【专题】慢速英语英音版 0831

完整文稿请关注周六微信第三条This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.China has published its first national guideline on organ donation to better regulate the process and further raise public awareness.The guideline will be handed to organ donation coordinators to help them explain the principles and policies to families of potential donors and to gain their support for organ donations.It expounds on the ethics involved, the standards by which death is judged and the standards covering the extraction and distribution of organs.The guideline was announced on the sidelines of a conference held by a national alliance of organ procurement organizations in Guangzhou, the capital of southern China's Guangdong province.As of Aug 19, China had recorded 4,700 organ donors since 2010, with 12,700 large organs acquired. It continues to be Asia's top nation in the number of organ donations.The country began a voluntary organ donation trial in 2010 and promoted the practice nationwide in 2013. On Jan 1 this year, China banned the use of executed prisoners' organs for transplants, making donations by citizens the only legitimate source.This year, 1,600 donors had given 4,400 major organs as of Aug 19, close to the total for all of last year, showing heightened public awareness and understanding of such donations.However, China still faces a severe shortage of organs for transplants. Around 300,000 patients need transplants annually, but only around 10,000 operations are performed.This is NEWS Plus Special English.