读者文摘:改变历史的意外时刻(4)

A messy science lab harbors a miracle drug.

一间凌乱的科学实验室藏有一种神奇的药物。

In the summer of 1928, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming was in such a rush to go on vacation

1928年夏天，苏格兰医生亚历山大·弗莱明急着去度假，

that he accidently left a stack of dirty petri dishes in his laboratory sink.

他不小心把一叠脏培养皿留在了实验室的水池里。

As if this weren’t already gross, the dishes were smeared¹ with staphylococcus, a bacterium² that causes boils, sore throats, and food poisoning.

好像这还不够恶心似的，盘子上涂满了葡萄球菌，一种能引起疖子、喉咙痛和食物中毒的细菌。

(Let’s hope the doctor at least washed his hands before he left.) When Dr. Fleming returned weeks later,

(希望医生在离开前至少洗了他的手。）当弗莱明医生几周后回来后，

he found something interesting in the mess in his sink: One of the petri dishes was dotted with bacteria everywhere except for where some mold was growing.

他在脏乱的水池里发现了有趣的东西：其中一个培养皿到处都是细菌，除了一些霉菌生长的地方。

The area around it was clear, as if protected by an unseen barrier.

它周围的区域很清楚，好像有一道看不见的屏障保护着。

Upon closer inspection³, Dr. Fleming realized that the mold, a rare form of Penicillium notatum,

近距离检查后，弗莱明医生发现霉菌这种罕见的青霉菌，

had secreted⁴ a “mold juice” that killed several strands⁵ of deadly bacteria.

分泌出了一种“霉菌汁”，杀死了几股致命的细菌。

Dr. Fleming published his remarkable⁶ discovery—and almost no one noticed.

弗莱明博士发表了他的惊人发现，但几乎没有人注意到这一点。

In fact, years later, Howard Walter Florey, an Australian pathologist, found Fleming’s paper by accident while leafing through old medical journals.

实际上，几年后，澳大利亚病理学家霍华德·沃尔特·弗洛里在翻阅旧医学杂志时偶然发现了弗莱明的论文。

Along with biochemist Ernst Boris Chain, Dr. Florey began to explore the therapeutic⁷ effects of the mold juice,

与生物化学家恩斯特·鲍里斯·钱恩一起，弗洛里博士开始探索霉菌汁的治疗效果，

and by 1941 they had collected enough penicillin⁸ to use on the first human subject,

到1941年，他们已经收集了足够的青霉素用于第一个人体实验，

a 43-year-old police officer suffering from a terminal bacterial⁹ infection he’d contracted after scratching himself on rosebushes in his garden.

一名43岁的警察在自家花园的玫瑰丛上刮伤了自己，患上了终末期细菌感染。

The results were astounding¹⁰: The patient’s fever dropped and his appetite returned, and the penicillin used to treat him was hailed as a wonder drug.

实验结果是令人震惊的：病人的烧退了，食欲恢复了，用于治疗他的青霉素被认为是特效药。

Unfortunately, when supplies ran out, the officer’s infection returned and he died.

不幸的是，当补给用完后，这名军官的感染又复发了，然后死去了。

Still, Dr. Fleming shared the Nobel Prize with Dr. Florey and Chain for their work on the magic med.

尽管如此，弗莱明博士还是与弗洛里博士和钱恩博士分享了诺贝尔奖，以表彰他们在神奇药物方面的工作。

“I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic,” he remarked, “but I suppose that was exactly what I did.”

我当然不打算通过发现世界上第一种抗生素来革新所有的医学，”他说，“但我想这正是我所做的。”

A dog gives the world Velcro. Swiss engineer George de Mestral was a natural inventor.

狗给世界带来尼龙搭扣。瑞士工程师乔治·德·梅斯特拉是一位天生的发明家。

When he was 12, he designed and patented a toy airplane.

12岁时，他设计了一架玩具飞机并申请了专利。

As he got older, he considered nature the greatest inventor on the planet, so he kept his eyes out for naturally occurring phenomena¹¹ science could imitate.

随着年龄的增长，他认为大自然是这个星球上最伟大的发明家，所以他一直留意着科学可以模仿的自然现象。

That’s where his faithful Irish pointer came in.

这就是他忠实的爱尔兰猎犬的用处所在。

After a day hiking in the Swiss mountains, de Mestral noticed that his dog was covered with spiky¹² burs, as were his own pants.

在瑞士山脉徒步旅行一天之后，德·梅斯特拉注意到他的狗身上布满了尖刺，就像他自己的裤子一样。

He put the burs under the microscope and found tiny “hooks” at the ends of their bristles¹³ that seemingly latched¹⁴ onto most any kind of fur or clothing.

他把这些毛刺放在显微镜下，发现它们的鬃毛末端有微小的“钩”，它们似乎可以钩住几乎任何一种毛皮或衣服。

Since de Mestral was no fan of zippers— they tended to freeze in the Alpine¹⁵ winter—

因为德·梅斯特拉不喜欢拉链-它们在阿尔卑斯山的冬天往往会被冻住-

he spent the next ten years trying to duplicate the burs’ irresistible¹⁶ attraction to his hiking partner.

所以他用接下来十年的时间来复制尖刺对他的登山伙伴的不可抗拒的吸引力。

After countless¹⁷ attempts and belly¹⁸ rubs, de Mestral found the right material for his invention:

经过无数次的尝试和揉肚子，德·梅斯特拉找到了适合他的发明的材料：

nylon, which was strong enough for the hooks to hold but pliable¹⁹ enough to be separated with the right tug²⁰.

尼龙，它足够结实，可以让钩子钩住，但也足够柔韧，可以用恰当的拉拽把它分开。

De Mestral submitted his patent in 1952, and it was approved three years later.

德·梅斯特拉于1952年提交了专利申请，三年后获得批准。

He named his invention Velcro, a combination of velvet²¹ and crochet²², the French word for “hook.”

他将自己的发明命名为尼龙搭扣，这是天鹅绒和钩针的结合，在法语中是“钩”的意思。

1 smeared   

弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上

参考例句：

• The children had smeared mud on the walls. 那几个孩子往墙上抹了泥巴。
• A few words were smeared. 有写字被涂模糊了。

2 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。

3 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

4 secreted   

v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏

参考例句：

• Insulin is secreted by the pancreas. 胰岛素是胰腺分泌的。
• He secreted his winnings in a drawer. 他把赢来的钱藏在抽届里。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

7 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。

8 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。

9 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

10 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

12 spiky   

adj.长而尖的，大钉似的

参考例句：

• Your hairbrush is too spiky for me.你的发刷，我觉得太尖了。
• The spiky handwriting on the airmail envelope from London was obviously hers.发自伦敦的航空信封上的尖长字迹分明是她的。

13 bristles   

短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the bristles on his chin 他下巴上的胡楂子
• This job bristles with difficulties. 这项工作困难重重。

14 latched   

v.理解( latch的过去式和过去分词 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上）

参考例句：

• The government have latched onto environmental issues to win votes. 政府已开始大谈环境问题以争取选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He latched onto us and we couldn't get rid of him. 他缠着我们，甩也甩不掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。

16 irresistible   

adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的

参考例句：

• The wheel of history rolls forward with an irresistible force.历史车轮滚滚向前，势不可挡。
• She saw an irresistible skirt in the store window.她看见商店的橱窗里有一条叫人着迷的裙子。

17 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

18 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

19 pliable   

adj.易受影响的；易弯的；柔顺的，易驾驭的

参考例句：

• Willow twigs are pliable.柳条很软。
• The finely twined baskets are made with young,pliable spruce roots.这些编织精美的篮子是用柔韧的云杉嫩树根编成的。

20 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

21 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

22 crochet   

n.钩针织物；v.用钩针编制

参考例句：

• That's a black crochet waistcoat.那是一件用钩针编织的黑色马甲。
• She offered to teach me to crochet rugs.她提出要教我钩织小地毯。