(46)If you consult comparative global economic and social statistics, it is not difficult to paint a bleak picture of Arab failure, based on a broad pattern of underperformance in investment, productivity, trade, education, social development and even culture.The total manufacturing exports of the entire Arab world have recently been below those of the Philippines or Israel. From 1980 to 2000 Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Jordan between them registered 367 patents in the United States. Over the same period Korea alone registered 16, 328 and Israel 7, 652. The number of books translated into Arabic every year in the entire Arab world is one-fifth the number translated by Greece into Greek. Comparisons like these need to be treated with care. For millions of Arabs, living conditions have improved rather than deteriorated over recent decades. (47)Indeed, the starkest economic challenge Arabs face — a massive population explosion — is itself the product of big strides in immunisation, nutrition and child health.In a survey of Arab economies published in 2007 by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Marcus Noland and Howard Pack reported that on fundamental social indicators such as literacy, poverty and education the Arab countries do as well as or better than most other countries with similar incomes. And within the Arab world there are vast regional discrepancies that limit the value of generalisations. (48)In 2002 The Economist noted in a special report on the Gulf states that the six desert monarchies since 1970 had trebled literacy levels to 75%, added 20 years to average life expectancy and created a world-class infrastructure by spending a total of $ 2 trillion.Some of these gains are now threatened by the global economic downturn. (49)The bursting of the property and tourism bubble in the Gulf will have impact throughout the region, and most of the migrant workers there hail from Asia, but a lot are also sucked in from the poorer Arab countries.They — and Arabs working in Europe — are now losing their jobs and heading home, so families and home economies are deprived of precious remittances. The World Bank reckons that remittances make up about a fifth of GDP in Lebanon and Jordan. Egypt will be hit too: an unknown number of Egyptians, but at least several million, live and work abroad, many of them in the Gulf. And yet the present downturn is not the Arabs"main economic worry. If anything, Arab countries are less vulnerable than other parts of the world. The energy producers still have the cash windfall they collected before oil prices tumbled — and now prices are rising again. (50)As for the wider Arab world, what in good times is a disadvantage — the fact that their economies and financial institutions are weakly integrated into the global economy — is at present providing a measure of shelter from the storm.
Scientists around the world are racing to learn how to rapidly diagnose, treat and stop the spread of a new, deadly disease. SARS — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — was【C1】______for the first time in February 2003 in Hanoi, 【C2】______since then has infected more than 1, 600 people in 15 countries, killing 63. At this【C3】______there are more questions than answers surrounding the disease. Symptoms start【C4】______a fever over 100. 4 degrees F, chills, headache or body【C5】______Within a week, the patient has a dry cough, which might【C6】______to shortness of breath. In 10% to 20% of cases, patients require【C7】______ventilation to breathe. About 3.5% die from the disease. Symptoms【C8】______begin in two to seven days, but some reports suggest it【C9】______take as long as 10 days. Scientists are close to【C10】______a lab test to diagnose SARS. In the meantime, it is diagnosed by its symptoms. There is no evidence【C11】______antibiotics or anti-viral medicines help, 【C12】______doctors can offer only supportive care. Patients with SARS are kept in isolation to reduce the risk of【C13】______Scientists aren"t sure yet, but some researchers think it"s a【C14】______discovered corona-virus, the family of viruses that cause some common colds. Most cases appear to have been passed【C15】______droplets expelled when infected patients cough or sneeze. Family members of infected people and medical workers who care for them have been most likely to【C16】______the illness. But recent developments in Hong Kong suggest that the【C17】______might spread through air, or that the virus might【C18】______for two to three hours on doorknobs or other【C19】______Health experts say it is【C20】______, though, that sharing an elevator briefly with an infected person would be enough to pass the virus. 【C17】
A. ailment
B. ill-health
C. disease
D. infection