2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：消灭疟疾任重道远

　　2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》.杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。

　　Malaria,Not swatted yet

　　消灭疟疾任重道远

　　A new vaccine is one step towards a distant goal.

　　一种新疫苗让人类离消灭疟疾更近了一步。

　　MAN has vanquished only one disease, smallpox.In 2007 Bill Gates set out to eradicate another,malaria. The World Health Organisation (WHO) wassoon rallying its troops to the cause and a flood ofmoney followed. $612m went to research in 2009alone. This week the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation trumpeted anotherannouncement: results from a phase III trial (the more extensive process of testing drugsin people) of a malaria vaccine called RTS,S. This is the world's most advanced vaccine formalaria and the results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were encouraging.

　　到目前为止人类只消灭了天花这一种疾病。2007年，比尔?盖茨宣布开始着手消灭另一种疾病即疟疾。世界卫生组织迅速召集队伍致力于这项事业，并在随后投入大量资金，2009年仅在研究上就投入了6.12亿美元。本周，"比尔和梅琳达?盖茨基金会"发表了另一个声明，内容是世界上对抗疟疾最先进的疫苗RTS，S的第三试验阶段(在人群中广泛使用药物并测量反应)的结果，发表于《新英格兰医学杂志》上的结果振奋人心。

　　It is an important step in combating a disease that still kills more than 700,000 people a yearand debilitates millions more. But it is also a reminder of how much work remains to bedone.

　　每年因疟疾致死的人有700000人，致残的有 数百万人，这个试验结果是战胜这一疾病的重大进步。但是它也提醒人们还有多少任务尚未完成。

　　Mr Gates is only malaria's latest adversary. The parasite has plagued man for millennia.Chinese texts from 2700BC describe plants to treat its fevers. More recently, in 1955, theWHO embarked on its first malaria-eradication effort. But transmission rates in Africaseemed intractable. After 14 years the WHO gave up. The last time the world tried toeliminate malaria, some scientists lament, the world eliminated malariologists.

　　疟疾祸害人类千年，盖茨先生最近一个反抗它的对手。公元前2700年中国的文字资料就记载着一些植物能治疗由疟疾引起的发烧的。再往离现在近的时间看，世界卫生组织在1955年展开首次消灭疟疾的行动。但是在非洲，遏制疟疾的传播率似乎非常棘手。14年之后，世卫放弃了。有些科学家慨叹，上一次世界本来试图消灭疟疾，结果被消灭的是疟疾学家。

　　The new wave of enthusiasm came with the founding of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership in1998 (to co-ordinate planning), the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative in 1999 (with money fromthe Gates Foundation) and the United Nations' Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis andMalaria in 2002. This culminated in Mr Gates's call to arms four years ago and has helped tolower the number of malaria deaths by 20% over the past decade.

　　随着1998年"遏制疟疾伙伴关系"(共同测绘)、1999年"疟疾疫苗开发计划"(资金来自盖茨基金会)和2002年联合国全球治疗艾滋病肺结核和疟疾基金的建立，对抗疟疾的新一轮热潮出现了。四年后盖茨振臂一呼，在十年里疟疾死亡率降低了20%，推动抗疟疾的热潮达到顶峰。

　　More progress will be difficult. The existing tools of insecticide-treated bed nets andtreatment drugs require careful co-ordination and good health systems. Eliminating malariain a stable country is dramatically easier than doing so in a turbulent one. Worryingly,these tools may become less effective. Parasites in South-East Asia, for example, seem tobe developing resistance to artemisinin-based treatments. To achieve eradication-oranything close to it-new weapons are needed.

　　要想获得更多进展非常困难。现有的带有杀虫剂蚊帐和药物治疗要求配合细致和良好的医疗系统。在一个政局稳定的国家消灭疟疾比在政局动荡的国家更容易。比如，东南亚的寄生虫似乎对基于青蒿素的治疗起了抗药性。要想消灭疟疾——或是向这个目标再迈进一大步—就得发展新武器。

　　RTS,S, developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a British pharmaceutical company, will help.The vaccine tries to stop one type of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, before ithas a chance to wreak havoc. A mosquito's bite delivers malaria to the body. Travellingswiftly to the liver, the parasites hide, mature and multiply before staging a grand secondact in the bloodstream, where they invade red blood cells, multiply again, and invademore cells. RTS,S combines a circumsporozoite protein, which exists on the parasite'ssurface, with a protein from a hepatitis B vaccine. Together, these trigger an immuneresponse which can fight off invading parasites before the second act.

　　这个新武器就是由英国制药公司葛兰素史克公司(GlaxoSmithKline研制的RTS，S。该疫苗能停止疟疾寄生虫恶性疟原虫的活性，使它不能为非作歹。蚊子叮一口就会把疟疾传到人身上。它传播敏捷，在寄主身上隐藏起来、成熟、繁殖，然后在血液里进行第二个大的行动，入侵红细胞后再次繁殖，接着侵占更多细胞。RTS,S把存在于寄生虫表面的环子孢子蛋白和肝炎B型疫苗里的一种蛋白结合在一起。它们共同作用引发一种免疫反应，在第二次活动前就击退入侵的寄生虫。

　　GSK tested the vaccine in 6,000 infants across sub-Saharan Africa. It reduced the risk ofclinical malaria by 56% and severe malaria by 47%. This efficacy was "on the positive sideof what we were expecting," says Christian Loucq of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative,GSK's partner on RTS,S.

　　葛兰素史克公司在撒哈拉以南非洲的6000名婴儿身上测试了这种疫苗。患临床疟疾的风险减少了56%，患严重疟疾的风险减少了47%。葛兰素史克公司在研制RTS.S的搭档"疟疾疫苗开发计划"的Christian Loucq说这种效力"是我们曾期待的积极一面"。

　　However, more is to come. The trial examined children aged 5-17 months. Results foryounger babies will follow. Still uncertain is how long the vaccine's protection lasts. Thefirst year that the vaccine might be used would be 2015, and that is if everything goes asplanned. Even then, it is unclear how RTS,S might be deployed. Its price is uncertain andits power limited. "We realise that RTS,S is not the ultimate malaria vaccine," says DavidBrandling-Bennett of the Gates Foundation. "But it will have some role. The challenge isfiguring out what that role is."

　　然而，更多的试验紧随其后。上面提到的试验测试对象是5-17个月大的婴儿。随后会出炉年龄更小婴儿的结果。这种疫苗的保护能持续多久还不清楚。疫苗投入使用可能会从2015年开始，前提是如果一切按计划进行的话。即使到那时候，还不清楚RTS.S会怎样投放。价格不定，效力也是有限的。"我们认识到RTS.S并非是最好的疟疾疫苗，"盖茨基金会的大卫?布兰丁-博内特这样说，"但是它会起到一些作用。我们的挑战是研究出这种作用是什么。"

　　Researchers are already working on the next generation of vaccines. GSK hopes to induce astronger immune response by combining RTS,S with a vaccine from Crucell, another drugfirm. Scientists are also keen to develop vaccines that target different kinds of malariaparasites and in different ways-for example, in mosquitoes' guts. All of this work requiresfurther investment at a time when global health programmes must compete fiercely forcash. Mr Gates has helped to spur progress. Sustaining it is the next challenge.

　　研究者已经开始从事下一代疫苗的开发。葛兰素史克公司希望使用RTS，S和另一家制药公司Crucell的一种疫苗的结合体来引起更强烈的免疫反应。科学家也努力研制针对不同种类疟疾寄生虫和不同感染途径——比如，在蚊子的内脏里——的疫苗。这些工作都需要继续投入资金，而现在正是全球医疗项目必须为资金激烈竞争的时候。盖茨先生已经为推动研究进步做出贡献。如何保持这种势头是下一个挑战。

　　9月伊始，各大高校开学，新学期考生要关注2015年考研大纲发布及解析、2015年全国硕士研究 生招生简章发布，2015年 考研报名工作，新东方在线小编第一时间跟踪发布，请大 家收藏关注！另有研究生专业目录、考研参考书等最新考研信息，帮 助考生及时了解目标院校招生政策及信息。

关注新东方在线考研微博@新东方在线考研和新东方在线考研微信（扫描一下二维码），小编会分享更多精彩视频、课程、动态、经验和知道，敬请关注！

新东方名师考研课程 购买进行中

【英语阅读资料】这里有↑↑↑