万物简史 第455期:小生物的世界(26)

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The toll¹ in Britain was 220,000, with similar numbers dead in France and Germany. 英国的死亡人数达到22万，法国和德国的数字也差不多。

No one knows the global toll, as records in the Third World were often poor, 谁也不清楚全球的死亡人数到底是多少，因为第三世界的记录往往很不完整，

but it was not less than 20 million and probably more like 50 million. 但不会少于2000万，更可能是5000万，

Some estimates have put the global total as high as 100 million. 还有人估计，全球的死亡人数高达1亿。

In an attempt to devise a vaccine², medical authorities conducted tests on volunteers at a military prison on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. 为了研制一种疫苗，医疗当局在波士顿港鹿岛上的一所军事监狱对志愿者进行试验。

The prisoners were promised pardons if they survived a battery of tests. 要是犯人能从一系列的试验中挺过来，就保证他们获得赦免。

These tests were rigorous to say the least. 这些试验少说也是很严酷的。

First the subjects were injected with infected lung tissue taken from the dead and then sprayed in the eyes, nose, and mouth with infectious aerosols³. 首先，从死者身上取下感染的肺组织注射到试验对象的身上，然后用传染性的气雾剂喷在他们的眼睛、鼻子里和嘴里；

If they still failed to succumb⁴, they had their throats swabbed with discharges taken from the sick and dying. 要是他们仍没有倒下去，就从病人和临终病人身上直接取来排泄物，抹在他们的咽喉里；

If all else failed, they were required to sit open-mouthed while a gravely ill victim was helped to cough into their faces. 要是所有别的办法都告失败，就要求他们张开嘴巴坐着，同时让重病人稍稍坐起身来，朝着他们的脸咳嗽。

Out of—somewhat amazingly—three hundred men who volunteered, the doctors chose sixty-two for the tests. 从总共300名——这是个惊人的数字——志愿做试验的男犯人当中，医生们挑选了62人。

None contracted the flu—not one. 没有人感染流感——一个人也没有感染。

The only person who did grow ill was the ward⁵ doctor, who swiftly died. 惟一病倒的是病室医生，他很快就死了。

The probable explanation for this is that the epidemic⁶ had passed through the prison a few weeks earlier 原因很可能是，流感在几个星期前已经通过监狱，

and the volunteers, all of whom had survived that visitation, had a natural immunity⁷. 那些志愿者都已从那次侵袭中挺过来，因此有了一种自然免疫力。

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