听力文本

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Wednesday that the coronavirus crisis is now a "pandemic." The declaration came as more than 118,000 people have been infected in 114 countries. And more than 4,200 have died from the disease.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the WHO's Director-General. At a news conference in Geneva, he said, "Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly."

The health chief expected "the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries [to] climb even higher." But he said "all countries can still change the course of this pandemic. If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response."

The WHO added that Iran and Italy are the new front lines of the battle against COVID-19 . And it expected the battle to move to other countries.

Elderly patients wait to be attended in one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures outside the hospital of Brescia, Northern Italy, Tuesday, March 10, 2020.

Elderly patients wait to be attended in one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures outside the hospital of Brescia, Northern Italy, Tuesday, March 10, 2020.

Italy, the new front line

With more than 10,000 people infected by the virus and at least 631 deaths, Italy has the biggest coronavirus outbreak outside of China. The government has since placed more restrictions on daily life and announced billions in financial help Wednesday to deal with economic shocks related to the virus.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he would consider a request from Lombardy, Italy's hardest-hit area, asking for a shutdown of unnecessary businesses and cutback of public transportation. The tough measures would be on top of existing travel and social restrictions, keeping people 1 meter apart and closing businesses by 6 p.m.

Claudia Sabbatini, a children's clothing storeowner in Milan, agreed with the tough measures but decided to close the store. "I cannot have people standing at a distance. Children must try on the clothes. We have to know if they will fit," she said.

Normal life is changing in many places, including the Vatican. On Wednesdays, the Pope usually delivers his weekly speeches to tens of thousands of visitors in St. Peter's Square. This week, it is live-streamed from inside.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that if the virus is not stopped, up to 70 percent of the country's 83 million people could become infected. Germany has some 1,300 confirmed infections. Belgium, Bulgaria, Sweden, Albania and Ireland all announced their first virus-related deaths this week.

More colleges in the United States emptied their classrooms as they moved to online learning. Silvana Gomez is a student at Harvard University, where students were told to leave campus by Sunday. She said, "It's terrifying. I'm definitely very scared right now about what the next couple days, the next couple weeks look like."

Sports fans are wondering what will happen with opening day of the major league baseball season and college basketball's championships, which are both coming soon.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who are competing in the presidential election, both canceled meetings with supporters in the state of Ohio Tuesday.

New York's governor limited the movement of people in a small city north of New York City where many people are infected with the virus. And he ordered the state's National Guard to clean public places and deliver food to its people.

In the Mideast, most of the nearly 10,000 cases of infections are in Iran. The Fars news agency said the people infected with the virus include Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and several ministers.

Infected cases in Qatar increased from 24 to 262. And Kuwait announced a two-week shutdown of the country.

Beijing's city government announced that all overseas visitors will be separated from others for 14 days. China reported 24 new cases Wednesday – but they included five people arriving from Italy and one from the United States.

I'm Jill Robbins.

重点讲解：

1.deal with：处理

We often deal with him.

我们经常与他打交道。

2.on top of：另外，在...之上

Put this book on top of the others.

把这本书放在其他书的上边。

3.be separated from：与...分离

But the soul of a book can be separated from its body.

但是，一本书的灵魂能够从它的躯体里分离出来。

参考译文

周三世界卫生组织(WHO)宣布，冠状病毒危机现在是一场“流行病”。 该声明发表之际，已有114个国家超过11.8万人感染。超过4200人死于这种疾病。

谭德塞是世卫组织总干事。在日内瓦的一次新闻发布会上，他说，“大流行病这个词不能随便使用。”卫生部长预计“病例数量、死亡人数和受影响国家的数量将攀升得更高。”

但是他说，“所有国家仍然可以改变这场大流行病的进程。如果各国在应对中发现、检测、治疗、隔离、追踪和动员本国人民。”

世界卫生组织补充说，伊朗和意大利是对抗COVID-19的新前线。它还预计这场战斗将转移至其他国家。

意大利爆发了中国以外最严重的冠状病毒疫情，超过1万人感染，至少631人死亡。此后，政府对日常生活施加了更多限制，并于周三宣布提供数十亿美元的经济援助，以应对与该病毒有关的经济冲击。

意大利总理朱塞佩·孔特(Giuseppe Conte)表示，他将考虑意大利重灾区伦巴第的请求，要求关闭不必要的企业，并削减公共交通。

这些严厉的措施更甚于现有的旅行和社交限制，让人们互相之间保持1米的距离，所有商铺在下午6点前关闭。

米兰一家儿童服装店的店主克劳迪娅·萨巴蒂尼同意这些严厉的措施，但决定关闭其店铺。“我无法让人们互相之间保持距离。孩子们必须试穿衣服。我们要知道衣服是否合身，”她说。

许多地方的正常生活正在改变，包括梵蒂冈。每周三，教皇通常都会在圣彼得广场向成千上万的游客发表每周讲话。本周，讲话将在教堂内部以现场直播的形式进行。

在德国，总理默克尔警告说，如果这种病毒不被制止，德国8300万人口中多达70%的人可能会被感染。德国有大约1300人被确诊感染。

比利时、保加利亚、瑞典、阿尔巴尼亚和爱尔兰都在本周宣布了第一例与病毒相关的死亡病例。

在美国，越来越多的大学将线下教学转为了线上学习。西尔瓦娜·戈麦斯是哈佛大学的一名学生，该校要求学生在周日之前离校。她说:“太可怕了。我现在非常害怕未来几天，未来几周会是什么样子。”

美国职业棒球大联盟(major league baseball)和大学篮球锦标赛(college basketball's championships)的开幕日即将到来，体育迷们都想知道接下来会发生什么。

参加总统竞选的美国前副总统拜登和参议员桑德斯都取消了星期二在俄亥俄州与支持者的会晤。

纽约州长限制了纽约市北部一个小城市里人们的活动，那里有很多人感染了这种病毒。他还命令该州的国民警卫队清理公共场所，并给民众分发食物。

在中东地区，近1万例感染病例中的大多数发生在伊朗。法尔斯通讯社表示，感染病毒的人包括副总统埃沙格·贾汉吉里和几位部长。

卡塔尔的感染病例从24例增加到262例。科威特宣布封锁本国两周。

北京市政府宣布，所有海外游客将被隔离14天。周三中国报告了24起新病例，其中包括5名来自意大利和1名来自美国的人。

吉尔·罗宾斯报道。