TEXT:once smallpox arrives at Valley Forge, it spreads through the cramped huts like wildfire.Washington survived smallpox as a child. Now he decides to take a gamble...with one of the most daring experiments in US military history.Surgeons have learned about inoculation from African slaves. They harvest pus from a smallpox victim...and smear the live virus into cuts on the skin of a healthy patient. The inoculation spreads the infection, but at a slower rate. A week after exposure, the victim's white blood cells create antibodies. These attack and kill the virus that causes smallpox before the disease can spread. But it's a dangerous race against time. To survive, the patient's immune system has to work faster than the virus, or it will run out of control. One in 50 of those inoculated will die. But Washington's gamble pays off. New cases of smallpox fall from several thousand to just a few dozen. But to win the war against the British, Washington turns to an unlikely hero who will transform his ragtag militia into a formidable fighting machine.1778. George Washington's Patriot Army survives a hard winter and an outbreak of smallpox at Valley Forge. Now Washington introduces a new recruit who will change the course of the war. Baron von Steuben is an ex-Prussian Army officer, an elite soldier whose career is said to have been ruined by his homosexuality. But Washington makes him one of th e most powerful men in his command. Washington was a genius in taking people in who didn't seem like they could achieve great things, but under him, they rose to the challenge, they rose to the occasion. And that's what great leaders do.Von Steuben's task : Reinvent the demoralized Patriot Army so they can take on the British in aclose fight.

譯文:天花剛一出現(xiàn)在佛吉谷就迅速在擁擠的營(yíng)帳中傳播開(kāi)來(lái)。華盛頓小時(shí)候得過(guò)天花，這次他決定冒險(xiǎn)一搏，做一個(gè)美軍歷史上最大膽的試驗(yàn)。軍醫(yī)從非洲奴隸那里學(xué)到了接種的技術(shù)，他們從天花病人身上采集膿液，然后把活病毒抹在健康人傷口上接種使得感染擴(kuò)散，但擴(kuò)散速度慢一些。感染一周后患者的白細(xì)胞會(huì)分泌出抗體，它們會(huì)在病情蔓延之前攻擊并且消滅天花病毒，但這是一場(chǎng)與時(shí)間的賽跑，生死攸關(guān)。要想生存，病人的免疫系統(tǒng)的反應(yīng)必須快于病毒的擴(kuò)散，否則病情會(huì)一發(fā)不可收拾。受接種的人，五十個(gè)中會(huì)有一個(gè)喪命于此，但華盛頓賭贏了，天花的新病例從幾千人降到了幾十人。但要擊敗英國(guó)人華盛頓還要完成一個(gè)壯舉，把手下這群烏合之眾訓(xùn)練成強(qiáng)大的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)機(jī)器。1778年，華盛頓的愛(ài)國(guó)大軍在佛吉谷相繼經(jīng)受了嚴(yán)冬和天花的考驗(yàn)，接下來(lái)華盛頓新招募的一名軍官將扭轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)局。拜倫·馮·施托伊本是名前普魯士軍官，同時(shí)也是名杰出的士兵，但據(jù)說(shuō)其因同性戀者身份而前途盡失。華盛頓不拘一格，將他提拔為手下的一員大將。戴維·鮑爾達(dá)奇[犯罪推理小說(shuō)作家]：“華盛頓深諳用人之道，那些看似平庸的人在他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下卻能成為臨危受命的賢才良將，偉大的領(lǐng)袖往往如此。馮·施托伊本的任務(wù)是重振低落的士氣，使他們能夠與英軍近距離作戰(zhàn)。