微軟創辦人比爾蓋茲（Bill Gates），2月18日在德國慕尼黑安全會議發表演說，這位捐款毫不手軟的科技巨擘、慈善大戶，演說內容自然脫離不了對人類生活的關懷。
We ignore the link between health security and international security at our peril. Whether it occurs by a quirk of nature or at the hand of a terrorist, epidemiologists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year. And they say there is a reasonable probability the world will experience such an outbreak in the next 10-15 years.
It's hard to get your mind around a catastrophe of that scale, but it happened not that long ago. In 1918, a particularly virulent and deadly strain of flu killed between 50 million and 100 million people.
我們輕忽了衛生安全與國際安全之間的聯繫。流行病專家認為，無論是自然或人為所致，傳染病透過空氣快速傳播，用不到一年時間，就能殺死超過3000萬人。他們相信這類型的災難，在未來10到15年內就有可能發生。
你們也許難以想像到這種大規模災難，但其實它不久以前才發生過；1918年時，殘酷的流感疫情，就曾奪走5000萬到1億人的生命。
看懂關鍵字
Peril / ˋpɛrəl / n. 危險、危險的事物
例句：They face the peril of falling rocks.
他們面對石頭滾下來的危險。
quirk / kwɝk / n. 怪癖、奇怪之處
例句：Wearing red shoes everyday is just one of her quirk.
每天穿紅鞋只是她的怪癖之一。
Virulent / ˋvɪrulənt / adv. 致命的、劇毒的
例句：A virulent bacteria is spreading in Africa.
致命的細菌正在非洲擴散。
