英文幽默故事：Louis Pasteur

Mary had just returned from her school. She was thirsty. “Mary, you can have a cup of milk," called her mother. Mary went into the dinning¹ hall. “Mummy, the milk is spoilt," she cried out. Her mother came in. “Let me see. Yes. This milk is spoilt," her mother said. She took out a sachet from the cupboard. “See, Mary, the milk in the sachet is alright," she said. Mary could not understand. The milk got from the milk vendor² in the morning got spoilt. But the sachet got from the supermarket was still good. How is that? She asked her mother the reason for this. Her mother explained, “The sachet milk is pasteurized. The milk got from the milk vendor is not pasteurized one." 

 

“But what is the meaning of pasteurized," asked Mary. “Pasteurizing is a scientific method. Fresh milk is boiled to a high degree. Then it is cooled rapidly. In this process the germs in the milk get killed. This was first done by Louis Pasteur. His name is given to this process." 

 

Who is Louis Pasteur? Louis Pasteur was a chemist. He was born in 1822 in a town in France. His parents were not rich. But they gave him a good education. He secured a degree in science. His marks in Chemistry were not high. But his interest in Chemistry made him continue his studies in Chemistry. He spent lot of time in the laboratory. He was continually looking through a microscope at the germs. His professor made a fun of him. “They are useless to man. You are wasting your time," he said. But Pasteur replied, “Sir, the germs cause sickness. I must find out which germs cause which disease?" 

 

“Where do germs come from?" asked his professor. 

 

“Sir, that I must find out" replied Pasteur. 

 

And Pasteur found out after a long and patient work. The germs are present in water, earth, dust and even in the air we breathe. These germs turn milk sour. Milk is a carrier of germs. These germs can cause diseases like tuberculosis³ and typhoid. He made many experiments. Finally he found out the method to kill the germs in the milk. 

 

Pasteur did not stop with milk. He continued his research. Anthrax, diphtheria and rabies were terrible diseases. Pasteur found out certain vaccines⁴. These vaccines can prevent and cure these terrible diseases. 

 

One day a mother brought her son, Joseph, to Pasteur. Joseph had been bitten by a mad dog. He had been fourteen wound all over his body. The dog had rabies. Every one felt sorry for the boy. They said, “The child is sure to die." Even Pasteur had no hopes. But he had decided⁵ to save the boy. 

 

Pasteur had prepared a serum⁶ from a rabbit. The rabbit had died of rabies. He injected the serum into the boy’s body, at first small quantities. Slowly, he increased the dosage. On the ninth day Joseph showed improvement. He was out of danger. In three months time, Joseph walked out of the hospital. He then became a perfectly⁷ healthy child. The year was 1885. Many had been bitten by mad dogs. But no one had escaped death. 

 

Since 1885, thousands of lives have been saved by anti-rabies treatment. The world has to thank Louis Pasteur. Louis Pasteur is considered to be the greatest scientist of France, by the people of France.  

1 dinning   

vt.喧闹（din的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• The cries of his tormentors were still dinning in his ears. 使他痛苦的人们的叫嚣仍然在他的耳际震响。 来自辞典例句
• The meals in the artistic little dinning-room were pleasant. 在雅致的小餐厅里吃饭是一种享受。 来自辞典例句

2 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

3 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 serum   

n.浆液，血清，乳浆

参考例句：

• The serum is available to the general public.一般公众均可获得血清。
• Untreated serum contains a set of 11 proteins called complement.未经处理的血清含有一组蛋白质，共11种，称为补体。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。