新概念英語四-A-man-made-disease

新概念英語四Aman-madedisease

IntheearlydaysofthesettlementofAustralia，enterprisingsettlersunwiselyintroducedtheEuropeanrabbit.ThisrabbithadnonaturalenemiesintheAntipodes，sothatitmultipliedwiththatpromiscuousabandoncharacteristicofrabbits.Itoverranawholecontinent.Itcauseddevastationbyburrowingandbydevouringtheherbagewhichmighthavemaintainedmillionsof

sheepandcattle.Scientistsdiscoveredthatthisparticularvarietyofrabbit（andapparentlynootheranimal）wassusceptibletoafatalvirusdisease，myxomatosis.Byinfectinganimalsandlettingthemlooseintheburrows，localepidemicsofthisdiseasecouldbecreated.Lateritwasfoundthattherewasatypeofmosquitowhichactedasthecarrierofthisdiseaseandpasseditontotherabbits.Sowhiletherestoftheworldwastryingtogetridofmosquitoes，Australiawasencouragingthisone.Iteffectivelyspreadthediseasealloverthecontinentanddrasticallyreducedtherabbitpopulation.Itlaterbecameapparentthatrabbitsweredevelopingadegreeofresistancetothisdisease，sothattherabbitpopulationwasunlikelytobecompletelyexterminated.Therewerehopes，however，thattheproblemoftherabbitwouldbecomemanageable.

Ironically，Europe，whichhadbequeathedtherabbitasapesttoAustralia，acquiredthisman-madediseaseasapestilence.AFrenchphysiciandecidedtogetridofthewildrabbitsonhisownestateandintroducedmyxomatosis.Itdidnot，however，remainwithintheconfinesofhisestate.ItspreadthroughFrance，Wherewildrabbitsarenotgenerallyregardedasapestbutassportandausefulfoodsupply，anditspreadtoBritainwherewildrabbitsareregardedasapestbutwheredomesticatedrabbits，equallysusceptibletothedisease，arethebasisofaprofitablefurindustry.ThequestionbecameoneofwhetherMancouldcontrolthediseasehehadinvented.

RITCHIECALDERScienceMakesSense

Newwordsandexpressions生詞和短語

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，盡情

overrunv.擴(kuò)散，泛濫

devastationn.破壞，劫掠

burrowv.挖、掘

susceptibleadj.易受感染的

virusn.病毒

myxomatosisn.多發(fā)性粘液瘤

infectv.傳染

epidemicn.流行病

mosquiton.蚊蟲

carriern.帶菌者

exterminatev.毀滅

ironicallyadv.具有挖苦意味地

bequeathv.把……傳給

pestn.害蟲，有害動(dòng)物

pestilencen.瘟疫

confinen.范圍

domesticatev.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生殖起來。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，給澳洲大陸造成了消滅性的破壞?？茖W(xué)家們發(fā)覺，這種特別品種的兔子（明顯不包括別的動(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)擴(kuò)散起來。后來又發(fā)覺，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)法毀滅蚊子的時(shí)候，澳大利亞卻在促使這種蚊子大量生殖。蚊子把這種疾病集中到整個(gè)澳洲大陸，效果甚佳，結(jié)果兔子的數(shù)目在為削減。后來，明顯看出，兔子對(duì)這種疾病已產(chǎn)生了肯定程度的免疫力，所以兔子不行能被完全毀滅。但是，已有盼望解決兔子所帶來的問題。

具有挖苦意味的是，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)生打算除掉自己莊園內(nèi)的野兔子，于是引進(jìn)了這種