万物简史 第447期:小生物的世界(18)

 Any HIV the mosquito sucks up on its travels is dissolved by the mosquito's own metabolism¹. 蚊子在叮咬过程中吸入的人体免疫缺陷病毒被蚊子自身的代谢作用分解了。

When the day comes that the virus mutates its way around this, we may be in real trouble. 如果哪一天那种病毒设法战胜了这一点，我们可真的要遭殃了。

It is a mistake, however, to consider the matter too carefully from the position of logic² because microorganisms clearly are not calculating entities³. 然而，要是从逻辑的角度把事情想得过于细致入微，那是错误的，因为微生物显然不是很有心计的实体。

They don't care what they do to you any more than you care what distress⁴ you cause when you slaughter⁵ them by the millions with a soapy shower or a swipe of deodorant⁶. 它们不在乎自己对你干了些什么，就像你不在乎你用肥皂淋个浴或擦一遍除臭剂杀掉了几百万个微生物会对它们造成了什么样的痛苦一样。

The only time your continuing well-being⁷ is of consequence to a pathogen is when it kills you too well. 对病原菌来说，在它把你彻底干掉的时候，顾及它自己的继续安康也是很重要的。

If they eliminate you before they can move on, then they may well die out themselves. This in fact sometimes happens. 要是它们在消灭你之前没能转移到另一个寄主，它们很可能自己会死掉。

History, Jared Diamond notes, is full of diseases that "once caused terrifying epidemics⁸ and then disappeared as mysteriously as they had come." 贾里德·戴蒙德指出，历史上有许许多多疾病，这些疾病“一度可怕地到处传播，然后又像神秘地出现那样神秘地消失了”。

He cites the robust⁹ but mercifully transient English sweating sickness, 他举了厉害而幸亏短暂的汗热病，

which raged from 1485 to 1552, killing¹⁰ tens of thousands as it went, before burning itself out. 那种病在1485-1552年间流行于英国，致使成千上万人丧了命，然后也烧死了病菌自己。

Too much efficiency is not a good thing for any infectious organism. 对于任何传染病菌来说，效率太高不是一件好事情。

A great deal of sickness arises not because of what the organism has done to you but what your body is trying to do to the organism. 大量的疾病不是因为微生物对你的作用而引起，却是因为你的身体想要对微生物产生作用而引起的。

In its quest to rid the body of pathogens, the immune system sometimes destroys cells or damages critical tissues, 为了使你的身体摆脱病原菌，你的免疫系统有时候摧毁了细胞，或破坏了重要的组织。

so often when you are unwell what you are feeling is not the pathogens but your own immune responses. 因此，当你身体不舒服的时候，你感觉到的往往不是病原菌，而是你自己的免疫系统产生的反应。

1 metabolism   

n.新陈代谢

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• All living matter undergoes a process of metabolism.生物都有新陈代谢。

2 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

3 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

4 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

5 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

6 deodorant   

adj.除臭的；n.除臭剂

参考例句：

• She applies deodorant to her armpits after she showers.沐浴后，她在腋下涂上除臭剂。
• Spray deodorant and keep the silk garments dry before dressing.在穿衣之前，洒涂防臭剂并保持干燥。

7 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

8 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。

9 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。