必修五Unit 1 JOHN SNOW DEFEATS “KING CHOLERA” 约翰·斯诺击败“霍乱王” John Snow was a famous doctor in London - so expert, indeed, that he attended Queen Victoria as her personal physician.约翰·斯诺是伦敦一位著名的医生——他的确医术精湛，因而成为照料维多利亚女王的私人医生。But he became inspired when he thought about helping ordinary people exposed to cholera.但他一想到要帮助那些得了霍乱的普通百姓时，他就感到很振奋。This was the deadly disease of its day.霍乱在当时是最致命的疾病，Neither its cause nor its cure was understood.人们既不知道它的病源，也不了解它的治疗方法。So many thousands of terrified people died every time there was an outbreak.每次霍乱暴发时，就有大批惊恐的老百姓死去。John Snow wanted to face the challenge and solve this problem.约翰·斯诺想面对这个挑战，解决这个问题。He knew that cholera would never be controlled until its cause was found.他知道，在找到病源之前，霍乱疫情是无法控制的。 He became interested in two theories that possibly explained how cholera killed people.斯诺对霍乱致人死地的两种推测都很感兴趣。The first suggested that cholera multiplied in the air. A cloud of dangerous gas floated around until it found its victims.一种看法是霍乱病毒在空气中繁殖着，像一股危险的气体到处漂浮，直到找到病毒的受害者为止。The second suggested that people absorbed this disease into their bodies with their meals.第二种看法是人们在吃饭的时候把这种病毒引入体内的。From the stomach the disease quickly attacked the body and soon the affected person died.病从胃里发作而迅速殃及全身，患者就会很快地死去。 John Snow suspected that the second theory was correct but he needed evidence.斯诺推测第二种说法是正确的，但他需要证据。So when another outbreak hit London in 1854, he was ready to begin his enquiry.因此，在1854年伦敦再次暴发霍乱的时候，约翰·斯诺着手准备对此进行调研。As the disease spread quickly through poor neighbourhoods, he began to gather information.当霍乱在贫民区迅速蔓延的时候，约翰·斯诺就开始收集资料。In two particular streets, the cholera outbreak was so severe that more than 500 people died in ten days.他发现特别在两条街道上霍乱流行的很严重，在10天之内就死去了500多人。He was determined to find out why.他决心要查明其原因。 First he marked on a map the exact places where all the dead people had lived.首先，他在一张地图上标明了所有死者住过的地方。This gave him a valuable clue about the cause of the disease.这提供了一条说明霍乱起因的很有价值的线索。Many of the deaths were near the water pump in Broad Street (especially numbers 16, 37, 38 and 40).许多死者是住在宽街的水泵附近（特别是这条街上16、37、38、40号）。He also noticed that some houses (such as 20 and 21 Broad Street and 8 and 9 Cambridge Street) had had no deaths.他发现有些住宅（如宽街上20号和21号以及剑桥街上的8号和9号）却无人死亡。He had not foreseen this, so he made further investigations.他以前没预料到这种情况，所以他决定深入调查。He discovered that these people worked in the pub at 7 Cambridge Street.他发现，这些人都在剑桥街7号的酒馆里打工，They had been given free beer and so had not drunk the water from the pump.而酒馆为他们免费提供啤酒喝，因此他们没有喝从宽街水泵抽上来的水。It seemed that the water was to blame.看来水是罪魁祸首。 Next, John Snow looked into the source of the water for these two streets.接下来，约翰·斯诺调查了这两条街的水源情况。He found that it came from the river polluted by the dirty water from London.他发现，水是从河里来的，而河水被伦敦排出的脏水污染了。He immediately told the astonished people in Broad Street to remove the handle from the pump so that it could not be used.他马上叫宽街上惊慌失措的老百姓拆掉水泵的把手。这样，水泵就用不成了。Soon afterwards the disease slowed down.不久，疫情就开始得到缓解。He had shown that cholera was spread by germs and not in a cloud of gas.他证明了霍乱是由病菌而不是由气体传播的。 In another part of London, he found supporting evidence from two other deaths that were linked to the Broad Street outbreak.在伦敦的另一个地区，他从两个与宽街暴发的霍乱有关联的死亡病例中发现了有力的证据。A woman, who had moved away from Broad Street, liked the water from the pump so much that she had it delivered to her house every day.有一位妇女是从宽街搬过来的，她特别喜欢那里的水，每天都要派人从水泵打水运到家里来。Both she and her daughter died of cholera after drinking the water.她和她的女儿喝了这种水，都得了霍乱而死去。With this extra evidence John Snow was able to announce with certainty that polluted water carried the virus.有了这个特别的证据，约翰·斯诺就能够肯定地宣布，这种被污染了的水携带着病菌。 To prevent this from happening again, John Snow suggested that the source of all the water supplies be examined.为了防止这种情况的再度发生，约翰·斯诺建议所有水源都要经过检测。The water companies were instructed not to expose people to polluted water any more.自来水公司也接到指令，不能再让人们接触被污染的水了。Finally "King Cholera" was defeated.最终，“霍乱王”被击败了。. 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/06d8ef7cfad6195f312ba68a.html