The politics of pandemics 全球流行病下的各国政治
All governments will struggle. Some will struggle more than others
所有的政府都会举步维艰。有些政府会比其他政府更加困难
To see what is to come look to Lombardy, the affluent Italian region at the heart of the covid-19 outbreak in Europe. Its hospitals provide world-class health care. Until last week they thought they would cope with the disease — then waves of people began turning up with pneumonia. Having run out of ventilators and oxygen, exhausted staff at some hospitals are being forced to leave untreated patients to die.
区域现状 看看将来会发生什么，来看看伦巴达地区，欧洲肺炎疫情爆发中心区，处于意大利的富裕区域。该地区的医院提供世界级的医疗保健。 直到上周，他们还认为自己能够应对这种疾病 ー 然后一波又一波的人开始患上肺炎。 因为呼吸机和氧气用完了，所以一些医院里精疲力竭的工作人员被迫让未经治疗的病人等死。
affluent adj. 富裕的 = af- = toward + flu=flow 流动 + ent形容词后缀 → 流到汇集的地方 → 富裕
at the heart of sp 处于某地的中心
turn up 动词词组，语境中表示”到来“的含义，可替换为 arrive
pneumonia 作名词用，表示”肺炎“，指的就是 covid-19 , coronavirus等，一般 -ia结尾的词都表示某种疾病
ventilators 【医】呼吸机
exhausted adj. 精疲力竭的
untreated adj. 未经治疗的
The pandemic, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared it this week, is spreading fast, with almost 45,000 cases and nearly 1,500 deaths in 112 countries outside China. Epidemiologists reckon Italy is one or two weeks ahead of places like Spain, France, America and Britain. Less-connected countries, such as Egypt and India, are further behind, but not much.
全球趋势 正如世界卫生组织本周正式宣布的那样，这场全球流行病正在迅速蔓延，中国之外的112个国家有近45000个病例和近1500人死亡。 流行病学家认为，意大利比西班牙、法国、美国和英国等国家领先一到两周。 联系不那么紧密的国家，如埃及和印度，落后得更多，但也不是很多。
World Health Organisation，简写 WHO，世界卫生组织
Epidemiologist 名词用，表示流行病学家，一般 -ist 结尾的词，表示专业人士
Few of today’s political leaders have ever faced anything like a pandemic and its economic fallout — though some are evoking the financial crisis of 2007-09 (see next leader). As they belatedly realise that health systems will buckle and deaths mount, leaders are at last coming to terms with the fact that they will have to weather the storm. Three factors will determine how they cope: their attitude to uncertainty; the structure and competence of their health systems; and, above all, whether they are trusted.
原因概述 如今的政治领导人中，很少有人曾经面对过大规模疫情及其对经济的影响 —— 尽管有些领导人提到了2007-09年的金融危机( 见下一篇社论文章)。 当他们后知后觉地意识到：卫生系统将会崩溃，死亡人数将会上升时，领导者们最终接受了这样一个事实: 他们将不得不经受这场风暴。 三个因素将决定他们如何应对: 对待不确定性的态度; 卫生系统的结构和能力; 最重要的是，这些领导人是否值得信任。
buckle 作名词用时，表示“搭扣“，作动词用，可以表示”扣上“，但是在本文语境中，指”掌不住了，放弃了“，可以替换为 give way <> I could feel my legs bukcling under me. 我觉得腿都软了。
buckle down to sth 下定决心做某事
buckle on sth/ buckle sth on 扣上
buckle up 系好安全带
mount 作动作用，在语境中表示”上升、增加“ increase in size，一般表示”number 数字、debt 债务、costs 成本费用“等的增加，”temperature 温度、prices 价格、unemployment 失业“等的上升
weather 作动词用，表示”经受住“，比如：to weather the storm 经受住风暴的袭击
three factors 三个因素，数词+复数名词，具有统领后文的功能，预示着后文讲分别按照这三个factors进行展开论述！
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