知性英语－弗罗伦萨-南丁格尔

 
　　Florence was born in 1820sintosa wealthy, English family who were, at the time of her birth living in Florence, Italy. She and her sister had all the advantages that money could provide. This included private tutors¹ and a superb² education which was not generally available to girls at that time. Florence excelled³ in Science and Maths; however there was little opportunity for her to use her knowledge. Women of her position in life were expected to get married and arrange⁴ all the domestic⁵ affairs that were important to wealthy families. But, Florence had a dream to become a nurse and when her father refused to allow her to train as a nurse, she was so upset that she became very ill. Eventually, her father relented and Florence started on her journey. She volunteered to work in hospitals in France and Germany and even travelled to Egypt to have formal training. Nurses were not considered to be important or valuable in those days and hospitals were generally places that only poor people would go to out of desperation. The standards of hygiene⁶ and medicine were very low. Florence began to change all that. In every hospital that she worked in she made sure that everything was clean and that the patients themselves were washed and well nourished⁷.

　　Florence had become well known⁸ for all the wonderful improvements⁹ that she had made and for the way she had trained other young women to be good nurses. When the British army was fighting in the Crimea against Russia, the soldiers were in desperate¹⁰ need of medical attention. The British commander in the Crimea had heard of Florence and asked her if she would come and help. So Florence collected some of her best nurses and went to the Crimea. Conditions there were terrible. There was no water and no medical equipment. Florence and her team organized a kitchen and a laundry¹¹ and worked incredibly hard to improve conditions for the injured¹² soldiers. At night she would carry a lamp as she went round the hospital and the soldiers started to call her "the lady with the lamp". They would often kiss her shadow as she passed by. Florence and her team saved thousands of lives and earned the love and admiration¹³ of her countrymen and women.

　　In 1860 Florence started the Nightingale Training School. The Nightingale nurses were in demand all over the world. She advised the American President how to look after his soldiers who were injured in the Civil War. She was a guiding influence behind the founding of the International Red Cross. In 1907, she was honoured by the King of England, Edward V11 and given thesgroupsof Merit¹⁴. She was the first woman to receive this award. She died at the age of 90 on August 10, 1910. Florence could have lived a life of luxury¹⁵ and comfort. She saw a need for someone to help the poor and the sick and she did everything in her power to improve the situation and to make a change. She thought little of her own comfort and she inspired thousands of young women to become nurses.

1 tutors   

n.家庭教师( tutor的名词复数 )；导师；（大专院校的）助教；课本v.当家庭教师( tutor的第三人称单数 )；任大学导师；任课

参考例句：

• The students have submitted their essays to their tutors. 学生把论文递交给导师。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• To all appearances this was done out of respect for the tutors. 看上来全是尊师。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

2 superb   

adj.高贵的，壮丽的，极好的

参考例句：

• The large bay has a superb backdrop of mountains.大海湾背靠着庄严的山脉。
• The hotel has a large dining room serving superb local cuisine.饭店有一个大餐厅供应上好的当地菜肴。

3 excelled   

优于，擅长( excel的过去式和过去分词 )； 胜过平时

参考例句：

• She has always excelled in foreign languages. 她的外语从来都是出类拔萃。
• Solomon excelled in wisdom. 所罗门智慧过人。

4 arrange   

vt.安排，整理，计划，改编(乐曲)；vi.协商，计划

参考例句：

• He began to arrange the flowers in the vase.他开始把花瓶内的花摆好。
• We must arrange about that.这事我们得安排一下。

5 domestic   

adj.家里的，国内的，本国的；n.家仆，佣人

参考例句：

• This is domestic news.这是国内新闻。
• She does the domestic affairs every day.她每天都忙家务。

6 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。

7 nourished   

adj.滋养的v.养育( nourish的过去式和过去分词 )；喂养；保持；增长（情绪等）

参考例句：

• All the children were well nourished and in good physical condition. 所有这些孩子都营养良好，身体健康。
• That's a well-nourished baby. 那个婴儿营养很好。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

9 improvements   

增加或修改( improvement的名词复数 )； 改进； 改善； 改良

参考例句：

• improvements in efficiency at the factory 工厂效率的提高
• They've spent a lot of money on home improvements. 他们花了很多钱装修家居。

10 desperate   

adj.不顾死活的，危急的，令人绝望的，极渴望的

参考例句：

• They made a desperate attempt to save the company.他们为挽救公司作孤注一掷的努力。
• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。

11 laundry   

n.洗衣店，洗衣房；已洗好的衣物，待洗衣物

参考例句：

• Please send clothes to the laundry.请把这些衣物送往洗衣店。
• There's a lot of laundry in the basket.筐子里有许多要洗的衣物。

12 injured   

adj.受伤的

参考例句：

• Our best defender is injured and won't be able to play today.我们最佳的防守员受伤了，今天不能参加比赛。
• The injured men have been dug out of the snow.受伤人员从雪中被挖了出来。

13 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

14 merit   

n.优点，价值，功绩，成绩；vt.值得

参考例句：

• There is great merit in dealing fairly with your employees.公正地对待你的雇员有极大好处。
• History affords us lessons that merit attention.历史给我们提供了值得注意的借鉴。

15 luxury   

n.难得享受到的愉悦；奢侈，奢华的生活

参考例句：

• He invited me to his suite. The luxury takes your breath away.他请我到他的套房里去，那豪华的气派真会令你吃惊。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods.政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。