plague
单词辨析：
指糟糕的事情（如病痛、问题等）在很长一段时间内不断困扰某个人、组织、地区等，通常用被动语态。
He was plagued by insomnia.
他受到失眠的折磨。
Labour shortages continued to plague that area.
用工荒继续困扰该地区。
指疾病、战争、贫困等让某人、某地区等饱受折磨，常用被动语态。
About 20% of that country's population is afflicted by famine.
那个国家20%左右的居民饱受饥荒之苦。
How many people around the world are afflicted with arthritis?
世界上有多少人为关节炎所折磨？
指使人、机构、地区等遭受不愉快的事。
The strikes inflicted serious damage on the company.
罢工给公司造成了巨大损失。
Peasants still had to pay the rent despite all of the damage inflicted by the storm.
尽管暴风雪造成了各种损失，农民依然得交租。
相关例句：
Epidemic diseases such as smallpox, bubonic plague, and malaria were declared things of the past.
流行性疾病如天花，疟疾和鼠疫被宣布成为过去。
They survived plague, famine, earthquakes and volcanoes.
他们历经瘟疫、饥荒、地震和火山爆发存活下来。
The plague has spread over many states.
瘟疫在好些个邦传开了。
The others have fled from the plague.
其他人都逃避瘟疫去了。
Tim seems to have escaped the cynicism which is the absolute plague of our generation.
蒂姆好像并没有染上我们这代人愤世嫉俗的通病。
Rat plague threatens grasslands in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia.
鼠疫威胁新疆和内蒙大草原。