無(wú)名的疫苗英雄

江蘇 陳福金

大約三百年前，瑪麗·沃特利·蒙塔古夫人給她的女兒接種了天花疫苗，使她的孩子成為西方第一個(gè)得到疫苗保護(hù)的人。 她的一系列付出為疫苗的應(yīng)用及推廣鋪平了道路。

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1About three hundred years ago, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu got her daughter inoculated （接種） against smallpox （天花）, making her child the first person in the West to be protected in this way. Without Montagu's willingness to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures, the introduction of vaccines would never have taken place.

2Montagu first witnessed inoculation when she accompanied her husband to Turkey in 1717. Inoculation had started in Asia, probably in China, as early as the 10th century AD. Montagu observed how older women in Turkey took a tiny amount of pus （膿）from a person with smallpox. They then used needles to make cuts on people's wrists and ankles and added the pus to their bloodstream. This helped people gain immunity （免疫力） against future infection.

3Like other visitors to the country, Montagu took steps to ensure that her son was inoculated in Turkey. This worked well, but she knew that trying it in England would be far more challenging. Inoculation performed by unlicensed amateurs would threaten doctors' professional standing and potentially rob them of valuable income. Churchmen also disagree with the practice, as they saw it as going against nature.

4Back in England, Montagu observed the increased severity of smallpox infection. Eventually, in April 1721, she decided to use the Turkish practice to have her daughter inoculated, because she believed that the rewards would outweigh the risks. After a safe time had passed following the inoculation, Montagu allowed doctors to examine her daughter.

5Doctors in Britain gradually accepted the practice. Years later, a pioneering physician found smallpox vaccines to destroy smallpox completely. As early as last century, academics argued that Montagu was no more than an enthusiastic amateur. In truth, she made a vital scientific contribution towards finding the cure for smallpox.

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1. Three hundred years ago, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu got her daughter inoculated against smallpox, making her child the first person in the West to be protected in this way. 三百年前， 瑪麗·沃特利·蒙塔古夫人給她的女兒接種了天花疫苗，使她的孩子成為西方第一個(gè)以這種方式得到保護(hù)的人。

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句中，got her daughter inoculated為“get+賓語(yǔ)+賓補(bǔ)結(jié)構(gòu)”，當(dāng)賓語(yǔ)與賓補(bǔ)構(gòu)成被動(dòng)關(guān)系時(shí)，使用過(guò)去分詞形式。 句中的making her child the first person in the West to be protected in this way為現(xiàn)在分詞短語(yǔ)作結(jié)果狀語(yǔ)。

2. Without Montagu's willingness to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures, the introduction of vaccines would never have taken place. 如果不是蒙塔古愿意采用她從其他文化中學(xué)到的做法，那么疫苗引進(jìn)就永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)發(fā)生。

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句中，to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures為動(dòng)詞不定式作名詞willingness的后置定語(yǔ)；she had learned from other cultures為省略了關(guān)系代詞that/which的定語(yǔ)從句，that/which在定語(yǔ)從句中作賓語(yǔ)； 整個(gè)句子是一個(gè)表示與過(guò)去事實(shí)相反的含蓄虛擬條件句，Without Montagu's willingness to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures為without引導(dǎo)的條件句，the introduction of vaccines would never have taken place為主句。