vow v. — If you vow to do something, you make a serious promise or decision that you will do it.
foul-up — A foul-up is something that has gone badly wrong as a result of someone's mistakes or carelessness. [INFORMAL]
dither v. — When someone dithers, they hesitate because they are unable to make a quick decision about something.
medical staff — 医疗人员
scene n. — You refer to a place as a scene when you are describing its appearance and indicating what impression it makes on you. 事发地点
swiftly adv. — at high speed; quickly
on alert — If soldiers or police are on alert, they are ready to deal with anything that may happen.
contingency adj. — A contingency plan or measure is one that is intended to be used if a possible situation actually occurs. [FORMAL]
contingency fund — 应急基金、应急费用
pledge v. — If you pledge a sum of money to an organization or activity, you promise to pay that amount of money to it at a particular time or over a particular period.
knock off — To knock off an amount from a price, time, or level means to reduce it by that amount.
(1) Global public-health authorities vowed to learn from this catastrophic foul-up. (2) A fresh outbreak of Ebola, this time in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will reveal whether they have done so. So far, the signs are good. (3) The big mistake last time was to dither—containing an epidemic early is easier and cheaper and saves lives. (4) This time medical staff have been rushed to the scene, the 1m-strong city of Mbandaka on the Congo river. (5) Protective gear and medicines have been promptly deployed. (6) Health workers have swiftly started to trace those who have been in contact with Ebola sufferers. (7) Congo’s neighbours are on alert. (8) Isolation zones and treatment centres have been set up. (9) The WHO has released cash from a contingency fund. (10) Canada, Germany, the EU, America and Britain have pledged more. (11) For the next three months the WHO says it needs $26m. (12) That is a bargain: last time it cost $3.6bn to contain the epidemic and it knocked $2.2bn off the GDP of the worst-affected countries.
- catastrophe — 灾难性的，比disaster更严重。
- they have done so 对应句(1)中的“to learn from this catastrophic foul-up”。
- rush to the scene — 急速赶到事发地点。
- 1m-strong city — 100万人口的城市，exp: 1m-strong immigration population 100万移民人口。
- Isolation zones 隔离区
- that is a bargain 表示$26m很廉价，因为上次花了$3.6bn。
