Lesson 17 A man-made disease

第十七课人造疾病

by RITCHIE CALDER

from Science Makes Sense

 

17-1. In the early days of the settlement of Australia, enterprising settlers unwisely introduced the European rabbit.

【译文】澳大利亚殖民初期，一些有事业心的移居者不明智地引入了欧洲兔子。

【单词和短语】

enterprising: 有事业心的，有进取心的（having the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work），例如：

He invented the Nobel Prize for enterprising scientists.

他为有进取心的科学家创设了诺贝尔奖。

unwise:不明智的，愚蠢的，不审慎的，轻率的，鲁莽的（not based on good judgement），例如：

It is unwise to delay going to the doctor if you are sick.

生了病却拖延就医是不明智的。

unwise的名词形式为unwisdom，副词形式为unwisely。

17-2. This rabbit had no natural enemies in the Antipodes, so that it multiplied with that promiscuous abandon characteristic of rabbits.

【译文】这种兔子在澳大利亚没有天敌，因此便以兔子特有的杂乱交配迅速繁殖起来。

【讲解】so that…of rabbits是结果状语从句。with that…of rabbits作方式状语，修饰multiplied。that promiscuous abandon中的that是副词，修饰promiscuous。characteristic of rabbits作abandon的定语。

【单词和短语】

promiscuous：乱交的，杂交的（having many sexual partners），例如：

The story printed had implied that he was promiscuous.

promiscuous的名词形式为promiscuity。

abandon: 放任，放纵，无拘无束（if someone does something with abandon, they behave in a careless or uncontrolled way, without thinking or caring about what they are doing），例如：

spend money with abandon 乱花钱

laugh with the abandon of a child 孩子般地放声大笑

weep with complete abandon 号啕痛哭

The grapes grew in wild abandon. 葡萄长得异常繁茂。

17-3. It overran a whole continent.

【译文】它们向整个大陆蔓延开来。

【单词和短语】

overrun：（杂草、蔓藤等）覆盖，蔓延于；（害鸟、害虫等）大批出没于，侵扰(if unwanted things or people overrun a place, they spread over it in great numbers)，例如：

Weeds soon overrun the garden.

花园里很快就长满了杂草。

a house overrun with mice 鼠害猖獗的房子

17-4. It caused devastation by burrowing and by devouring the herbage which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle.

【译文】这种兔子挖洞掘穴，吃掉本可以饲养数百万头牛羊的牧草，从而给澳大利亚造成了毁灭性破坏。

【讲解】sheep和cattle均为单复数同型名词。which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle系定语从句，修饰herbage，其中might have maintained乃虚拟语气用法。

17-5. Scientists discovered that this particular variety of rabbit (and apparently no other animal) was susceptible to a fatal virus disease, myxomatosis.

【译文】科学家发现，这种特殊品种的兔子（显然不是别的动物）易患一种叫“多发性粘液瘤”的致命病毒性疾病。

【单词和短语】

susceptible：敏感的，过敏的（likely to suffer from a particular illness or be affected by a particular problem），例如：

You are very susceptible to colds.

你很容易感冒。

17-6. By infecting animals and letting them loose in the burrows, local epidemics of this disease could be created.

【译文】通过感染动物并把它们放在洞内，可造成这种疾病的区域性感染。

【讲解】by infecting…in the burrows作方式状语，修饰could be created。them指the infected animals。

【单词和短语】

let loose:放任，给（某人）以自由（或机会）（to speak or behave in an uncontrolled way），例如：

Mother let me loose on the apple pie.

母亲让我敞开肚子吃苹果派。

17-7. Later it was found that there was a type of mosquito which acted as the carrier of this disease and passed it on to the rabbits.

【译文】人们后来又发现，有种蚊子是传播这种疾病的媒介，并把此病传染给兔子。

【讲解】which acted as the carrier of this disease and passed it on to the rabbits系定语从句，修饰a type of mosquito。

17-8. So while the rest of the world was trying to get rid of mosquitoes, Australia was encouraging this one.

【译文】因此当世上其他地方正在设法消灭蚊子之时，澳大利亚却在促使这种蚊子大量繁殖。

【讲解】this one指a type of mosquito。

【单词和短语】

get rid of：消灭，杀死，除去（to throw away or destroy something you do not want any more），例如：

get rid of one’s inhibitions去除心理抑制

I thought I would never get rid of these weeds.

我原以为我怎么也不会把这些杂草除去了呢。

Poison will get rid of the rats in the barn.

毒药将把谷仓中的老鼠毒死。

17-9. It effectively spread the disease all over the continent and drastically reduced the rabbit population.

【译文】蚊子卓有成效地把这种疾病扩散到整个澳洲大陆，结果兔子数量大为减少。

【单词和短语】

drastic：严厉的，极端的（extreme and sudden），例如：

take a drastic step 采取极端步骤

be drastic about sth. 严厉地对待某事

a drastic change in policy 政策的重大变化

a drastic reduction in employment 大量的裁员

17-10. It later became apparent that rabbits were developing a degree of resistance to this disease, so that the rabbit population was unlikely to be completely exterminated.

【译文】后来人们明显看出兔子对这种疾病已产生了一定程度的免疫力，所以兔子不可能彻底灭绝。

【讲解】degree在句中作量词。so that…be completely exterminated作结果状语。

【单词和短语】

resistance：抵抗性，抵抗力（the natural ability of a person, animal or plant to stop diseases or difficult conditions from harming them），例如：

showresistance to drugs 显示出抗药性

have good/little bodily resistance to infection

对传染有很强的/不大有身体抵抗力

build up a resistance to the virus 增强对病毒的抵抗力

The reduction in white blood-cell counts lowers resistance to disease.

白细胞计数减少会降低对疾病的抵抗力。

exterminate：根除，灭绝，消灭（to kill large numbers of people or animals of a particular type so that they no longer exist），例如：

exterminate insects with an insecticide 以杀虫药剂灭虫

exterminate an enemy/feudalism/every error

消灭敌人/封建制度/一切错误

exterminate的名词形式为extermination。

17-11. There were hopes, however, that the problem of the rabbit would become manageable.

【译文】但不管怎样，已有希望解决欧洲兔子问题。

【讲解】that the problem…manageable作hopes的同位语。

17-12. Ironically, Europe, which had bequeathed the rabbit as a pest to Australia, acquired this man-made disease as a pestilence.

【译文】具讽刺意味的是，欧洲把这种兔子作为有害动物传到澳大利亚，后来欧洲自却从澳大利亚染上这种被视为瘟疫的人造疾病。

【讲解】as a pest是介词短语，作状语修饰had bequeathed。as a pestilence是介词短语，作定语修饰disease。

【单词和短语】

bequeath：传下，留下（to pass knowledge, customs etc to people who come after you or live after you），例如：


He bequeathed his talent to his son.

他的才能传给了他的儿子。

ideas bequeathed to us by the 19th century

19世纪传至今人的思想

bequeath a difficult political problem to the incoming administration

给行将就职的新一届政府留下一个政治难题

17-13. A French physician decided to get rid of the wild rabbits on his own estate and introduced myxomatosis.

【译文】一位法国医生决定消灭自己庄园内的野兔，于是引进了这种多发性粘液瘤疾病。

【讲解】and在文中表示结果。

17-14. It did not, however, remain within the confines of his estate.

【译文】然而这种疾病并未仅仅局限在他的庄园内。

17-15. It spread through France, where wild rabbits are not generally regarded as a pest but as sport and a useful food supply, and it spread to Britain where wild rabbits are regarded as a pest but where domesticated rabbits, equally susceptible to the disease, are the basis of a profitable fur industry.

【译文】这种疾病蔓延到全法国。野兔在法国一般不被视为有害动物，而被视为打猎取乐的玩物和有用的食物来源。这种疾病又蔓延到了英国。野兔在英国被当作有害的动物，可家兔却是利润丰厚的毛皮工业的根基，可后者同样容易感染这种疾病。

【讲解】equally susceptible to the disease作rabbits的非限制性定语。

17-16. The question became one of whether Man could control the disease he had invented.

【译文】问题是人类能否控制这种人造疾病。

【讲解】became one of whether…等于was whether…。one代替the question。这里用选用前者显得更为庄重。Man和he在文中均指人类。