Coronavirus: How pandemic turned political in Brazil

By Katy Watson

BBC South America correspondent, S?o Paulo

Brazil's handling of the pandemic has turned highly political.

The country has swiftly risen up the grim leader board of coronavirus statistics and its death toll - 41,828 - is now the world's second highest.

Grim /ɡr?m/ 1.looking or sounding very serious 嚴(yán)肅的；堅定的；陰冷的

?a grim face/look/smile 嚴(yán)肅的面孔╱表情；冷笑

2.unpleasant and depressing 令人不快的；令人沮喪的

Toll /t??l/：the amount of damage or the number of deaths and injuries that are caused in a particular war, disaster, etc. （戰(zhàn)爭、災(zāi)難等造成的）毀壞；傷亡人數(shù)

death toll: 死亡人數(shù)

The Americas account for around half of the number of cases globally. Brazil, Latin America's biggest country, is now the epicentre of the epicentre.

account for：

1.PHRASAL VERB If a particular thing accounts for a part or proportion of something, that part or proportion consists of that thing, or is used or produced by it. (數(shù)量、比例上) 占

?? Computers account for 5% of the country's commercial electricity consumption.?電腦占了這個國家商業(yè)用電的5%。

2.PHRASAL VERB If something accounts for a particular fact or situation, it causes or explains it. 導(dǎo)致; 解釋

?? The gene they discovered today doesn't account for all those cases.?他們今天發(fā)現(xiàn)的那種基因解釋不了所有的那些情況。

3.PHRASAL VERB If you can account for something, you can explain it or give the necessary information about it. 解釋

Epicenter：震中，中心? the epicentre of the epicentre：中心中的中心

But its leader still seems to care very little - or at least that is the impression he is happy to portray.

Portray：1.to show sb/sth in a picture; to describe sb/sth in a piece of writing 描繪；描畫；描寫 ；?2.~ sb/sth (as sb/sth) to describe or show sb/sth in a particular way, especially when this does not give a complete or accurate impression of what they are like 將…描寫成；給人以某種印象；表現(xiàn)

Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在審訊過程中，他始終把自己說成是受害者。

3.to act a particular role in a film/movie or play 扮演（某角色）

From the outset, President Jair Bolsonaro has played down the virus. Early on in the crisis, he went on TV several times, calling it a little flu and accusing the media of hysteria.

From the outset 短語，俗語 AT/FROM THE ?OUTSET (OF STH)? ?at/from the beginning of sth 從開始

play down：If you play down something, you try to make people believe that it is not particularly important. 貶低

hysteria /h??st??ri?/ Hysteria among a group of people is a state of uncontrolled excitement, anger, or panic. 歇斯底里

He has not scheduled a television address for a while, perhaps not wanting to be drowned out by the din of pot-banging protesters on their balconies intent on making their anger over his leadership heard.

drown out：淹沒，壓過

din和banging都是發(fā)出聲音的意思，din是unpleasant noise喧囂聲，banging：撞擊發(fā)出的嘈雜聲音，pot-banging：敲打鍋發(fā)出的碰撞聲? the din of pot-banging protesters：抗議者們的大聲疾呼

Balconies：陽臺??intent on：專心于，致力于

But in the absence of the public broadcasts, the public display of irreverence continues, even as his people bury their dead in mass graves in the Amazon and hospitals in some parts are verging on collapse.

in the absence of ：在···缺席之下? ?irreverence? /??rev?r?ns/ 不敬，非禮

Verge：n路邊，小草地 V，瀕臨··

俗語on/to the verge of sth/of doing sth very near to the moment when sb does sth or sth happens 瀕于；接近于；行將???He was on the verge of tears. 他差點兒哭了出來

verging on collapse：瀕于崩潰

When questioned about the death toll in April, Mr Bolsonaro brushed it off saying "I'm not a grave-digger". A week or so later, he was asked for a comment when Brazil overtook China's death toll, to which he responded "So what?".

Brush··off ：If someone brushes you off when you speak to them, they refuse to talk to you or be nice to you. 不予理睬; 冷落

grave-digger：掘墓人

Coronavirus in Brazil

?The country has now the world's second-highest death toll, overtaking the UK

?It has confirmed 828,810 cases, according to the health ministry

?That is the second-highest total globally, behind only the US

?But the numbers are thought to be much higher because of insufficient testing

?The outbreak in the country is thought to be weeks away from its peak