And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.

现在是美国之音慢速英语单词故事节目。

The spread of dangerous diseases around the world is not new.

在世界范围内危险疾病的传播并不是什么新鲜事。

As trade and colonization expanded worldwide over hundreds of years, so did some dangerous diseases.

数百年来，随着贸易和殖民在全球范围内扩张，一些危险的疾病也随之蔓延。

And smallpox was one of the worst of them.

天花是其中最严重的一种。

Happily, smallpox has been eradicated, meaning it does not exist in nature anymore.

幸运的是，天花已经被根除了，这意味着它在自然界中不再存在了。

The story of how smallpox was defeated is closely linked to the English word, "vaccine."

天花被消灭的故事与英语单词“vaccine”(疫苗)有着密切的联系。

However, before modern science made that happen, humans had suffered from the disease for a very long time.

然而，在现代科学实现这一目标之前，人类已经遭受这种疾病折磨很长一段时间了。

Researchers even found a 3,000 year old Egyptian mummy with smallpox scars.

研究人员甚至发现了一具有天花疤痕的3000年历史的埃及木乃伊。

Smallpox was a severe and deadly disease.

天花是一种严重而致命的疾病。

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes smallpox as devastating.

疾病控制与预防中心称天花是具有毁灭性的。

"On average, three out of every 10 people who got it died.

“平均每10个患此病的人中就有3人死亡。

Those who survived were usually left with scars, which were sometimes severe."

那些幸存者通常会留下伤疤，有时甚至很严重。”

By the 18th century, smallpox was still infecting and killing people around the world.

到18世纪，世界各地仍有感染天花和因其死亡的人们。

But in England, there were some interesting stories going around about milkmaids.

但是在英国，有一些关于挤奶女工的有趣故事流传着。

Milkmaids were women who milked cows.

挤奶女工是挤牛奶的妇女。

They were known to get a mild disease called cowpox.

人们发现，她们会得一种叫做牛痘的轻微疾病。

And the scientific term for cowpox is at the heart of our story about the English word, "vaccine."

牛痘的科学术语是关于英语单词“vaccine（疫苗）”的故事的核心。

Cowpox is a disease that affects cows but can spread to humans through a scratch or cut.

牛痘是一种影响奶牛的疾病，但可以通过抓伤或割伤传染给人类。

Cowpox would often cause a few sores, but it is not serious.

牛痘经常会引起一些小脓疮，但并不严重。

Smallpox, however, can leave terrible scars at the very least and cause death at the very worst.

然而，天花最少会留下可怕的疤痕，在最坏的情况下甚至会导致死亡。

But milkmaids did not seem to get the damaging disease.

但是挤奶女工似乎没有感染这种破坏性的疾病。

A British doctor named Edward Jenner wanted to find out if the stories were true.

一位名叫爱德华·詹纳的英国医生想要知道这些故事是否属实。

So, he did an experiment on his gardener's son, nine-year-old James Phipps.

于是，他在他园丁的儿子，九岁的詹姆斯·菲普斯身上做了一个实验。

Jenner took material from a milkmaid 's cowpox sore and injected it into the child.

詹纳从一个挤奶女工的牛痘疮中提取出物质，并将其注射到孩子身上。

The nine year old, predictably, got cowpox.

不出所料，这个九岁的孩子得了牛痘。

But, months later when Jenner exposed Phipps to smallpox, the child never became infected.

但是，几个月后，当詹纳把菲普斯暴露在天花下时，这个孩子再也没有被感染。

Jenner performed this experiment on more people before publishing his findings,

詹纳在发表他的发现之前，在更多人身上做了这个实验，

calling them: “An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of Variolae Vaccinae.”

称其为“天花疫苗(牛痘）因果之调查”。

The Latin term “variolae vaccinae” means something like ‘pustules from a cow.’

拉丁语“variolae vaccinae”的意思是“来自牛身上的脓疱”。

A pustule is a small bump on the skin that contains or produces infected fluid or pus.

脓包是皮肤上的一个小肿块，含有或产生受感染的液体或脓液。

And, let's face it, pustule – whether in Latin or not – is a bit gross.

然后，让我们来看看，pustule（脓疱）—不管是不是在拉丁语中—脓疱都有点恶心。

So, it is the word “vaccine,” based on the Latin word for cow – vaca – that stuck.

所以，“vaccine”这个词是根据拉丁语中表示奶牛的词vaca而来的。

In time, vaccines became known as the substances that give immunity from other diseases as well.

随着时间的推移，疫苗也成为了人们所熟知的抵御其他疾病的物质。

And that is the story of the English word, vaccine …

这就是关于英语单词vaccine的故事。

… which brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.

以上就是本期单词故事节目的全部内容。

Until next time I'm Anna Matteo.

我们下次节目再见，安娜·马特奥为您播报。