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6、The Plague Wasn't A Guaranteed Killer
鼠疫并非箭無虛發(fā)的殺手
Many of us imagine that the plague was a certain death sentence. That belief comes from the massive, widespread devastation the plague caused rather than its effects on individual sufferers. Many stories actually tell of people simply immune to the plague, and others record those who contracted the disease but survived. Marshall Howe was one such individual.
我們很多人都以為鼠疫是一種必死的疾病。這種看法來自于鼠疫造成的大面積嚴重的破壞而非他對個人造成的傷害。很多故事記載了對鼠疫具有免疫體質(zhì)的人群，另一些故事則記載了病愈的幸存者。Marshall Howe就是這樣一個人。
Howe lived in the village of Eyam during its quarantine, and after recovering from the plague, he helped bury those who died from it. He was reportedly carrying one man to his grave when the corpse spoke and asked for something to eat. The supposed dead man eventually recovered. Another Eyam resident, Margaret Blackwell, recovered from the plague after being so overcome with thirst that she drank a pot of melted bacon fat.
Howe在Eyam村隔離時期正駐留于村中，在他患病并且病愈之后，他幫助掩埋了那些病亡的村民。據(jù)說一次在他將尸體往墳?zāi)拱徇\時，“尸體”開口說話并要吃東西。這個本該死去的人最終病愈并活了下來。另一個Eyam的患病村民Margaret Blackwell，在極度干渴的情況下喝下一大罐融化的豬油，最后病愈了。
Studies of Black Death victims’ skeletal remains reveal a telling tale. Most already suffered from some other ailment, such as disease or malnutrition, before contracting the plague. The plague did kill previously healthy individuals, but it’s now thought that many who were healthy stood a chanceat survival.
對黑死病受害者骸骨的研究揭示了這樣一個生動的事實。大部分受難者在感染瘟疫之前承受著其他的苦痛折磨，比如疾病和營養(yǎng)不良。當然，鼠疫確實曾殺死了很多原本完全健康的人，但現(xiàn)在的觀點是，很多原本健康的病患并非必死無疑。
