万物简史 第450期:小生物的世界(21)

 Precisely the same thing happens with meningitis. 脑膜炎的情况完全一样。

At least 10 percent of young adults, and perhaps 30 percent of teenagers, carry the deadly meningococcal bacterium¹, 至少有10%的年轻人和也许30%的少年携带着致命的脑膜炎球菌，

but it lives quite harmlessly in the throat. 但脑膜炎球菌完全无害地生活在咽喉里。

Just occasionally—in about one young person in a hundred thousand—it gets into the bloodstream and makes them very ill indeed. 在非常偶然的情况下——大约10万个年轻人中间的1个——脑膜炎球菌会进入血液，害得他们生大病。

In the worst cases, death can come in twelve hours. That's shockingly quick. 在最严重的情况下，人可以在12个小时内死亡。速度是极快的。

"You can have a person who's in perfect health at breakfast and dead by evening," says Marsh². “一个人吃早饭时还是好好的，到晚上就死了。”马什说。

We would have much more success with bacteria if we weren't so profligate³ with our best weapon against them: antibiotics⁴. 要是我们不是那样滥用对付细菌的最佳武器：抗生素，我们本来会取得更大的胜利。

Remarkably⁵, by one estimate some 70 percent of the antibiotics used in the developed world are given to farm animals, often routinely in stock feed, 值得注意的是，据一项估计，在发达世界使用的抗生素当中，有大约70%往往经常用于饲料中，

simply to promote growth or as a precaution against infection. 只是为了促进生长或作为对付感染的预防措施。

Such applications give bacteria every opportunity to evolve a resistance to them. 因此，细菌就有了一切机会来产生抗药性。

It is an opportunity that they have enthusiastically seized. 它们劲头十足地抓住这样的机会。

In 1952, penicillin⁶ was fully⁷ effective against all strains of staphylococcus bacteria, 1952年，青霉素用来对付各种葡萄球菌完全有效，

to such an extent that by the early 1960s the U.S. surgeon general, William Stewart, felt confident enough to declare: 以致美国卫生局局长威廉·斯图尔特在20世纪60年代初敢说：

"The time has come to close the book on infectious diseases. “现在是该结束传染病时代的时候了。

We have basically wiped out infection in the United States." 我们美国已经基本上消灭了传染病。”

Even as he spoke⁸, however, some 90 percent of those strains were in the process of developing immunity⁹ to penicillin. 然而，即使在他说这番话的时候，大约有90%的这类病菌已经对青霉素产生抗药性。

1 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

2 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

3 profligate   

adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者

参考例句：

• This young man had all the inclination to be a profligate of the first water.这个青年完全有可能成为十足的浪子。
• Similarly Americans have been profligate in the handling of mineral resources.同样的，美国在处理矿产资源方面亦多浪费。

4 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

5 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

6 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。