t get pregnant.”

他們也需要對社會的現況提高敏感度，你不能只告訴窮人，或是那些沒有能力做生育控制的婦女們"不要懷孕。"

Bottom line: This is not something that is merely happening to us, a cosmic misfortune, a one-off event over which we must get up on our hind legs and howl at our governments for insufficient diligence.

這件事情的底線是，這並不僅僅是一件發生在我們身上的事情，而是一個世界性的不幸事件，一個或者是一次性的事件，但我們卻應該因此對政府的不夠盡責提出抗議的事件。

It is, on the contrary, a result of things we do as a modern society—traveling, transporting people and things speedily around the globe, having babies to the point where there are more than seven billion of us on this planet, so that we now represent an irresistible resource for any virus that can adapt to preying upon us—and it’s part of a longer, broader pattern.

這個事件，相反的，是我們這個現代化的社會所造成的後果 — 人們的旅遊和運輸，以及所有使得事物迅速傳播到全球的作為，人口爆漲使得地球上有超過七十億的人口，使得我們成為任何一種病毒不可抗拒的資源，讓我們成為他們的獵場。而這是一個更為長遠和廣泛的模式的一部份。

In 2012, MERS coronavirus emerged from Saudi Arabia, stirring our concerns. In 2014 it was Ebola, blazing out of West Africa in search of a larger host base. Next year it will be virus X, and the year after, virus Y. This year it is Zika.

 2012 年，MERS 冠狀病毒出現在沙烏地阿拉伯，引起我們的關注；2014 年則是伊波拉病毒，狂風般掃過西非，尋找一個更大的宿主群。明年，或者將會是 X 病毒，在下一年，可能是 Y 病毒。而今年，則是茲卡病毒。