国家地理:为了结束这场流行病 我们必须相信科学(6)

Sometimes science simply cannot be rushed, though. "There is some sort of serendipity¹ to the scientific enterprise," Gonsalves told me. "The speed and scale of what is happening now could be just a prelude² to the chance discoveries we're going to have to make over a longer period." Bottom line: "You can't scream a cure out of a test tube."

但有时科学是急不来的。贡萨尔维斯告诉我：“这是科学事业的一项意外收获。现在正在发生的事情的速度和规模可能只是一个前奏，我们将不得不在更长的一段时间里做出一些偶然的发现。”总之：“你不可能对着试管大叫就得到解药。”

Next I called Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan, to talk about another source of my anxiety: that the coronavirus seemed to shape-shift in a uniquely terrifying way. It felt like every day I opened the newspaper to read that a new organ system was subject to its ravages³ or a new age group was vulnerable. But Markel, who has made a career studying the history of epidemics⁴, told me that was to be expected: The apparent explosion of new and varied⁵ symptoms happens with any highly contagious⁶ virus when it bursts on the scene.

接下来，我给密歇根大学医学史研究中心主任霍华德·马克尔打了电话，谈了谈另一个让我焦虑的原因：冠状病毒似乎以一种独特而可怕的方式在变形。这感觉就像我每天打开报纸，就会读到一个新的器官系统正在遭受破坏，或者一个新的年龄组正在受到伤害。但以研究流行病史为职业的马克尔告诉我，这是意料之中的：任何高度传染性的病毒在爆发时，都会出现明显的新症状、不同的症状。

"The more clinical material you have, the more patients, the more chances you have to see this protean⁷ nature," he said. It's what happened in the early days of the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, when Markel was just starting his career. At the dawn of any new disease, strange manifestations⁸ keep showing up and surprising doctors. Even if the odds⁹ of a rare symptom are, say, just one in a thousand, doctors are going to see a lot of it, Markel said, because a thousand patients can accumulate practically overnight with a crazily contagious new illness like this one.

他说：“你拥有的临床资料越多，病人越多，你就越有机会看到这种千变万化的本质。”这就是20世纪80年代艾滋病流行初期发生的事情，当时马克尔刚刚开启他的职业生涯。马克尔说，即使出现罕见症状的几率只有千分之一，医生也会看得到很多这样的情况，因为患上这种疯狂传染的新疾病的病人数量，几乎一夜之间就可以达到一千个。

So the U-turns and revised pronouncements about COVID-19 aren't signs that scientists are flummoxed; they're signs that scientists are generating a torrent¹⁰ of new information and are trying to make sense of it as they go.

因此，有关COVID-19的180度大转弯和修正后的声明，并不是科学家感到困惑的迹象；这些迹象恰恰表明，科学家们正在产生一股新信息的洪流，并试图在他们前进的过程中理解这些信息。

1 serendipity   

n.偶然发现物品之才能；意外新发现

参考例句：

• "It was serendipity all the way,"he says.用他的话说是“一直都很走运”。
• Some of the best effects in my garden have been the result of serendipity.我园子里最珍贵的几件物品是机缘巧合之下意外所得。

2 prelude   

n.序言，前兆，序曲

参考例句：

• The prelude to the musical composition is very long.这首乐曲的序曲很长。
• The German invasion of Poland was a prelude to World War II.德国入侵波兰是第二次世界大战的序幕。

3 ravages   

劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹

参考例句：

• the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
• It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。

4 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

5 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

6 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

7 protean   

adj.反复无常的；变化自如的

参考例句：

• Sri Lanka is a protean and wonderful paradise.斯里兰卡是一个千变万化和精彩万分的人间天堂。
• He is a protean stylist who can move from blues to ballads and grand symphony.他风格多变，从布鲁斯、乡村音乐到雄壮的交响乐都能驾驭。

8 manifestations   

n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• These were manifestations of the darker side of his character. 这些是他性格阴暗面的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To be wordly-wise and play safe is one of the manifestations of liberalism. 明哲保身是自由主义的表现之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

10 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。