AMERICAS NEWS MAY 5, 2009, 9:39 A.M. ET
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>China Lets Quarantined Mexicans Head Home</span>
Friction Arises with Canada Over Quarantined College Students
By SHAI OSTER and PATRICIA JIAYI HO
BEIJING—China allowed quarantined Mexicans to head back home Tuesday, dousing one diplomatic brushfire sparked from its handling of the flu outbreak, as new friction rose with Canada over banned pig imports and a group of quarantined Canadian university students.
A chartered plane collected Mexicans who had been held in isolation in cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai, since late last week on fears of the new A/H1N1 virus. The virus, sometimes called swine flu, appears to have started in Mexico or the Southwestern U.S. but has spread world-wide.
As part of the agreement on repatriating citizens stranded by the epidemic, China sent a plane to pick up some 99 Chinese citizens stuck in Mexico since China suspended flights between the two nations over the weekend.
China, vulnerable to an epidemic because of its huge population and weak public-health infrastructure, has aggressively tried to contain the new flu. China drew international criticism for its handling of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2002-2003, which was hampered by an initial cover-up.
This time, China has moved swiftly to quash an external threat of disease, putting health officials on high alert, quarantining passengers on a flight with the one confirmed case in China and promising to invest five billion yuan, or $733 million, to fight swine flu.
But the government has come across as insensitive in its handling of foreign nationals, which included dozens of Mexicans, some Canadians and a handful of Americans.
China faces complaints from Canada, just ahead of a visit by Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon this weekend.
Canada voiced concern over 22 university students with no apparent flu symptoms held in a northeastern Chinese city since arriving there over the weekend.
Part of a larger group of nearly 30 language students traveling on a program from the University of Montreal, they were put into isolation shortly after getting off a plane in Changchun, in the northern Chinese province of Jilin Saturday.
"Why were the students placed in quarantine when there are no symptoms?" said Patrice Cousineau, head of public affairs for the Canadian embassy in Beijing.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu confirmed the students were healthy, but defended the action. <span style='color:red'>"The relevant departments in Jilin province acted in accordance with pertinent Chinese regulations and implemented seven days of medical observation," Mr. Ma told reporters.</span>
And the Canadian government threatened to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization if China doesn't lift a ban on hog and pork product imports. Last month, China banned shipments of such meat products from Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, California, Kansas, New York and Ohio and said U.S. states affected by the flu automatically will be added to the list. The ban was imposed after a Canandian herd of pigs was infected with the swine flu. Medical authorities says swine flu cannot be contracted by eating properly cooked pork.
<span style='color:red'>"In order to protect the safety of China's livestock and human health, China has no choice but to take last-minute preventative measures," Mr. Ma said.</span>
Separately, two U.S. citizens are being quarantined by Chinese health authorities, and two others who were quarantined have been released, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said. The four Americans were held in quarantine because they had shown symptoms when getting off recent flights into China, or because they had been in proximity to "someone of concern," said Susan Stevenson, the embassy spokeswoman.
source: <a href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1241502 ... #printMode' target='_blank'>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1241502 ... intMode</a>
ref link: <a href='http://forums.bizedu.net/index.php?showtopic=1010' target='_blank'>http://forums.bizedu.net/index.php?showtopic=1010</a>
head back home
head 表示依某个方向行走、移动，此处指允许墨西哥因感染病毒而被隔离的乘客回国
douse one diplomatic brushfire
douse, or dowse，原意为浇水以熄火(to stop a fire from burning by pouring water on it)，此处指平息（与墨西哥的）外交纷争、纠纷，后句出现的friction原意为摩擦，也属同义（指中加缘起于猪肉进出口和22名来华留学生隔离事件的争议）
stranded 意为陷入困境(left in difficulties, eg without money, friends or transport)，与后句的stuck同义，均表示两国公民在对方国家由于流感而受困，行动不便。
draw international criticism 意为引发了负面的国际评论，即指2003年国内爆发SARS未能及时处理
quash, put on high alert, quarantine从三方面描述当局对本次疫情的处理手段相当迅速(move swiftly)：境外病源、卫生系统官员、境外流入人员的隔离。
come across as 意为给人留下……印象，意指中国当局虽然对内应急措施改善，但对墨西哥、加拿大及美国公民的处理上显得迟钝，此处注意对“一些”人的表达，如墨西哥人（70多名）用dozens of，加拿大人（22名）用some，美国人（4名）用a handful of
put into isolation shortly after getting off a plan
put into isolation与后文的placed in quarantine同义，即被隔离；shortly after意为即、马上。随团来华的22名加拿大学生刚下飞机即被隔离观察，加方无法理解的是这22名留学生并未表现出明显感染症状，因此向中方提出质疑（加拿大和墨西哥同美国人同穿“北美自由贸易区”这一条裤子，似乎弱智到不理解啥叫潜伏期了）。
in proximity to someone of concern 指与（疑似者）有近距离接触，proximity表示空间或时间上的接近。因猪流感传染距离较大，为安全起见，中国方面采取了必要的措施对相关或有关人员进行了隔离观察
本篇报导重点在于中国官方发言人的回应