一点英语

English Step by Step

No. 41

Medical Service

1. We need to take your blood pressure.

我们需要测量一下您的血压。

2. Now I will examine your head.

我现在检查一下您的头部。

3. I need to listen to your chest.

我要听一下您的胸部。

Traditional Chinese medicine

For nourishing the fetus in pregnancy, Baizhu San (White Atractylodes Powder) governs.

妊娠养胎，白术散主之。

Story Show

World Insight

New genetic analysis shows coronavirus quickly spread around the world starting late last year

Updated May 6, 2020

A new genetic analysis of the virus that causes Covid-19 taken from more than 7,600 patients around the world shows the virus has been circulating in people since late last year, and must have spread extremely quickly after the first infection.

对世界各地7600多名患者身上提取的导致新冠肺炎的病毒的一项新的基因分析显示，这种病毒自去年年底以来一直在人群中传播，首次感染后传播速度肯定非常快。

Researchers in Britain looked at mutations in the virus and found evidence of quick spread, but not evidence the virus is becoming more easily transmitted or more likely to cause serious disease.

英国的研究人员观察了病毒的突变，发现了快速传播的证据，但没有证据表明病毒变得更容易传播或更容易引起严重疾病。

“The virus is changing, but this in itself does not mean it’s getting worse,” genetics researcher Francois Balloux of the University College London Genetics Institute told CNN.

伦敦大学学院遗传学研究所的遗传学研究员弗朗索瓦·巴洛克斯告诉CNN：“病毒正在改变，但这本身并不意味着它正变得更糟。”

Balloux and colleagues pulled viral sequences from a giant global database that scientists around the world are using to share data. They looked at samples taken at different times and from different places, and said they indicate that the virus first started infecting people at the end of last year.

巴洛克斯和他的同事们从一个巨大的全球数据库中提取了病毒序列，世界各地的科学家正利用这个数据库来共享数据。他们观察了在不同时间和不同地点采集的样本，并表示，这些样本表明，这种病毒在去年年底开始感染人类。

“This rules out any scenario that assumes SARSCoV-2 may have been in circulation long before it was identified, and hence have already infected large proportions of the population,” Balloux’s team wrote in their report, published in the journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution.

“这就排除了任何假设新型冠状病毒在被发现之前就已经在传播，因此已经感染了大部分人群的情况，” 巴洛克斯的团队在他们的报告中写道，该报告发表在《感染、遗传与进化》杂志上。

“Our results are in line with previous estimates and point to all sequences sharing a common ancestor towards the end of 2019, supporting this as the period when SARS-CoV-2 jumped into its human host,” the team wrote in the report, published Tuesday.

研究小组在周二发表的报告中写道：“我们的结果与先前的估计一致，并指出所有序列在2019年底前共享一个共同的祖先，这支持了新型冠状病毒进入了人类宿主时期的观点。”

“It’s very recent,” Balloux said. “We are really, really, really confident that the host jump happened late last year.”

“这是最近的事，” 巴洛克斯说。“我们真的，真的，真的确信，病毒进入人类宿主发生在去年底。”

They also found genetic evidence that supports suspicions the virus was infecting people in Europe, the US and elsewhere weeks or even months before the first official cases were reported in January and February.

他们还发现了基因证据，支持人们对该病毒在1、2月首次正式报告病例前几周甚至几个月就感染了欧洲、美国和其它地方人群的怀疑。

Balloux’s team had their findings reviewed by other experts, a process called peer review, before they were published in the journal. He said some reports by other teams, published online in on what are called pre-print websites, may have drawn incorrect conclusions.

巴洛克斯的研究小组让其他专家对他们的研究结果进行了评审，这一过程被称为同行评审，然后发表在杂志上。他说，其他团队在所谓的预印网站上发表的一些报告可能得出了不正确的结论。

“All viruses naturally mutate. Mutations in themselves are not a bad thing and there is nothing to suggest SARS-CoV-2 is mutating faster or slower than expected. So far we cannot say whether SARS-CoV-2 is becoming more or less lethal and contagious,” Balloux said.

“所有的病毒都会自然变异。突变本身并不是一件坏事，没有任何证据表明新型冠状病毒的突变比预期的更快或更慢。到目前为止，我们还不能确定新型冠状病毒的致死率和传染性究竟是增加了还是减少了。

Source: CNN

重点词汇（Vocabulary）

1、nourishing [ˈnɜːrɪʃɪŋ] v.抚养;滋养;养育;培养，助长(情绪、观点等)

2、fetus [ˈfiːtəs] n.胎;胎儿

3、circulate [ˈsɜːrkjəleɪt] v. 传播

4、mutation [mjuːˈteɪʃn] n. (生物物种的)变异，突变

5、viral sequence病毒序列

6、assume [əˈsuːm] v. 假定;假设

7、lethal [ˈliːθl] adj. 致命的

8、contagious [kənˈteɪdʒəs] adj. 传染的

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