The World Bank is warning that the West Africa Ebola outbreak could seriously harm the economies(经济) of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless action is taken quickly. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim spoke to reporters recently to discuss the effects of the Ebola spread.

"Our findings show that if the virus(病毒) continues to spread, the economic cost to these countries could grow eight times by 2015. This would be a big catastrophe to their already weak economies," said Kim.

Mr. Kim says, "saving lives and preventing new spread" is most important. The bank has given $117-million for an "immediate help." The World Bank President says the SARS outbreak between 2002 and 2004 showed how a disease could damage economies. 800 people died from SARS and the economic losses were up to $40-billion.

Mr. Kim says SARS and the H1N1 outbreak of 2009 taught that fear and avoidance resulted in about 90-percent of the economic losses. That means the disease is causing two levels of economic damage.

"There are two kinds of contagion(传染). One is connected with the virus itself and the second is connected with the spread of fear about the virus," said Kim.

The World Bank thinks the losses to the economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will be big .Mr. Kim says losses could be about $97-million at the moment.

Mr. Kim says fast action is necessary. He says getting the disease under control is still far away. That is because there are not enough health care workers in the affected areas. The World Bank President says the most important measure is to act quickly in order to limit economic losses.

1.What does the underlined word mean in the second paragraph?

A. effort B. disaster

C. warning D. result

2.If quick action is not taken to stop the spread of Ebola, the economic losses could reach about_______by 2015.

A. $800-million B. $97-million

C. $117-million D. $40-billion.

3.What’s the main idea of the whole passage?

A. Ebola is a serious and infectious(传染的)illness.

B. Large numbers of people have died from Ebola.

C. People in the West Africa are in great fear of the spread of Ebola virus.

D. Ebola will harm economies in the West Africa seriously without quick action.

 

 0  129719  129727  129733  129737  129743  129745  129749  129755  129757  129763  129769  129773  129775  129779  129785  129787  129793  129797  129799  129803  129805  129809  129811  129813  129814  129815  129817  129818  129819  129821  129823  129827  129829  129833  129835  129839  129845  129847  129853  129857  129859  129863  129869  129875  129877  129883  129887  129889  129895  129899  129905  129913  151629 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网