新概念第四册 Lesson 17 A man-made disease

　　Ironically, Europe, which had bequeathed the rabbit as a pest to Australia, acquired this man-made disease as a pestilence. A French physician decided to get rid of the wild rabbits on his own estate and introduced myxomatosis. It did not, however, remain within the confines of his estate. It spread through France, Where wild rabbits are not generally regarded as a pest but as sport and a useful food supply, and it spread to Britain where wild rabbits are regarded as a pest but where domesticated rabbits, equally susceptible to the disease, are the basis of a profitable fur industry. The question became one of whether Man could control the disease he had invented.

　　RITCHIE CALDER Science Makes Sense

　　New words and expressions 生词和短语

　　settlement

　　n. 新拓居地

　　enterprising

　　adj. 有事业心的

　　settler

　　n. 移居者

　　Antipodes

　　n. 新西兰和澳大利亚（英）

　　promiscuous

　　adj. 杂乱的

　　abandon

　　n. 放任，纵情

　　overrun

　　v. 蔓延，泛滥

　　devastation

　　n. 破坏，劫掠

　　burrow

　　v. 挖、掘

　　susceptible

　　adj. 易受感染的

　　virus

　　n. 病毒

　　myxomatosis

　　n. 多发性粘液瘤

　　infect

　　v. 传染

　　epidemic

　　n. 流行病

　　mosquito

　　n. 蚊虫

　　carrier

　　n. 带菌者

　　exterminate

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