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Meanwhile, British soldiers returning from northern France on furlough
與此同時，法國北部的英國士兵從休假中歸來，
introduced the flu to Dover and other Channel ports,
把流感從多佛和其他港口
from where the virus was carried by rail to London.
帶到了火車車上，一并運到了倫敦。
By the time the pandemic had run its course in April 1919,
在此時，流行病于1919年4月開始肆虐了。
an estimated 675,000 Americans and 230,000 Britons were dead.
大概有六十七萬五千名美國人和二十三萬名英國人因此而死亡。
In India alone, some 10 million were killed, and worldwide the death toll was an astonishing 50 million.
僅僅在印度就已經有將大約一千萬人死亡，而全世界死亡人數是一個驚人的數字，五千萬！
But that was then.
但那些已經過去了。
Today, planes can transport viruses to any country on the globe in a fraction of the time it took in 1918.
今天，飛機可以運載病毒到這個世界上的任何一個國家，比1918年那次傳播得更快。
In February 2003, for instance, a Chinese doctor arrived at the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong feeling unwell.
例如，在2003年2月，一位住在香港某大酒店的中國醫生感到不適。
Unknown to him, he was harboring a new animal-origin virus called SARS, short for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
他并不知道他感染了一種新的動物有機病菌，叫非典。非典是嚴重急性呼吸系統綜合癥的縮寫。
Within 24 hours of checking into Room 913, sixteen other guests had been infected,
在24小時內，住在913號房間附近的16位房客全部被感染，
and over the following days five boarded planes to overseas destinations, spreading the virus to Vietnam, Singapore and Canada.
接下來的幾天，通過5趟國際航班，病毒傳播到了越南、新加坡和加拿大。
Flights between Hong Kong, Toronto and other international cities were quickly grounded
香港與多倫多還有其他國際城市的航班立刻被停止，
and thanks to other emergency measures, a pandemic was averted.
多虧了各種緊急措施，大規模傳染得到了避免。
By the time the outbreak was over four months later,
四個月之后，非典爆發了，
SARS had infected 29 countries worldwide and more than 1,000 people were dead.
在29個國家肆虐，超過1000人因此而死亡。
For all that the virus was rapidly contained, however,
雖然病菌傳播得很快，
there was little that could be done about the alarming news reports carried by cable news channels and the Internet.
但有小部分可以通過來自有線頻道或者網絡的預警新聞來制止。
As bloggers added to the hysteria by spreading unfounded conspiracy theories,
隨著一些博主對非典的各種添油加醋，甚至傳播陰謀論，
tourism in Hong Kong and other affected cities ground to a halt, costing businesses more than 10 billion U.S. dollars.
香港和其他受影響的城市游客的數量急劇降低，生意損失了將近一百億美元。
One business, however, did very well.
然而有一種行業卻門庭若市。
Above all, SARS was a reminder that pandemics have always been associated with panic.
綜上所述，非典乃至于其他流行病帶給我們的都是痛苦回憶。
If history teaches us anything, it's that while pandemics may start small,
歷史教訓我們，傳染病一開始可能很小型，
their impacts can be as dramatic as wars and natural disasters.
然而它們的破壞力與戰爭和自然災害一樣強大。
The difference today is that science gives us the ability to detect pandemics right at the very beginning
不同于往日，科技給我們帶來第一時間察覺到傳染病的機會，
and to take action to mitigate their impacts before they spread too widely.
同時在它們廣為傳播之前減輕它們的影響。
