托福听力科学60秒（SSS）原文之丝绸之路

 　　This is Scientific American 60-second Science, I'm Cynthia Graber. Got a minute?

　　这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是辛西娅·格雷伯。一分钟准备好了吗?

　　For thousands of years, what’s called the Silk Road was a group of land and sea trade routes that connected the Far East with South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe.

　　几千年来，所谓丝绸之路就是指从远东至南亚、非洲、中东以及南欧的一系列陆海商路。

　　Of course, when humans travel they carry their pathogens with them.

　　当然，当人们旅行时，也会随身将病菌带到各地。

　　So scientists and historians have wondered if the Silk Road was a transmission route not just for goods, but for infectious disease.

　　因此，科学家和历史学家一直想弄清的是：丝绸之路是否不仅是商品流通的渠道，也是传染病蔓延的途径呢?

　　Now we have the first hard evidence of ancient Silk Road travelers spreading their infections.

　　如今，我们首次发现了古代丝绸之路行者传播传染病的确凿证据。

　　The find comes from a 2,000-year-old latrine that had first been excavated¹ in 1992.

　　该发现来自于1992年被首次发掘的2000年前的公共厕所。

　　The report is in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

　　该研究发表在《考古科学：报告》杂志上。

　　“So the site is a relay station on the Silk Road in northwest China.

　　“就是说，这个地方是中国西北地区丝绸之路的中继站。

　　It's just to the eastern end of the Tarim Basin, which is a large arid² area just to the east of the Taklamakan desert, and not far from the Gobi Desert. So this is a dry part of China.”

　　它位于塔里木盆地东端，即塔克拉玛干沙漠东边的一大片干旱区，离戈壁沙漠不远。因此这里是中国的干旱地区。”

　　Piers³ Mitchell, paleopathologist at the University of Cambridge, and one of the study’s authors, along with his student Ivy⁴ Yeh and colleagues in China.

　　皮尔斯·米切尔是剑桥大学的古生物病理学家，他与他的学生叶艾薇以及中国同事们一起做这项研究。

　　In the latrine, archaeologists found used hygiene⁵ sticks wrapped with cloth.

　　在这间公厕中，考古学家们发现了几根外层裹着织物的“卫生棍”。

　　These were used for what you think they were used for.

　　“卫生棍”的作用就是你想象的那种作用。(你懂得)“This excavation⁶ was great because the cloth was still preserved and the feces was still adherent⁷ to the cloth on some of the sticks.

　　“这项发掘至关重要，因为织物至今得以保存，而且有几根棍子的外层织物上还沾着排泄物。

　　So the archaeologist kept these sticks in the museum.

　　所以，考古学家们把这些棍子放进了博物馆。

　　And so my Ph. D. student, Ivy Yeh, who’s first author on the paper, she went out to China took some scrapings from the feces adherent to the cloth.

　　我的博士生叶艾薇——同时也是本论文的第一作者——去了中国，刮下附着在布上的排泄物的一些碎屑。

　　So we were then able to analyze⁸ that down the microscope when she brought it back to Cambridge.”

　　之后，她把碎屑带回剑桥，我们才得以放在显微镜下来分析。”

　　Where they found eggs from parasites—including one from a liver fluke.

　　他们在碎屑中发现了寄生虫卵，其中一颗是肝吸虫卵。

　　“And that's the exciting one because that's only found in eastern and southern China and in Korea, where they have marshy¹⁰ areas that have the right snails¹¹ and the right fish.”

　　“这个发现令人振奋，因为肝吸虫卵之前只在中国东南部和韩国发现过。这些地区有沼泽地，而沼泽地里才有合适的螺和鱼。”

　　The fluke needs snails and fish for its lifecycle, but there were no such snails or fish in this dry region of China.

　　这种寄生虫生命周期中需要螺和鱼作为宿主，但是中国干旱地区没有这种螺和鱼。

　　So the unlucky traveler who harbored the parasite⁹ had to have transported the disease to that spot.

　　因此，携带寄生虫的倒霉客官不得已把传染病带到了那里。

　　“Well firstly it tells us that people were doing very long journeys along the Silk Road and you might think that's obvious.

　　“首先，这告诉我们：古人走丝绸之路是一次非常长的旅程。或许你觉得这是不言而喻的。

　　But no one really knew how long people were traveling.

　　但是，没人真的知道古人到底走了多远的路程。

　　Some people may have been trading, only going short distances selling their goods on to the next person.

　　有的人做生意，或许只是走一小段路，把货卖给下家就完了。

　　And so the goods might have gone all the way along the Silk Road, but people might not.

　　因此，走完丝绸之路全程的或许只有货物，人未必会走全程。

　　But we know that some people were doing huge distances."不过现在我们知道了：有的人的确经历了长距离的跋涉。”

　　“Secondly it shows that this was, would be a viable¹² route for the spread of those other infectious diseases like Bubonic plague and leprosy and anthrax that people had previously¹³ suggested might have been spread between East Asia and Europe along the Silk Road.

　　“第二，这显示丝绸之路可能是黑死病、麻风病和炭疽病等其它传染病的扩散路径。而之前就有人提出，这些病可能是沿着丝绸之路从东亚蔓延至欧洲的。

　　Because modern genetic¹⁴ analyses have shown similarities between the strains of one end and the other.”

　　因为现代基因分析显示，在丝绸之路两端发现的病菌菌株很相似。”

　　Mitchell says there’s much more work to be done to better understand the spread of diseases around the world.

　　米切尔认为，为了深入了解疾病在全世界范围的传播，我们还有很多工作要做。

　　Perhaps from analyzing¹⁵ skeletons—or various other kinds of remains—to be found along the Silk Road.

　　通过挖掘并分析丝绸之路沿线的遗骨或各种其它遗骸，可以揭开更多的秘密。

　　SSS科学60秒听方法：

　　1.第一遍盲听。大概了解什么意思。

　　2.第二遍再听。尽量做到能复述出大致内容。

　　3.第三遍精听。对照原文来听。

　　4.第四遍看答案，看解释，查字典，弄懂意思。

　　5.第五遍跟读。开始是跟读，最好练到能脱稿跟着说。到了这个水平，这一篇SSS算是过关了。

 

1 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

3 piers   

n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩

参考例句：

• Most road bridges have piers rising out of the vally. 很多公路桥的桥墩是从河谷里建造起来的。 来自辞典例句
• At these piers coasters and landing-craft would be able to discharge at all states of tide. 沿岸航行的海船和登陆艇，不论潮汐如何涨落，都能在这种码头上卸载。 来自辞典例句

4 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

5 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。

6 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。

7 adherent   

n.信徒，追随者，拥护者

参考例句：

• He was most liberal where money would bring him a powerful or necessary political adherent.在金钱能够收买一个干练的或者必需的政治拥护者的地方，他是最不惜花钱的。
• He's a pious adherent of Buddhism.他是一位虔诚的佛教徒。

8 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

9 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。

10 marshy   

adj.沼泽的

参考例句：

• In August 1935,we began our march across the marshy grassland. 1935年8月，我们开始过草地。
• The surrounding land is low and marshy. 周围的地低洼而多沼泽。

11 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

13 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

14 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

15 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句