新概念英語(yǔ)第四冊(cè)Lesson+17+A+man-made+disease+講義

Lesson17Aman-madedisease人為的疾病Whatfactorhelpedtospreadthediseaseofmyxomatosis?IntheearlydaysofthesettlementofAustralia,enterprisingsettlersunwiselyintroducedtheEuropeanrabbit.ThisrabbithadnonaturalenemiesintheAntipodes,sothatitmultipliedwiththatpromiscuous1abandoncharacteristicofrabbits.Itoverranawholecontinent.Itcauseddevastation2byburrowing4andbydevouring5theherbagewhichmighthavemaintainedmillionsofsheepandcattle.Scientistsdiscoveredthatthisparticularvarietyofrabbit(andapparently6nootheranimal)wassusceptible7toafatalvirusdisease,myxomatosis.Byinfectinganimalsandlettingthemlooseintheburrows8,localepidemics10ofthisdiseasecouldbecreated.Lateritwasfoundthattherewasatypeofmosquitowhichactedasthecarrierofthisdiseaseandpasseditontotherabbits.Sowhiletherestoftheworldwastryingtogetridofmosquitoes,Australiawasencouragingthisone.Iteffectivelyspreadthediseasealloverthecontinentanddrasticallyreducedtherabbitpopulation.Itlaterbecameapparentthatrabbitsweredevelopingadegreeofresistancetothisdisease,sothattherabbitpopulationwasunlikelytobecompletelyexterminated12.Therewerehopes,however,thattheproblemoftherabbitwouldbecomemanageable.Ironically,Europe,whichhadbequeathedtherabbitasapesttoAustralia,acquiredthisman-madediseaseasapestilence13.AFrenchphysiciandecided14togetridofthewildrabbitsonhisownestateandintroducedmyxomatosis.Itdidnot,however,remainwithintheconfinesofhisestate.ItspreadthroughFrance,Wherewildrabbitsarenotgenerallyregardedasapestbutassportandausefulfoodsupply,anditspreadtoBritainwherewildrabbitsareregardedasapestbutwheredomesticated16rabbits,equallysusceptibletothedisease,arethebasisofaprofitablefurindustry.ThequestionbecameoneofwhetherMancouldcontrolthediseasehehadinvented.RITCHIECALDERScienceMakesSenseNewwordsandexpressions生詞和短語(yǔ)settlementn.新拓居地enterprisingadj.有事業(yè)心的settlern.移居者Antipodesn.新西蘭和澳大利亞（英）promiscuousadj.雜亂的abandonn.放任，縱情overrunv.蔓延，泛濫devastationn.破壞，劫掠burrow3v.挖、掘susceptibleadj.易受感染的virusn.病毒myxomatosisn.多發(fā)性粘液瘤infectv.傳染epidemic9n.流行病mosquiton.蚊蟲carriern.帶菌者exterminate11v.消滅ironicallyadv.具有諷刺意味地bequeathv.把...傳給pestn.害蟲，有害動(dòng)物pestilencen.瘟疫confinen.范圍domesticate15v.馴養(yǎng)參考譯文在澳大利亞移民初期，一些有創(chuàng)業(yè)精神的移民不明智地把歐洲兔子引進(jìn)了澳大利亞。這種兔子在澳大利亞及新西蘭沒有天敵，因此便以兔子所特有的雜亂交配迅猛繁殖起來。整個(gè)澳洲兔子成災(zāi)。它們?cè)诘叵麓蚨?，吃掉本可以飼養(yǎng)數(shù)百萬頭牛羊的牧草，給澳洲大陸造成了毀滅性的破壞。科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種特殊品種的兔子（顯然不包括別的動(dòng)物）易患一種叫“多發(fā)性粘液瘤”的致命毒性疾病。通過讓染上此病的動(dòng)物在洞內(nèi)亂跑，就可以使這種疾病在一個(gè)地區(qū)蔓延起來。后來又發(fā)現(xiàn)，有一種蚊子是傳播這種疾病的媒介，能把此病傳染給兔子。因此，世界上其他地方在設(shè)法消滅蚊子的時(shí)候，澳大利亞卻在促使這種蚊子大量繁殖。蚊子把這種疾病擴(kuò)散到整個(gè)澳洲大陸，效果甚佳，結(jié)果兔子的數(shù)目在為減少。后來，明顯看出，兔子對(duì)這種疾病已產(chǎn)生了一定程度的免疫力，所以兔子不可能被完全消滅。但是，已有希望解決兔子所帶來的問題。具有諷刺意味的是，歐洲把這種兔子作為有害動(dòng)物傳給澳洲，而歐洲自己卻染上了這種人為的瘟疫般的疾病。一位法國(guó)內(nèi)科醫(yī)生決定除掉自己莊園內(nèi)的野兔子，于是引進(jìn)了這種多發(fā)性粘液瘤疾病。然而，這種疾病并未被局限在他的莊園內(nèi)，結(jié)果在整個(gè)法國(guó)蔓延開來。野兔在法國(guó)一般不被當(dāng)作有害動(dòng)物，而被視為打獵取樂的玩物和有用的食物來源。這種疾病又蔓延到了英國(guó)。在英國(guó)，野兔被當(dāng)作有害的動(dòng)物，可是家兔是賺錢的毛皮工業(yè)的基礎(chǔ)，然而家兔同樣易感染這種疾病?，F(xiàn)在的問題是，人類能否控制住這種人為的疾病。新概念英語(yǔ)正版圖書購(gòu)買點(diǎn)擊收聽單詞發(fā)音

1promiscuous

adj.雜亂的，隨便的參考例句：Theyweretakingapromiscuousstrollwhenitbegantorain.他們正在那漫無目的地散步，突然下起雨來。Alecknowthatshewaspromiscuousandsuperficial.亞歷克知道她是亂七八糟和淺薄的。2devastation

n.毀壞；荒廢；極度震驚或悲傷參考例句：Thebombcausedwidespreaddevastation.炸彈造成大面積破壞。Therewasdevastationoneveryside.到處都是破壞的創(chuàng)傷。來自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》3burrow

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；鉆進(jìn)；vi.挖洞；翻尋；n.地洞參考例句：Earthwormsburrowdeepintothesubsoil.蚯蚓深深地鉆進(jìn)底土。Thedoghadchasedarabbitintoitsburrow.狗把兔子追進(jìn)了洞穴。4burrowing

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞(burrow的現(xiàn)在分詞)；翻尋參考例句：Whatareyouburrowingaroundinmydrawerfor?你在我抽屜里亂翻什么？來自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》Theforepawsarealsousedforburrowingandfordraggingheavierlogs.它們的前爪還可以用來打洞和拖拽較重的樹干。來自辭典例句5devouring

吞沒(devour的現(xiàn)在分詞)；耗盡；津津有味地看；狼吞虎咽地吃光參考例句：Thehungryboywasdevouringhisdinner.那饑餓的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃飯。Heisdevouringnovelafternovel.他一味貪看小說。6apparently

adv.顯然地；表面上，似乎參考例句：Anapparentlyblindalleyleadssuddenlyintoanopenspace.山窮水盡，豁然開朗。Hewasapparentlymuchsurprisedatthenews.他對(duì)那個(gè)消息顯然感到十分驚異。7susceptible

adj.過敏的，敏感的；易動(dòng)感情的，易受感動(dòng)的參考例句：Childrenaremoresusceptiblethanadults.孩子比成人易受感動(dòng)。Weareallsusceptibletoadvertising.我們都易受廣告的影響。8burrows

n.地洞(burrow的名詞復(fù)數(shù))v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞(burrow的第三人稱單數(shù))；翻尋參考例句：Theintertidalbeachunitcontainssomeorganismburrows.潮間海灘單元含有一些生物潛穴。來自辭典例句Amoleburrowsitswaythroughtheground.鼴鼠會(huì)在地下鉆洞前進(jìn)。來自辭典例句9epidemic

n.流行??；盛行；adj.流行性的，流傳極廣的參考例句：Thatkindofepidemicdiseasehaslongbeenstampedout.那種傳染病早已絕跡。Theauthoritiestriedtolocalisetheepidemic.當(dāng)局試圖把流行病限制在局部范圍。10epidemics

n．流行病參考例句：Relianceuponnaturalepidemicsmaybebothtime-consumingandmisleading.依靠天然的流行既浪費(fèi)時(shí)間，又會(huì)引入歧途。Theantibioticepidemicsusuallystartstopwhenthesummerrainyseasonbegins.傳染病通常會(huì)在夏天的雨季停止傳播。11exterminate

v.撲滅，消滅，根絕參考例句：Somepeopleexterminategardeninsectsbysprayingpoisonontheplants.有些人在植物上噴撒毒劑以殺死花園內(nèi)的昆蟲。Woodpeckerscanexterminateinsectpestshidingintrees.啄木鳥能消滅躲在樹里的害蟲。12exterminated

v.消滅，根絕(exterminate的過去式和過去分詞)參考例句：Itwasexterminatedrootandbranch.它被徹底剪除了。來自《現(xiàn)代漢英綜合大詞典》TheinsectscanbeexterminatedbysprayingDDT.可以用噴撒滴滴涕的方法大量殺死這種昆蟲。來自《用法詞典》13pestilence

n.瘟疫參考例句：Theywerecrazedbythefamineandpestilenceofthatbitterwinter.他們因那年嚴(yán)冬的饑餓與瘟疫而折磨得發(fā)狂。Apestilencewasraginginthatarea.瘟疫正在那一地區(qū)流行。14decided

adj.決定了的，堅(jiān)決的；明顯的，明確的參考例句：Thisgavethemadecidedadvan