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科学美国人60秒 SSS Silk Road Transported Goods--and Disease

时间:2017-03-03 08:23来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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For thousands of years, what’s called the Silk Road was a group of land and sea trade routes that connected the Far East with South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe. Of course, when humans travel they carry their pathogens with them. So scientists and historians have wondered if the Silk Road was a transmission route not just for goods, but for infectious disease.  

Now we have the first hard evidence of ancient Silk Road travelers spreading their infections. The find comes from a 2,000-year-old latrine that had first been excavated1 in 1992. The report is in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. [Hui-Yuan Yeh et al., Early evidence for travel with infectious diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal2 parasites4 from 2000 year-old personal hygiene5 sticks in a latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China]

“So the site is a relay station on the Silk Road in northwest China. It's just to the eastern end of the Tarim Basin, which is a large arid6 area just to the east of the Taklamakan desert, and not far from the Gobi Desert. So this is a dry part of China.”

Piers7 Mitchell, paleopathologist at the University of Cambridge, and one of the study’s authors, along with his student Ivy8 Yeh and colleagues in China.

In the latrine, archaeologists found used hygiene sticks wrapped with cloth. These were used for what you think they were used for.

“This excavation9 was great because the cloth was still preserved and the feces was still adherent10 to the cloth on some of the sticks. So the archaeologist kept these sticks in the museum. And so my Ph.D. student, Ivy Yeh, who’s first author on the paper, she went out to China took some scrapings from the feces adherent to the cloth. So we were then able to analyze11 that down the microscope when she brought it back to Cambridge.”

Where they found eggs from parasites—including one from a liver fluke.

“And that's the exciting one because that's only found in eastern and southern China and in Korea, where they have marshy12 areas that have the right snails13 and the right fish.”

The fluke needs snails and fish for its lifecycle, but there were no such snails or fish in this dry region of china. So the unlucky traveler who harbored the parasite3 had to have transported the disease to that spot.  

“Well firstly it tells us that people were doing very long journeys along the Silk Road and you might think that's obvious. But no one really knew how long people were traveling. Some people may have been trading, only going short distances selling their goods on to the next person. And so the goods might have gone all the way along the Silk Road, but people might not. But we know that some people were doing huge distances….

“Secondly it shows that this was, would be a viable14 route for the spread of those other infectious diseases like Bubonic plague and leprosy and anthrax that people had previously15 suggested might have been spread between East Asia and Europe along the Silk Road. Because modern genetic16 analyses have shown similarities between the strains of one end and the other.”

Mitchell says there’s much more work to be done to better understand the spread of diseases around the world. Perhaps from analyzing17 skeletons—or various other kinds of remains—to be found along the Silk Road.

—Cynthia Graber


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 excavated 3cafdb6f7c26ffe41daf7aa353505858     
v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 );开凿;挖出;发掘
参考例句:
  • The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
  • The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 intestinal DbHzX     
adj.肠的;肠壁;肠道细菌
参考例句:
  • A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
  • This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句
3 parasite U4lzN     
n.寄生虫;寄生菌;食客
参考例句:
  • The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
  • I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫,我要自己养活自己。
4 parasites a8076647ef34cfbbf9d3cb418df78a08     
寄生物( parasite的名词复数 ); 靠他人为生的人; 诸虫
参考例句:
  • These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的,而与寄生虫无关。
  • Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。
5 hygiene Kchzr     
n.健康法,卫生学 (a.hygienic)
参考例句:
  • Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
  • He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。
6 arid JejyB     
adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的
参考例句:
  • These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
  • There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
7 piers 97df53049c0dee20e54484371e5e225c     
n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 );(常设有娱乐场所的)突堤;柱子;墙墩
参考例句:
  • Most road bridges have piers rising out of the vally. 很多公路桥的桥墩是从河谷里建造起来的。 来自辞典例句
  • At these piers coasters and landing-craft would be able to discharge at all states of tide. 沿岸航行的海船和登陆艇,不论潮汐如何涨落,都能在这种码头上卸载。 来自辞典例句
8 ivy x31ys     
n.常青藤,常春藤
参考例句:
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
  • The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。
9 excavation RiKzY     
n.挖掘,发掘;被挖掘之地
参考例句:
  • The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
  • The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。
10 adherent cyqzU     
n.信徒,追随者,拥护者
参考例句:
  • He was most liberal where money would bring him a powerful or necessary political adherent.在金钱能够收买一个干练的或者必需的政治拥护者的地方,他是最不惜花钱的。
  • He's a pious adherent of Buddhism.他是一位虔诚的佛教徒。
11 analyze RwUzm     
vt.分析,解析 (=analyse)
参考例句:
  • We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
  • The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。
12 marshy YBZx8     
adj.沼泽的
参考例句:
  • In August 1935,we began our march across the marshy grassland. 1935年8月,我们开始过草地。
  • The surrounding land is low and marshy. 周围的地低洼而多沼泽。
13 snails 23436a8a3f6bf9f3c4a9f6db000bb173     
n.蜗牛;迟钝的人;蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 viable mi2wZ     
adj.可行的,切实可行的,能活下去的
参考例句:
  • The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
  • The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。
15 previously bkzzzC     
adv.以前,先前(地)
参考例句:
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
16 genetic PgIxp     
adj.遗传的,遗传学的
参考例句:
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
17 analyzing be408cc8d92ec310bb6260bc127c162b     
v.分析;分析( analyze的现在分词 );分解;解释;对…进行心理分析n.分析
参考例句:
  • Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据,暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
  • He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然,他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句
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TAG标签:   科学美国人60秒  英语听力  sss
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