新东方：新概念英语第四册课文17

　　Lesson 17

　　A man-made disease人为的疾病

　　First listen and then answer the following question.听录音，然后回答以下问题。

　　What factor helped to spread the disease of myxomatosis？

　　In the early days of the settlement of Australia， enterprising settlers unwisely introduced the European rabbit. This rabbit had no natural enemies in the Antipodes， so that it multiplied with that promiscuous abandon characteristic of rabbits. It overran a whole continent. It caused devastation by burrowing and by devouring the herbage which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle. Scientists discovered that this particular variety of rabbit （and apparently no other animal） was susceptible to a fatal virus disease， myxomatosis. By infecting animals and letting them loose in the burrows， local epidemics of this disease could be created. Later it was found that there was a type of mosquito which acted as the carrier of this disease and passed it on to the rabbits. So while the rest of the world was trying to get rid of mosquitoes， Australia was encouraging this one. It effectively spread the disease all over the continent and drastically reduced the rabbit population. It later became apparent that rabbits were developing a degree of resistance to this disease， so that the rabbit population was unlikely to be completely exterminated. There were hopes， however， that the problem of the rabbit would become manageable.

　　Ironically， Europe， which had bequeathed the rabbit as a pest to Australia， acquired this man-made disease as a pestilence. A French physician decided to get rid of the wild rabbits on his own estate and introduced myxomatosis. It did not， however， remain within the confines of his estate. It spread through France， Where wild rabbits are not generally regarded as a pest but as sport and a useful food supply， and it spread to Britain where wild rabbits are regarded as a pest but where domesticated rabbits， equally susceptible to the disease， are the basis of a profitable fur industry. The question became one of whether Man could control the disease he had invented.

　　RITCHIE CALDER Science Makes Sense

　　New words and expressions 生词和短语

　　settlement n.  新拓居地enterprising adj. 有事业心的settler n.  移居者Antipodes n.  新西兰和澳大利亚（英）

　　promiscuous adj. 杂乱的abandon n.  放任，纵情overrun v.  蔓延，泛滥devastation n.  破坏，劫掠burrow v.  挖、掘susceptible adj. 易受感染的virus n.  病毒myxomatosis n.  多发性粘液瘤infect v.  传染epidemic n.  流行病mosquito n.  蚊虫carrier n.  带菌者exterminate v.  消灭ironically adv. 具有讽刺意味地bequeath v.  把……传给pest n.  害虫，有害动物pestilence n.  瘟疫confine n.  范围domesticate v.  驯养

　　参考译文

　　在澳大利亚移民初期，一些有创业精神的移民不明智地把欧洲兔子引进了澳大利亚。这种兔子在澳大利亚及新西兰没有天敌，因此便以兔子所特有的杂乱交配迅猛繁殖起来。整个澳洲兔子成灾。它们在地下打洞，吃掉本可以饲养数百万头牛羊的牧草，给澳洲大陆造成了毁灭性的破坏。科学家们发现，这种特殊品种的兔子（显然不包括别的动物）易患一种叫“多发性粘液瘤”的致命毒性疾病。通过让染上此病的动物在洞内乱跑，就可以使这种疾病在一个地区蔓延起来。后来又发现，有一种蚊子是传播这种疾病的媒介，能把此病传染给兔子。因此，世界上其他地方在设法消灭蚊子的时候，澳大利亚却在促使这种蚊子大量繁殖。蚊子把这种疾病扩散到整个澳洲大陆，效果甚佳，结果兔子的数目在为减少。后来，明显看出，兔子对这种疾病已产生了一定程度的免疫力，所以兔子不可能被完全消灭。但是，已有希望解决兔子所带来的问题。

　　具有讽刺意味的是，欧洲把这种兔子作为有害动物传给澳洲，而欧洲自己却染上了这种人为的瘟疫般的疾病。一位法国内科医生决定除掉自己庄园内的野兔子，于是引进了这种多发性粘液瘤疾病。然而，这种疾病并未被局限在他的庄园内，结果在整个法国蔓延开来。野兔在法国一般不被当作有害动物，而被视为打猎取乐的玩物和有用的食物来源。这种疾病又蔓延到了英国。在英国，野兔被当作有害的动物，可是家兔是赚钱的毛皮工业的基础，然而家兔同样易感染这种疾病。现在的问题是，人类能否控制住这种人为的疾病。

 

新东方：新概念英语第四册课文17的延伸阅读——新概念英语学习方法手册

 

　　1、先整体听一遍课文。看看自己到底能听懂多少。

　　2、利用复读机复读功能，逐句播放，听一句，写一句，碰到不会的单词了就先空着。继续往下听写。整篇课文或者你拟定的几句话都听写完了，再结合上下文看看那些不会的单词能不能猜出来。

　　3、逐句回放那些空着单词的句子，试一试能不能写出来。如果还不行，就打开书对照的看一下。在这里，我倒是不主张钻牛角尖，恨不能一个不会的单词憋好几年才写出来。因为，有些单词确实我们不会，那么直接看一下书，就知道了，下次也可能在其他课文中还会遇到，这就等于是复习了，不要太死板了。其实，这次看了，未必下次你真的就会写。

　　4、把不会的单词，或者你认为含糊的单词去逐个的查词典，逐条的去看注解。

　　5、每天多听这些听写过的录音，最起码你要在今天听写新内容之前要默写一遍昨天听写过的。

　　6、看着中文注解写英文，联系中英互换。绝对有效。

　　7、如果你想练就口语，就要大声的去模仿朗读，最好能背读。

　　8、运用李阳的“一口气”训练你的伶牙俐齿，这个真是很管用，以后你会发现听任何英语都不会觉得语速快的。