英国新闻听力 美国的国家寄生虫藏馆

You’ve probably heard of people collecting stamps or arts or even antique cars, but what about parasites²? In 1892, the American government established a National Parasite¹ Collection to learn more about diseases affecting livestock³. Twenty million specimens⁴ have now been transferred to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for safekeeping. Our correspondent Janot Bryan met the new curator at a swamp in Marryland.

It’s a little chilly⁵.

We are hoping to find some blood suckers to add to the collection using our bare legs as bait. So we just stand here and wait for the leeches⁷ to come and latch⁸ onto our legs.

Well, leeches, they are blood-feeding, will be attracted by movement. So you have to do leech⁶ dance. So there is a special technique. You can either do sort of do this a little bit where you dance your knees up and down and create some ripples⁹, you can also do it side to side. The purpose is to create lots of ripples in the water so if there’s leeches farther away, they will be attracted to this point.

The leech dance looks a bit like the self-conscious jiggling of mid-aged man at a wedding party. Needless to say, the leeches were not impressed. Is that a leech there?

Hum, no. No, that’s not a leech. That’s plants.

Fortunately, the National Parasite Collection contains some twenty million specimens including plenty of leeches. So undaunted, we returned to dry land.

This is the US National Parasite Collection. It was founded in 1892. It contains mostly intestinal¹⁰ parasites, intestinal worms. It also includes some ticks, fleas¹¹ and lice and also a few mites¹². 

The sheer scale of the collection is quite overwhelming. There is row-upon-row of jars and bottles of pickled parasites. Many are still attached to their unfortunate hosts while others are so small they can only be seen under a microscope. Some of the parasites here can also infect humans.

Many of the specimens collection are from wild life, and so looking back at the specimens and knowing which animals have hosted these parasites in the past, we can make predictions of what may be infecting humans in the future.

In fact, sixty percent of all human diseases come from animals. Stephen Higgs is the President of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene¹³.

A collection like this, it’s a tremendous resource of material.

你可能听说过有人收集邮票、艺术品甚至古董车，但你听说过有人收集寄生虫吗？1892年，美国政府建立了国家寄生虫藏馆，从而了解更多影响牲畜的疾病。两千万样品已被转移到史密森尼国家自然历史博物馆妥善保管。本台记者加诺·布莱恩在马里兰州的一片湿地约见了新馆长。

有点冷啊。

我们希望用腿做诱饵，找到一些吸血蛭添加到藏馆中。所以我们就站在这儿，等着水蛭来吸附腿。

水蛭嘛，是吸血的，运动会吸引他们，所以你得跳水蛭舞。有个小窍门，你可以像这样缓缓屈膝上下移动，制造一些涟漪，也可以从一边到另一边。目的是在水里制造许多涟漪，远处有水蛭的话会被吸引到这边。

水蛭舞跳起来有点像一位中年男子在婚礼上扭扭捏捏地轻摇。不用说，水蛭们并不大感兴趣。那是一只水蛭吗？

嗯，不，不，那不是水蛭，那是植物。

好在国家寄生虫藏馆囊括了约两千万个样本，包括很多水蛭。所以，我们就如释重负地上岸了。

这就是美国国家寄生虫藏馆，始建于1892年，收藏了大部分肠寄生虫和蛔虫，也有一些扁虱、跳蚤、虱子和几个螨虫。

藏馆庞大的规模绝对令人震撼。一排排的瓶瓶罐罐里泡着寄生虫。许多虫子还依附在它们不幸的宿主上，其他寄生虫都太小了，只能用显微镜观察，有些寄生虫还会感染人类。

我们收藏的许多样本都来自野生动物，那么回看这些样本，了解哪些动物曾是这些寄生虫的宿主，我们就可以推测将来哪些虫会影响人类。

实际上，全人类百分之六十的疾病来自动物。史蒂芬·希格斯是美国热带医学和卫生协会的主席。

这样的藏馆，是一个巨大的材料资源。

1 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

2 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

3 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

4 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

6 leech   

n.水蛭，吸血鬼，榨取他人利益的人；vt.以水蛭吸血；vi.依附于别人

参考例句：

• A leech is a small blood-sucking worm and usually lives in water.水蛭是一种小型吸血虫，通常生活在水中。
• One-side love like a greedy leech absorbed my time and my mirth.单相思如同一只贪婪的水蛭，吸走了我的时间和欢笑。

7 leeches   

n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生

参考例句：

• The usurers are leeches;they have drained us dry. 高利贷者是吸血鬼，他们吸干了我们的血汗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Does it run in the genes to live as leeches? 你们家是不是遗传的，都以欺压别人为生？ 来自电影对白

8 latch   

n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁

参考例句：

• She laid her hand on the latch of the door.她把手放在门闩上。
• The repairman installed an iron latch on the door.修理工在门上安了铁门闩。

9 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

10 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

11 fleas   

n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求）

参考例句：

• The dog has fleas. 这条狗有跳蚤。
• Nothing must be done hastily but killing of fleas. 除非要捉跳蚤，做事不可匆忙。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 mites   

n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨

参考例句：

• The only discovered animals are water bears, mites, microscopic rotifers. 能够发现的动物只有海蜘蛛、螨和微小的轮虫。 来自辞典例句
• Mites are frequently found on eggs. 螨会经常出现在蛋上。 来自辞典例句

13 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。