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If the pressure is changed too rapidly—as with a too-quick ascent by a diver—the bubbles trapped within the body will begin to fizz in exactly the manner of a freshly opened bottle of champagne, clogging tiny blood vessels, depriving cells of oxygen, and causing pain so excruciating that sufferers are prone to bend double in agony—hence "the bends."
要是壓力變化太大——比如潛水員上升太快——體內(nèi)的氣泡就會(huì)泛起泡沫，猶如剛剛打開的香檳酒瓶那樣，堵塞了細(xì)小的血管，造成細(xì)胞失氧，使病人痛得直不起腰。這就是“彎腰病”這個(gè)名字的由來。
The bends have been an occupational hazard for sponge and pearl divers since time immemorial but didn't attract much attention in the Western world until the nineteenth century, and then it was among people who didn't get wet at all (or at least not very wet and not generally much above the ankles). They were caisson workers. Caissons were enclosed dry chambers built on riverbeds to facilitate the construction of bridge piers. They were filled with compressed air, and often when the workers emerged after an extended period of working under this artificial pressure they experienced mild symptoms like tingling or itchy skin. But an unpredictable few felt more insistent pain in the joints and occasionally collapsed in agony, sometimes never to get up again.
自古以來，彎腰病一直是潛水采海綿人和潛水采珠人的職業(yè)病，但在10世紀(jì)以前沒有引起西方世界的重視；而且，還包括那些不濕身體（至少不會(huì)濕得很厲害，一般不會(huì)濕到腳踝以上）的人。他們是沉箱工人。沉箱是密封的干室，建在河床，用于建造橋墩。沉箱里充滿了壓縮空氣；當(dāng)工人們在人造壓力的條件下工作很長時(shí)間走出來的時(shí)候，他們會(huì)經(jīng)歷輕微的癥狀，比如皮膚刺痛或發(fā)癢。但是，無法預(yù)料的是，少數(shù)人會(huì)持續(xù)關(guān)節(jié)痛，偶爾痛得倒在地上，有時(shí)候再也爬不起來。
It was all most puzzling. Sometimes workers would go to bed feeling fine, but wake up paralyzed. Sometimes they wouldn't wake up at all. Ashcroft relates a story concerning the directors of a new tunnel under the Thames who held a celebratory banquet as the tunnel neared completion. To their consternation their champagne failed to fizz when uncorked in the compressed air of the tunnel.
這一切都是很令人費(fèi)解的。有時(shí)候工人睡覺時(shí)還感覺不錯(cuò)，醒來時(shí)卻癱瘓了。有時(shí)候，他們根本醒不過來了。阿什克羅夫特講了個(gè)在泰晤士河底下修建新隧道的故事。隧道快完工的時(shí)候，主管們舉行了一個(gè)慶祝宴會(huì)。他們在隧道的壓縮空氣里打開瓶蓋，只見香檳有沒有泛起任何泡沫，令他們大吃一驚。
