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Herd immunity： Why does herd immunity in English use herd？

This article is reproduced from "A Zewai English Notes" and has been authorized.
At the beginning of the spread of the epidemic in March 2020, the British Prime Minister put forward the proposal of "herd immunity", which made many people feel "refreshing". At that time, the successful development of the vaccine against COVID-19 was still far away, and the British Prime Minister could only imagine the HERD Immunization achieved through "infection of diseases". This proposal with low safety attracted a lot of criticism at that time.
Since the beginning of this year, with the listing of various vaccines, safer herd immunity has become an important means to fight the epidemic. Countries are encouraging people to vaccinate, and strive to reach the vaccination scale needed to realize herd immunity as soon as possible.
Herd immunity will effectively reduce the negative impact of the epidemic and protect people’s health; This statement itself also contains a remarkable feature of English in language and culture, as well as the great differences between English and Chinese.
Before explaining English knowledge, let’s first understand the principle of group immunity.
What’s with Herd immunity?
The definition of Herd immunity is roughly as follows:
Herd immunity is a phenomenon seen when a high percentage of individuals within a population have developed immunity to a pathogen.Group immunity is a phenomenon: in a certain population, a large proportion of people are immune to a certain pathogen (such as bacteria or viruses).
Because so many people within the community are unable to contract the disease or virus, this reduces the likelihood that those who have not developed immunity will contract the disease. Because most individuals in this population have acquired immunity, they will not be infected with related diseases or viruses; In this way, the possibility and risk of exposure to related diseases or viruses will be greatly reduced for those individuals who have not acquired immunity in the whole population.
There are two ways to obtain immunity from a virus or bacteria: infection or vaccination. Comparatively, vaccination is the safer, more effective path, as it provides immunity without illness.
There are two ways to get immunity from a virus or bacteria: one is to infect the disease, and the other is to vaccinate. In contrast, the method of vaccination is more effective and safer, and it will not cause illness while generating immunity.
Different expressions for "group"
In English, there are several other expressions of held immunity, including community immunity, population immunity and social immunity, but in newspapers and media, most articles use the wording of held immunity.
The original meaning of the word herd in English is not used for "people", but to describe "groups of animals".
In practical use, herd mainly refers to cattle, and sometimes also refers to deer or elephants, such as: A herd of cows/deer/elephants and so on.
Using herd to refer to people is strictly an extended metaphor. In addition to newspapers and magazines, people are often referred to in various fictional novels, and the language effect is herd vivid, such as:
She pushed her way through a herd of lunchtime drinkers.
She struggled through the crowd who were having lunch and drinking.
Two idioms
Although the description of "crowd" with herd is vivid and interesting, its meaning is not completely neutral, and it is somewhat disapproving or even critical. It is emphasized that when many people get together, they often lose the ability to think independently as individuals.
Herd mentality or herd instinct, which is often used in English, is usually described as "herd mentality" in Chinese, which means: like flocks of animals and livestock, they have no thinking ability, only know that follow the herd takes action with the whole group; What most other members of the group do, they follow suit.
There is an idiom to ride herd on sb/sth in American English, which is often used to describe crowds. This idiom comes from the plains of the western United States, which reminds people of the scene of cowboys riding horses and herding cattle on the grassland.
Although it originated in the countryside, to ride herd on sb/sth is mainly used in urban areas, which refers to crowd control, usually refers to unorganized crowds, such as:
The police rides herd on crowds of youths on the streets.
The police kept order in the street to prevent groups of young people from getting out of control.
Situation difference
This figurative use of herd to refer to the crowd mainly exists in newspaper articles and literary novels, and is also used in popular science books for the public.
However, in academic articles and official documents of various institutions and departments, most people deliberately avoid using Herd to describe people. For example, in academic and formal occasions, herd immunity is usually replaced by community immunity and population immunity.
Although this will reduce the vividness of the language, it can rule out the possibility of association and avoid being offended. Although it is vivid, it is more objective and accurate.
cultural difference
Different from English culture, many other languages and cultures are not used to using words specially used to describe animals to describe human beings, and even are very taboo about it. This is the case in Chinese, and an obvious example is a large number of insulting expressions in traditional Chinese that originated from "dogs".
This cultural difference between Chinese and English deserves special attention when learning and using English. When translating English-quoted media articles, it is especially important to realize that when "animals" are used to describe "people" in English, they are usually not insulting, and they are not intentionally offending others and calling them "animals, pigs and dogs are inferior".
Most of the time, Herd’s analogy of "animal" to "human" can be directly translated into plain language without rhetorical meaning.
Two more "groups"
Realizing the cultural differences between Chinese and English in animal metaphor can also help us to use English more vividly and effectively, and we will not be timid because of this "burden" of traditional Chinese rhetoric expression.
English words like herd, which use animals to describe "people", are very rich and constitute a systematic series.
For example, herd is suitable for cattle, deer, elephants and other large animals; The "flock" of smaller animals is called flock in English, which mainly refers to sheep.
In addition, flock can also refer to a flock of birds, such as the proverbial birds of a feather flock together, which often corresponds to the Chinese word "birds of a feather flock together". When describing insects, such as bees, it will be called swarm.
Like herd, flock and swarm are often used to describe people, which not only remind people of vivid images, but also have their own division of meaning and function, describing different characteristics and aspects of "group behavior" respectively. In English, these statements are usually not regarded as insulting or demeaning.
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＂Changsha Nightlife＂ held a life stream of college students watching movies and moved the audience.


1905 movie network news Produced by, producer, screenwriter and director, starring,,,,, Wu Jun and Luo Gang, the film starring,, and friendship officially landed on the national big screen on April 28th. As the film with the most humanistic characteristics in May 1st this year, Nightlife in Changsha has gained wide resonance with its fireworks narrative, romantic temperament and healing style since its release, and its reputation ranks first among 18 May 1st new films.

A few days ago, "Changsha Nightlife" held a movie-watching activity for college students in Changsha, which was well received. Enthusiastic college students praised the real Changsha nightlife in Zhang Ji’s lens as full of texture, and even said that the unique four groups of characters were very attractive. Zhang Ji, the director, adopted a more life-oriented writing style in the film. Every scene contains small drama entanglements and details, and tells the stories of ordinary people in Changsha, a lively and hot city, with warm and delicate narrative techniques, bearing infinite fireworks and human feelings in "One Night in Changsha".


The real resonance of fireworks in Changsha touched Hunan audience with emotional temperature.

"Nightlife in Changsha" focuses on ordinary and warm people in Changsha, with the taste of the city streets at night as the bottom and the warmth of healing as the overall tone, and interprets the life in Changsha through the perspective of small people and multi-dimensional emotional pattern. Family, friendship and love run through it and blend into the night in Changsha. This is not only a night in Changsha, but also a night spent by every ordinary person in China.

As a native of Hunan, Zhang Ji admits that Nightlife in Changsha is a film dedicated to his hometown. The film also gathered a group of Hunan masters to cheer together to help out. YIN FANG, LAY, Luo Gang and Liao Fan are all authentic Changsha people, while Zhang Jingyi, Wu Jun and Ahu、Yue are all Hunan actors. Zhang Ji, the director, chose Changsha as the background of his first film creation, which came from his own emotional motivation as a Hunan native. In the whole creative process of the film, he also abandoned the traditional creative mode and made the film "a little personalized and regional". In addition, many Changsha dialects in the film have also resonated deeply with Hunan audiences. Director Zhang Ji also said that the language in the film also represents the development of the city. Actors from different regions use different dialects, making Changsha, a vibrant city, more diverse, more open and more inclusive.


Nightlife shows different urban customs and brings new experiences to the national audience.

The film "Nightlife in Changsha" was filmed at night. In addition to the unique night scene of Changsha, the audience was deeply impressed by the beautiful night scene of Xiangjiang River and the vibrant night market culture in the camera, and thanked the director for letting the national audience enjoy this unique "Changsha Wonder".

In order to create this film, Zhang Ji specially arranged a period of time to travel to Changsha to collect wind and immerse himself in the city. When he strolled to liberate the west at 1 am, he was deeply shocked by the enthusiasm and freedom shown by the young people on the road, and he felt the vitality of every ordinary person who loves life and is ready to rush to tomorrow in the night. The crew started at five or six o’clock in the evening every day for 32 nights, and finished at six o’clock in the morning the next day, because the film had to be presented at night. However, through this shooting, all the masters have a new experience of Changsha, and it is the interweaving of night and day in Changsha that produces the unique charm of the city.


The director talked about shooting interesting scenes. LAY Zhang Jingyi gave a performance.

As a special performance of this film, LAY’s performance surprised many audiences, and everyone said that his true colors in Changsha Yazi were too substitutive. LAY plays the talk show actor He An, and the bond between her parents is touching. Director Zhang Ji said at the exchange site that it is the authentic Changsha dialect and talk show scenes in LAY that show the charm of the role 120%.

In addition, many viewers were moved by Xixi (Zhang Jingyi)’ s bravery and frankness, and director Zhang Ji also shared the interesting stories during the filming. When filming the scene of Zhang Jingyi singing in downtown, even though she was recognized by the audience at the scene, she broke her tension. "I feel that this character is like He Xixi, and she seems to leave the city the next day naively, and this unique sneak shot scene is also because" after the barriers between actors and audiences are broken, this kind of life-style film is more unique ".


The first film starring Changsha detonated the soul of Star City Group.

As a film starring Changsha, Nightlife in Changsha won unanimous support from Changsha people as soon as it appeared. Changsha, online celebrity, which was in a terrible fire, finally got its own movie, which ignited the pride of many Changsha people in their hometown.

The film runs through the "feelings of Changsha" from beginning to end, not only the familiar scenes in the streets and lanes, the spicy and delicious Hunan dishes on the table, the blurted Changsha dialect, but also the music of the film is full of Changsha’s unique charm. The opening song "Xiangjiang River Water" is a high-burning explosion field, and LAY rap in Changsha dialect to express the pride of Changsha people; The theme song "Sender Changsha" sung by Bird, Land Rover and Ahu、Yue is like an emotional letter written by Changsha to everyone, full of the warmth and tolerance of this city, which makes many migrant workers cry after listening to it; The propaganda song "Life is too short to have another bowl" sings Changsha’s spiritual temperament and attitude towards life through rice noodles, the most familiar food in Changsha. At the premiere event in Changsha, many old Changsha people couldn’t hide their excitement. They recounted the authentic details of Changsha in the movie, such as the old serving rule of "No fish in the sixth bowl", the sound of the Hunan nursery rhyme "Moon Baba" … Some young people who just arrived in Changsha said that they finally understood "why Changsha is a city with such a strong sense of happiness" after watching the movie, saying that they had "seen the movie". Nightlife in Changsha makes the soul of Changsha Youth League more and more "off the charts". Many Changsha audiences and even Hunan audiences spontaneously went to the short film barrage released by the film to wave flags and shout for Changsha, support their hometown together, and call friends to support their hometown movies.