[ti:World Leaders Turn to WWII to Inspire During Virus Crisis] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The comparisons have appeared in recent days as the world faces possibly [00:07.32]the most serious threat since the last truly international war. [00:13.76]Several world leaders have called on people to show the fearlessness of those who lived through World War II. [00:24.68]Some people have warned of an "invisible enemy:" one that could cause death, [00:31.92]damage the world's economy and create social problems. [00:37.76]Others say it is not helpful to make such comparisons and that they only add to the fear over the coronavirus. [00:48.60]The names, places and battles of World War II bring up many emotions: [00:55.96]Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. [01:03.76]Places too can have emotions tied to them: Auschwitz, Pearl Harbor and Midway Island and Stalingrad. [01:15.08]Events also can bring emotions: the siege of Leningrad, the German blitz of London, [01:23.00]the Allied bombing of Dresden, and the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [01:31.08]It is estimated that 85 million people died in WWII. [01:37.48]The coronavirus has been blamed for tens of thousands of deaths. [01:43.60]Some people worry whether these comparisons are useful or just serve as a metaphor. [01:52.36]German Chancellor Angela Merkel was born ten years after World War II ended. [01:59.84]She grew up in East Germany, a country at the time under the influence of the former Soviet Union. [02:09.92]Last week, she spoke to her countrymen on television. [02:14.92]She said: "Since the Second World War — there has been no challenge to our nation that has demanded such... united action." [02:25.68]U.S. President Donald Trump has called himself a ‘'wartime president." [02:31.92]He has used or said he would use the 70-year-old Defense Production Act [02:38.88]to battle shortages of medical supplies and equipment like masks and ventilators. [02:46.56]New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and many media opinion writers have urged him to use the law. [02:56.40]Queen Elizabeth of Britain seemed to recall her young years during the war when she drove military vehicles in Britain. [03:06.88]"At times such as these, I am reminded that our nation's history [03:12.04]has been forged by people and communities coming together to work as one," she said. [03:20.92]Italy has had more deaths than any other nation from the coronavirus so far. [03:28.72]Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said on television Saturday [03:34.24]that he was tightening the country's restrictions on movement [03:38.80]and closing everything except businesses that provide food and medicine. [03:45.80]"We are facing the most serious crisis that the country has experienced since World War II," Conte said. [03:55.92]Governments are reacting differently to the problems of keeping people working and important industries operating. [04:05.48]Rescue plans started by several Western countries remind some people of the Marshall Plan. [04:14.56]The Marshall plan was a $15-billion, American plan to rebuild Europe after the end of World War II. [04:25.08]Today, modern economies not only depend on financial resources [04:30.96]but also on the internet to connect government services and businesses. [04:37.60]Some people wonder what would happen if the internet collapsed. [04:42.60]They say such a happening would be much like the use of an atom bomb, [04:48.48]an event of unimaginable destruction. [04:51.72]I'm John Russell. [04:54.72]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM