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The History Of Smallpox¹天花的历史（双语）
 
In Shakespeare’s day, wishing a pox on someone was a terrible curse. Ten percent of the population in 17th century London died gruesomely of smallpox, a virus spread easily by airborne particles or contaminated clothing. Infection began with fever, aches, sneezing, and nausea². Soon a rash of red dots appeared, often covering the skin with dripping scabs. Though some recovered, people could become blind, deaf, or severely³ scarred from smallpox.
在莎士比亚时代，诅咒某人得天花是非常恶毒的。在17世纪的伦敦，有百分之十的人死于天花这种恐怖的疾病,这是一种可以通过空气和被污染的衣服传播的病 毒。患者被感染后的前驱症状是发烧、疼痛、打喷嚏和恶心。随后很快出现红色斑丘疹，而后通常会发展成皮肤上的滴痂。尽管有些人病愈了，但是他们会因此失去 听觉、双目失明或者留下很深的疤痕。

None of the physicians’ attempts to treat smallpox with sheep manure⁴ or a golden needle helped at all. But European peasants and traditional healers in Africa and Asia had discovered that exposure to a very small dose of the virus offered some protection.
当时的内科医生尝试用羊粪或金针帮助治疗天花，但是毫无作用。但是欧洲的农民和非洲及亚洲的传统医师发现，感染极少量的天花病毒会带给人体一定的免疫作用。

Traditional healers inoculated⁵ scratches in the skin with a small amount of pus infected with smallpox. About one in 200 people died from this procedure, but most became mildly sick, recovering in a few days. In the process, they gained immunity⁶ to the disease.
传统医师通过给正常人注射天花患者的少量脓液来进行预防接种。这种治疗方法的死亡率是两百分之一，但是大多数人症状轻微，会在几天内恢复。在这个过程中，他们获得了对天花病毒的免疫力。

Because smallpox inoculation⁷ exposed people to such a tiny dose of the virus, it caused far fewer deaths than the natural spread of the disease. Still, London physicians were skeptical⁸ of anything peasants or traditional healers did. Not until fashionable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu returned from Turkey did it catch on with the upper classes.
因为接种天花疫苗时使用的病毒剂量是非常微小的,它所导致的死亡和天花的自然传播相比是微不足道的。不过,伦敦医生对农民和传统医师的这种治疗方法仍旧持怀疑态度。直到玛丽?沃尔特利?孟塔古从土耳其回国后，这种治疗方法才在上流社会中流行起来。

Having observed Turkish healers, Lady Mary had her son inoculated in London and published a pamphlet explaining the procedure. Soon, even physicians saw that inoculation gave people a better chance of contracting a mild case of smallpox, preventing many deaths.
通过观察土耳其医师的治疗方法,玛丽夫人让她的儿子接受了预防接种，并且在伦敦出版了一个小册子来解释这种治疗过程。很快，甚至是那些内科医生也注意到这种接种方法只会让人们出现轻微的天花症状，它拯救了很多人的性命。