第一时间：2012年秋季中级口译阅读第二篇解析

2012-09-19 00:00:00来源：沪江博客

　　第二篇文章属于是健康类的小新闻，难度不大，尽管里面有生词，但绝不影响阅读和理解。

　　The koala, one of Australia’s most treasured creatures, is in trouble. In Queensland, the vast state in Australia’s northeastern corner, surveys suggest that from 2001 to 2008, their numbers dropped as much as 45 percent in urban areas and 15 percent in bushland.

　　首句点题，第二句详细解释。

　　While climate change and habitat loss are affecting koalas and many other uniquely Australian animals — from birds and frogs to marsupials like wombats, wallabies and bandicoots — it is a bacterial infection that is worrying many scientists about the fate of the koala. “Disease is a somewhat silent killer and has the very real potential to finish koala populations in Queensland,” said Dr. Amber Gillett, a veterinarian at the Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Beerwah.

　　第二段点出考拉们现在面临的很多威胁，让科学家们很担心的则是其中之一，即细菌感染。直接引用可以省略。

　　The killer is chlamydia, a class of bacteria far better known for causing venereal disease in humans. Recent surveys show that chlamydia has caused symptoms in up to 50 percent of Queensland’s wild koalas, with more probably infected but not showing symptoms. The bacteria — transmitted during birth, through mating and possibly through fighting — come in two different strains, neither the same as the human form. One form can jump to other species, but so far there is no evidence that it has spread from koalas to humans or vice versa.

　　第三段指出细菌是chlamydia，这个单词尽管不认识，但是完全不影响理解。

　　Chlamydia causes a host of symptoms, including eye infections that can lead to blindness, respiratory infections, and cysts. The epidemic has been severe in Queensland, where most koalas are infected with koala retrovirus, said Dr. Gillett. This retrovirus is an H.I.V.-like infection that suppresses the koala’s immune system and interferes with its ability to fight off chlamydia.

　　第四段讲述了chlamydia带来的影响。

　　Treating chlamydia in wild koalas is a challenge. Only a small percentage of the animals can be treated successfully and returned to the wild. And infected females often become infertile, so future population growth is affected as well. There is no treatment available for koala retrovirus, but researchers are working to test a vaccine that would help prevent further spreading of chlamydia.

　　第五段讲治疗。

　　A study published in 2010 in The American Journal of Reproductive Immunology found that this vaccine is safe and effective in healthy female koalas. Further work is being done to test it in koalas that are already infected. Peter Timms, a professor of microbiology at the Queensland University of Technology who is leading the effort to test the chlamydia vaccine in koalas, is hopeful that there will be another trial this year to test the vaccine in captive male koalas, followed by wild koalas. If all goes well, plans can be set in motion to distribute the vaccine.

　　Many experts believe this vaccine would be an important step in helping koalas survive longer, perhaps buying enough time for researchers to solve some of the other problems they face. “In situations where you combine habitat pressure, domestic dog attacks and car hits with severe chlamydial disease, the outcome for koalas is devastating,” Dr. Gillett said.

　　最后两段依然在讲治疗方面，而且伴随有大量的研究名称，直接引用，可略读。

　　题目：

　　1. 细节题，考查对考拉伤害最大的是什么，文章里提到的细菌感染就是了。

　　2. 细节题，考生找到chlamydia出现的段落定位即可。

　　3. 细节题，考生找到第五段“And infected females often become infertile, so future population growth is affected as well.”即可。

　　4. 细节题，考生找到第六段即可。

　　5. 主旨题，考拉现在面临的细菌感染的威胁。

本文关键字: 中级口译阅读解析