A man-made disease
原文
Lesson 17
A man-made disease
What factor helped to spread the disease of myxomatosis?
In the early days of the settlement of Australia, enterprising settlers unwisely introduced the European rabbit.
This rabbit had no natural enemies in the Antipodes, so that it multiplied with that promiscuous abandon characteristic of rabbits.
It overran a whole continent.
It caused devastation by burrowing and by devouring the herbage which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle.
Scientists discovered that this particular variety of rabbit (and apparently no other animal) was susceptible to a fatal virus disease, myxomatosis.
By infecting animals and letting them loose in the burrows, local epidemics of this disease could be created.
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.
So while the rest of the world was trying to get rid of mosquitoes, Australia was encouraging this one.
It effectively spread the disease all over the continent and drastically reduced the rabit population.
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.
There were hopes, however, that the problem of the rabbit would become manageable.
Ironically, Europe, which had bequeathed the rabbit as a pest to Australia, acquired this man-made disease as a pestilence.
A French physician decided to get rid of the wild rabbits on his own estate and introduced myxomatosis.
It did not, however, remain within the confines of this estate.
It spread through France, where wild rabbits are not generally regarded as a pest but as a 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.
The question became one of whether Man could control the disease he had invented.
译文
第17课
一种人为制造的疾病
是什么因素导致了黏液瘤病的传播？
在澳大利亚殖民初期，一些富有进取心的移民不慎将欧洲野兔引入了该地区。
这种兔子在澳大利亚没有天敌，因此它们以兔子特有的毫无节制的繁殖力大量滋生。
它席卷了整个大陆。
这种生物通过挖掘洞穴以及啃食本可以养活数百万只羊和牛的牧草，造成了严重的破坏。
科学家发现，这种特定的兔子品种（显然其他动物都没有这种特性）容易感染一种致命的病毒性疾病——黏液瘤病。
通过感染动物并将其放回洞穴，就可以在当地制造这种疾病的流行。
后来发现，有一种蚊子是这种疾病的传播媒介，它们将这些病毒传染给了兔子。
当世界上其他国家都在努力消灭蚊子时，澳大利亚却在鼓励蚊子的存在。
它有效地将这种疾病传播到整个大陆，并使兔子数量急剧减少。
后来发现，兔子对这种疾病逐渐产生了抵抗力。
这样一来，兔子种群就不太可能被彻底消灭了。
然而，人们仍抱有希望，认为这个问题最终是可以得到控制的。
具有讽刺意味的是，欧洲将兔子这种害兽引入澳大利亚，结果自己却因此染上了这种由人类活动引发的疾病，并将其视为一种瘟疫。
一位法国医生决定清除自己庄园里的野兔，于是引入了黏液瘤病。
然而，它并没有停留在这片地产的范围内。
它蔓延到法国，在那里野兔通常不被视为害兽，而是作为一种狩猎对象和有用的食物来源。
它又传播到英国，在那里野兔被视为害兽，而家兔
这些动物同样容易感染这种疾病，但它们却是利润丰厚的毛皮产业的基础。
问题变成了：人类是否能够控制自己所发明的这种疾病。