新冠肺炎疫情已具有大流行特征，“流行病” 可不是 popular disease！

流行病 ≠ popular disease   

popular /ˈpɑːpjələr/ 

adj. 收人欢迎的;喜爱的;当红的;通俗的

popular 是一个偏向褒义的词，

流行起来的前提是大家都喜欢的。

比如：

popular music 流行音乐

popular game 受大众喜欢的游戏

a popular singer 一个受欢迎的歌手

disease (疾病)是一种大家都敬而远之的东西，

自然不能用popular修饰。

关于“流行病”该怎么翻译，

我们先看看世卫组织的声明

For the first time, the World Health Organization called the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, a pandemic.

世界卫生组织首次称新型冠状病毒COVID-19为全球大流行疾病。

pandemic /pænˈdem.ɪk/ 

adj. (of a disease) existing in almost all of an area or in almost all of a group of people, animals, or plants

(疾病)大规模流行的，广泛蔓延的

例：

In some parts of the world malaria is still pandemic.

在世界上一些地区疟疾仍在大规模流行。

n. a pandemic disease

大流行病

例：

a pandemic of influenza

流感大爆发

an influenza pandemic

流感大爆发

To understand what is a pandemic , we have to talk about what an outbreak, an epidemic and a pandemic mean.

为了理解什么是pandemic，我们必须讨论outbreak、epidemic和pandemic的意思是什么。

outbreak

n. a time when something suddenly begins, especially a disease or something elsedangerous or unpleasant

(尤指疾病、危险或不快之事的)发作，暴发，突然发生

例：

an outbreak of cholera/food poisoning/rioting/war

霍乱/食物中毒/骚乱/战争的暴发

An outbreak occurs when there is an increase, often suddenly, of the number of cases of that disease, above the usual expected number of cases in a particular area.

当该疾病的病例数突然增加，超过某一特定地区通常预期的病例数时，就会发生outbreak。

epidemic /epɪ demɪk/

n. the appearance of a particular disease in a large number of people at the same time

(疾病的)流行，传染

例：

a flu epidemic

流感的传播

An outbreak is the term used for a more limited area, and epidemic is used for larger, more widespread populations. Epidemics are usually confined to one city or region, or even a country.

Outbreak指向的区域范围更小，而epidemic则指范围更广、人口更多的地区。Epidemic通常限于一个城市或地区，甚至一个国家。

A pandemic is an epidemic that has spread over several countries and continents, and affects a large group of people.

Pandemic是一种已经蔓延到几个国家和大洲，并影响到一大群人的流行病。

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