سؤال قراءة ستيب محلول — فهم التفاصيل (تدريب 7039)

(1) From 1918 to 1920 the virus known as the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people worldwide, killing 50 to 100 million of them. The only continent it did not reach was Antarctica; deaths were registered from northern Alaska to the islands of Samoa. The virus began in conditions that were perfect to help it spread across the globe, turning the battlefields of World War I into huge centers of infection. Though the flu had long been a familiar disease, the subtype (special type) of 1918 took scientists by surprise. They were shocked as much by the speed of its spread as by the number of people it killed. Though some experts believe the virus’s origins were in Europe, the theory most accepted today suggests that it began in the United States, and later travelled on an army ship to the battlefields of France. From there, an army of disease germs, like enemy soldiers in a secret war ‘Ashgan’, spread out through the air and infected a third of the world’s population, killing between 2.5% and 5% of everyone on earth. In the future, suggests the World Health Organization, there will be more and perhaps more deadly flu pandemics (worldwide diseases), threatening global health and security and putting the future of human society at risk. The virus won’t need a great war to help it cover the earth; it will be enough for one carrier to get on an airplane and, in less than 20 hours, cover the distance between Tokyo and New York, or between Sydney and Doha. What phrase other than “Spanish Flu” does the writer use to describe the deadly virus of