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It is cause for alarm. The Marshall Islands is only now recovering from a dengue outbreak infecting 3,000, followed by bursts of influenza. It left the little hospital in the capital, Majuro, looking “like a war zone”, says the health secretary, Jack Niedenthal. An outbreak of measles in Samoa in December killed 83, most of them children. Both countries are racing to respond to covid-19. But the Marshall Islands has just six ventilators. Of just 100 protective gowns, goggles and gloves, the hospital got through 22 sets investigating a single suspected case. Meanwhile, the Solomon Islands has such a dilapidated health system that many will view the main hospital in Honiara, the capital, as the last place to go with covid-19.
这是值得警惕的。马绍尔群岛目前刚刚从登革热疫情中恢复过来，当时3000人确诊感染了登革热，随后又爆发了流感。卫生部长杰克·尼丹瑟说，疫情使得首都马朱罗的小医院看起来“像个战场”。去年12月，萨摩亚爆发麻疹疫情，导致83人死亡，其中大多数是儿童。这两个国家都在紧锣密鼓地应对新冠病毒。但马绍尔群岛只有六个呼吸机。医院仅存100套防护服、护目镜和手套，但检查一例疑似病例就要消耗掉22套。而且，所罗门群岛的卫生系统非常破旧，以至于许多人将首都霍尼亚拉的中心医院视为感染新冠病毒后的最后希望。
To cope with the pandemic, Pacific islanders will be thrown back on support networks such as family and church. People are all too used to catastrophes, from cyclones to tsunamis. Only rarely, as Jonathan Pryke of the Lowy Institute in Sydney puts it, do they feel the hand of the state. Traditional networks will prove a blessing, but also carry risks if infections are carried back to villages from capitals. It helps that Pacific populations are relatively young (covid-19 guns for the elderly and infirm). But high rates of non-communicable diseases, notably diabetes, put more people at risk. Thanks to an atrocious diet (think Spam and Kool-Aid), seven of the ten most diabetic countries are in the Pacific. The hospital in Honiara saws off three limbs a day.
为了应对疫情，太平洋岛民将被迫退回到，如家庭与教堂等这类互帮互助模式中去。从飓风到海啸，人们已经习惯了各种灾难。正如悉尼洛伊研究所的乔纳森•普雷克所说，他们很少能感受到政府的帮助。传统互帮互助的人际网络给人带来庇佑，但如果病毒从首都传播到村庄，这种人际网络也会带来风险。这种互帮互助的模式仅能帮助太平洋地区相对年轻的人群(老年人和体弱多病者易感新冠病毒)。但是高比率的非传染性疾病，尤其是糖尿病，使更多的人处于危险之中。由于不健康的饮食(基本都是Spam午餐肉和Kool-Aid廉价饮料)，糖尿病最严重的十个国家中有七个位于太平洋地区。所罗门群岛的首都霍尼亚拉的医院平均每天要给三位患者截肢。（在糖尿病患病以后如果血糖长期控制不佳，有一些患者就会出现糖尿病足或下肢病变，严重时如果危及生命就需要进行截肢治疗）
Peter Kenilorea, an opposition figure in the Solomon Islands, says the government is unprepared. In its speech marking the opening of Parliament in Honiara this week, only two sentences were devoted to covid-19. A radio station in Fiji has been broadcasting public-health advice for weeks about washing hands. Yet the government will not let it link those messages to the pandemic, lest they spark panic.
所罗门群岛的反对派人物彼得·凯尼洛莱亚称，政府对新冠病毒还没有做好应对准备。在本周于霍尼亚拉举行的议会开幕式上的演讲中，只有两句话是关于新冠病毒的。几周来，斐济一家电台一直在广播有关洗手的公共卫生建议。但政府不会让它把这些信息与流行病联系起来，以免引发恐慌。
Australia and New Zealand both emphasise what New Zealand’s leader, Jacinda Ardern, calls “a duty of care” to Pacific nations. Both countries have promised to send medical equipment and personnel. But Sheldon Yett of Unicef says that the region’s travel clampdown hampers the movement of aid workers and supplies. And once Australia and New Zealand face full-blown crises of their own, how much will they look out for the Pacific?
澳大利亚和新西兰都强调了新西兰领导人杰辛达•阿德恩所称的对太平洋诸多岛国的“注意义务”。两国都承诺为周边岛国提供医疗设备和人员支持。但是联合国儿童基金会的谢尔登·耶特称，该地区的旅行限制阻碍了救援人员和物资的流动。一旦澳大利亚和新西兰自身面临全面危机，他们又会在多大程度上关注太平洋上的这些岛国?
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词汇积累 1. outbreak英 [ˈaʊtbreɪk] 美 [ˈaʊtbreɪk] v.& n. （战争的）爆发；（疾病的）发作
2. influenza 英 [ˌɪnfluˈenzə] 美 [ˌɪnfluˈenzə] n. [内科] 流行性感冒（简写flu）
3. ventilator 英 [ˈventɪleɪtə(r)] 美 [ˈventɪleɪtər] n. 通风设备；【医】呼吸机
4. goggle 英 [ˈɡɒɡl] 美 [ˈɡɑːɡl] v. 瞪大眼睛看 n. 护目镜；眼镜 5. dilapidated 英 [dɪˈlæpɪdeɪtɪd] 美 [dɪˈlæpɪdeɪtɪd] adj. 荒废的，破旧的，要塌似的；受破坏的 v. 使荒废（dilapidate 的过去式和过去分词） 6. respond to 响应，回答 7. pandemic 英 [pænˈdemɪk] 美 [pænˈdemɪk] adj. 流行的（多指疾病） n. （全国或全球性）流行病，瘟疫
8. put v. 放下；（文中的含义）表达，说（注意考研英语中多次考察过put作为表达、说的含义）
9. atrocious 英 [əˈtrəʊʃəs] 美 [əˈtroʊʃəs] adj. 凶恶的，残暴的
10. communicable 英 [kəˈmjuːnɪkəbl] 美 [kəˈmjuːnɪkəbl] adj. 可传达的；会传染的
11. saw off 锯下，锯掉 12. personnel 英 [ˌpɜːsəˈnel] 美 [ˌpɜːrsəˈnel] n. 人事部门；全体人员 adj. 人员的；有关人事的 13. clampdown 英 [ˈklæmpdaʊn] 美 [ˈklæmpdaʊn] n. 压制；取缔；严禁 14. hamper 英 [ˈhæmpə(r)] 美 [ˈhæmpər] vt. 妨碍；束缚；使困累 n. 食盒，食篮；阻碍物
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