2月18日午间双语新闻：线上教育体系建设加速 China to boost online education

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Number of newborns falls in 2020
去年登记新生儿1003.5万

The number of newborns whose names were registered with public security authorities on the Chinese mainland last year dropped by about 15 percent from the previous year to 10.03 million, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Of those newborns, about 5.3 million were boys and 4.7 million were girls, the ministry said in a report released on Monday. 
公安部2月8日发布报告称，2020年出生并已经到公安机关进行户籍登记的新生儿1003.5万，与2019年相比下降15%。其中男孩约530万，女孩约470万。2020年的出生人口总数尚未公布。

The total number of births last year has not been released, but the number had been falling in recent years despite the implementation of the universal second-child policy at the beginning of 2016. 
尽管2016年初我国开始实施全面二孩政策，但近年来我国出生人口一直在下降。

In 2019, the total number of births on the Chinese mainland was 14.65 million, compared with 15.23 million in the previous year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in January last year.
根据国家统计局2020年1月公布的数据，2019年全年出生人口为1465万，2018年为1523万人。

重点词汇
1. newborns
英 /ˈnjuːbɔːnz/   美 /ˈnuˌbɔrnz/  
新生儿

Lab leak 'extremely unlikely'
世卫:病毒泄露可能性极低

It is "extremely unlikely" that the novel coronavirus spread to humans through a laboratory leak, a team of international experts from the World Health Organization said during a news conference in Wuhan on Tuesday, adding that future studies into the origin of the virus will not be "geographically bound". 
2月9日，世界卫生组织国际专家组在武汉举行的一场新闻发布会上表示，实验室病毒泄露导致新冠病毒传播的可能性"微乎其微"，未来对新冠病毒溯源的研究不会局限于某个地域。

Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert on animal disease and food safety, heads a 17-member international team of experts convened by the WHO for origin-tracing of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan together with Chinese experts from Jan 14 to Feb 9. 
世卫食品安全和人畜共患疾病项目负责人彼得•本•安巴雷克是世界卫生组织新冠病毒溯源国际专家组组长，从1月14日至2月9日，国际专家组17人与中方专家组在武汉展开实地考察。

Their work in China has shown that the most likely path for the introduction of the virus to the human population was through an intermediary species, Embarek said, adding that the possibility of two other routes examined by the team - from an animal host to humans and transmission through cold or frozen food - have not been ruled out.
安巴雷克表示，通过此次考察发现，病毒通过中间宿主引入人类是最可能的一种路径，另外两条路径，动物直接传人以及冷冻食品传播的可能性也不能排除。

重点词汇
1. World Health Organization
世界卫生组织

2. origin-tracing
溯源

3. intermediary
英 /ˌɪntəˈmiːdiəri/   美 /ˌɪntərˈmiːdieri/  
n. 中间人;调解人
adj. 中间人的;调解的;居间的;媒介的

China to boost online education
线上教育体系建设加速

China plans to significantly improve its online education system by 2025, according to a document jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and four other government departments. 
日前，教育部等五部委联合印发了意见，提出到2025年构建起相对完善的线上教育体系。

By 2025, China will have established an interconnected system of online education platforms and a comprehensive resource pool of online courses, covering all subjects and all versions of textbooks, the document noted. 
意见提出，到2025年，我国将建立起互联互通的线上教育平台体系，以及覆盖所有学科和各教材版本的综合资源库。

In addition, China will have a full set of policies implemented by 2025 to support the operation and development of online education, the document added. It also emphasized the building of online education platforms from national-level to school-level to ensure that online education resources are accessible to all students.
此外，到2025年，我国还将构建政策保障制度体系，以支持线上教育的运营和开发。意见强调要加强从国家级至校级的在线教育平台体系建设，确保在线教育资源覆盖全体学生。

重点词汇
1. comprehensive
英 /ˌkɒmprɪˈhensɪv/   美 /ˌkɑːmprɪˈhensɪv/  
adj. 全部的;所有的;(几乎)无所不包的;详尽的;综合性的(接收各种资质的学生)
n. (英国为各种资质的学生设立的)综合中学

Coronavirus variant spreads in US
变异新冠病毒在美传播

The coronavirus variant that has moved through the UK is now spreading "rapidly" through the US, according to a new study published on Sunday. 
根据2月7日发表的一项新研究，已经在英国传播的变异新冠病毒正在美国"迅速"传播。

The more contagious strain is nearly doubling its prevalence among confirmed cases in the US every nine days. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has predicted it could be the predominant strain by March. 
在美国的新冠确诊病例中，这种传染性更强的毒株的检出率每隔9天就增长近1倍。美国疾病控制与预防中心预测，这种变异新冠病毒或将在3月成为在美国传播的新冠病毒的主流。

This new strain is 35-45 percent more transmissible than other strains of the virus currently in the US, the report found. When the CDC first warned of the new variant's presence in the US in mid-January, it was present in less than 0.5 percent of cases. 
报告发现，这种变异病毒的传染性比目前美国发现的其他毒株要高出35-45%。美国疾病控制与预防中心1月中旬首次警告美国出现这种变异病毒时，其病例数只占不到0.5%。

By the end of the month, this figure had jumped to 3.6 percent, according to the study. The variant, first discovered in the UK, has so far spread to more than 50 countries. As with the original virus, the risk is highest for the elderly and for those with significant underlying health conditions.
研究发现，到1月底，感染该变异病毒的病例占比上升至3.6%。这种变异病毒首先在英国发现，目前已传播到50多个国家。与早先的病毒一样，老年人和那些身体健康状况不佳的人感染风险最高。

重点词汇
1. prevalence
英 /'prevələns/  
n. 流行;卓越

2. predominant
英 /prɪˈdɒmɪnənt/  美 /prɪˈdɑːmɪnənt/
adj. 主要的；卓越的；支配的；有力的；有影响

3. underlying
英 /ˌʌndəˈlaɪɪŋ/   美 /ˌʌndərˈlaɪɪŋ/  
adj. 根本的;潜在的;隐含的;表面下的;下层的
v. 构成…的基础;作为…的原因
(underlie的现在分词)

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