外刊阅读:Understanding wet markets

近期出现的新型冠状病毒,很可能是由野生动物传染给人的,所以很多人呼吁禁止食用野生动物。但是吃野味在我国有悠久的历史,要想彻底禁止恐怕也不太容易。

Understanding wet markets

by Mary Jo DiLonardo

Fresh food markets – where people can buy fruits and vegetables and sometimes seafood and meat – are popular in many places around the world. But "wet markets" are unique to Asian countries. In some of these places, fish, poultry(家禽), snakes and other animals are slaughtered on site. Sometimes there are more exotic wild animals for sale, too.

seafood /ˈsiːfuːd/ n. 海鲜(由sea和food组成)
unique /juːˈniːk/ adj. 独特的
slaughter /ˈslɔːtə(r)/ v. 屠宰
on site 就地、当场
exotic /ɪɡˈzɒtɪk/ adj. 奇特的

They're called wet markets because they always have wet floors from the continually melting blocks of ice used to keep seafood fresh. Stall keepers also clean their areas by continually spraying them down with water.

continually /kənˈtɪnjuəli/ adv. 持续不断地(由continual加后缀-ly变成副词)
melt /melt/ v. 融化
block /blɒk/ n. 块
stall /stɔːl/ n. 摊位(stall keeper指摊主)
spray /spreɪ/ v. 喷洒

Wet markets are the main outlet for fresh produce and meat in Chinese cities, and a large city might have a few hundred wet markets, says Zhenzhong Si, a postdoctoral(博士后的) fellow at the University of Waterloo. Despite the growth of modern supermarkets and grocery stores, these traditional markets remain popular with local consumers who believe that the fresher the meat, the better it is.

outlet /ˈaʊtlet/ n. 销售点
produce /ˈprɒdjuːs/ n. 农产品
fellow /ˈfeləʊ/ n. (学术机构的)会员
growth /ɡrəʊθ/ n. 增长
grocery /ˈɡrəʊs(ə)ri/ store 食品杂货店
traditional /trəˈdɪʃ(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. 传统的(由tradition加后缀-al变成形容词)
consumer /kənˈsjuːmə(r)/ n. 消费者

Along with all the tradition, wet markets come with controversy. SARS – which is also part of the coronavirus family – killed 774 people in 29 countries between 2002 and 2003. It likely originated in wet markets in the Guangdong province of southern China. It was believed to have jumped to humans from civet cats and other animals that were being sold for consumption.

along with 伴随、和…一起
tradition /trəˈdɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 传统
controversy /ˈkɒntrəvɜːsi/ n. 争议
SARS 是一种病毒性肺炎(我国称之为“非典型肺炎”,简称“非典”)
coronavirus /kəˈrəʊnəˌvaɪərəs/ n. 冠状病毒
originate /əˈrɪdʒ(ə)neɪt/ v. 起源
province /ˈprɒvɪns/ n. 省
civet cat 果子狸
consumption /kənˈsʌmpʃ(ə)n/ n. 食用

There's been a lot of focus on wet markets during the current coronavirus outbreak. Authorities say the new coronavirus has been linked to a wet market in Wuhan. Local media outlets have reported that the market sold snakes, marmots(旱獭), monkeys and other animals. This sparked concerns that the virus was transmitted from animals to humans.

focus /ˈfəʊkəs/ n. 焦点、聚焦
current /ˈkʌr(ə)nt/ adj. 现在的
outbreak /ˈaʊtbreɪk/ n. (战争、疾病等)爆发
authorities /ɔːˈθɒrətiz/ n. 有关部门
link /lɪŋk/ v. 联系
media outlet 指通过多种渠道(报纸、电视、网络等)提供新闻的节目
spark /spɑːk/ v. 引发
concern /kənˈsɜːn/ n. 担忧
virus /ˈvaɪərəs/ n. 病毒
transmit /trænzˈmɪt/ v. 传送、传染

In mid-January, Chinese authorities temporarily banned the trade of wild animals due to the new coronavirus outbreak. No wildlife is allowed to be transported or sold in any markets or online until the epidemic is resolved.

mid- 前缀,表示“在…中间”
temporarily /ˈtempr(ə)r(ə)li/ adv. 临时地(由temporary加后缀-ly变成副词)
ban /bæn/ v. 禁止
transport /trænˈspɔːt/ v. 运输
epidemic /ˌepɪˈdemɪk/ n. (传染病)流行、疫情
resolve /rɪˈzɒlv/ v. 解决

Some experts are calling for the temporary ban on wildlife markets to be made permanent for both environmental and health safety reasons. But even outside of health concerns, the idea of wet markets and selling live and freshly slaughtered animals is unfathomable(难以理解的) to people who don't understand the culture.

call for 呼吁
temporary /ˈtemp(ə)r(ə)ri/ adj. 临时的
ban /bæn/ n. 禁令
permanent /ˈpɜːmənənt/ adj. 长期的、永久的
environmental /ɪnˌvaɪr(ə)nˈment(ə)l/ adj. 环境的(由environment加后缀-al变成形容词)
safety /ˈseɪfti/ n. 安全
live /laɪv/ adj. 活的
freshly /ˈfreʃli/ adv. 刚刚

"The term warm meat, fresh meat, sounds disgusting to me. I grew up in Germany with chilled meat. That's all I know," says Dirk Pfeiffer, a professor of veterinary(兽医的) medicine at City University in Hong Kong. "So I ask my students why and they come up with all sorts of vague things like the soup tastes better or that it is a trust issue, knowing it is a live animal at the other end and not some diseased animal. It's all very subjective."

term /tɜːm/ n. 词语
disgusting /dɪsˈɡʌstɪŋ/ adj. 令人不快的
chill /tʃɪl/ v. 使变冷、冷藏
come up with 想出
vague /veɪɡ/ adj. 含糊的
trust /trʌst/ n. 信任
some /sʌm/ adj. 某个
diseased /dɪˈziːzd/ adj. 生病的
subjective /səbˈdʒektɪv/ adj. 主观的

"Eating wild animal is considered a symbol of wealth because they are more rare and expensive," Si says. "And wild animals is also considered more natural and, thus, nutritious, compared to farmed meat. Of course, some people eat wild animals just because they were driven by curiosity."

consider /kənˈsɪdə(r)/ v. 认为、看作
symbol /ˈsɪmb(ə)l/ n. 符号、象征
wealth /welθ/ n. 财富
thus /ðʌs/ adv. 因此
nutritious /njuːˈtrɪʃəs/ adj. 有营养的
farm /fɑːm/ v. 养殖
drive /draɪv/ v. 驱使
curiosity /ˌkjʊəriˈɒsəti/ n. 好奇心

原文格式更丰富,点此查看

(如果您发现某些行的最后一个单词被分成两半了,请把您使用的浏览器升级到最新版本就能正常显示了。)

發表評論
所有評論
還沒有人評論,想成為第一個評論的人麼? 請在上方評論欄輸入並且點擊發布.
相關文章