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The Chinese Doctor Who Beat the Plague (瘟疫)
In the winter of 1910, Dr.Wu Lienteh stepped off a train in the northern Chinese city of Harbin.He was there to solve a medical mystery, at great personal risk.Over the past few months, an unknown disease had swept along the railways of northeast China, killing 99.9% of its victims.The Qing Imperial court had sent the Cambridgeeducated Dr.Wu north to stop the epidemic (流行病).
When Dr.Wu arrived in Harbin on Christmas Eve, 1910, he carried little in the way of medical instruments and had only one assistant.One of Wu's first acts upon arrival was to set up special quarantine (隔离) units and to order lockdowns to stop infected persons from traveling and spreading the disease.He had teams check households for possible cases, and even managed to convince authorities to completely close the railways in the early weeks of 1911.Of particular concern was the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, which had become a great annual migration of people traveling across the country to see their families.
Thanks to Dr.Wu's efforts, the number of plague victims began to die down, and by March 1,1911, the epidemic was fully contained.The pneumonic (肺炎的) plague outbreak of 1910-1911 lasted nearly four months, affected five provinces and six major cities, and accounted for over 60,000 deaths.It is clear that without the brave and decisive actions taken by Dr.Wu, it could have been much worse.Had the epidemic gone unchecked, allowing holiday rail passengers to spread the disease to the rest of China could have meant a catastrophic loss of life and possibly a global health crisis.
In April 1911, Dr.Wu chaired an International Plague Conference in Shenyang, attended by scientists from 11 countries including the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Japan and France.They praised Dr.Wu for his handling of the 1910-1911 outbreak.For a time, Dr.Wu was the world's most famous plague fighter, a title he defended in a malaria epidemic in China in 1919, and a return of plague in 1921.
语篇解读:本文是一篇记叙文。文章介绍了一位打败瘟疫的中国医生伍连德博士。
1.What was Dr.Wu's mission in 1910?
A.To take personal risks.
B.To end an epidemic.
C.To provide medical education.
D.To investigate the number of victims.
解析:选B 细节理解题。根据第一段最后一句可知,派伍博士去北方的目的是阻止流行病。
2.Which of Dr.Wu's acts stopped the disease from spreading nationwide?
A.Setting up special quarantine units.
B.Carrying with him medical instruments.
C.Checking households for possible cases.
D.Convincing authorities to close the railways.
解析:选D 细节理解题。根据第二段第三、四句可知,伍博士说服当局彻底关闭铁路阻止了瘟疫的全国性传播。
3.What can we infer from the third paragraph?
A.The disease worsened after March 1, 1911.
B.60,000 would have died without Dr.Wu's efforts.
C.The world was saved from a major epidemic in 1911.
D.A global health crisis followed the 1910-1911 outbreak.
解析:选C 推理判断题。根据第三段后两句可推断出,1911年,世界免于一场大规模疫情。
4.What can we know about Dr.Wu from the last paragraph?
A.He continued to fight plagues after 1911.
B.He was infected with malaria in 1919.
C.He travelled worldwide hosting conferences.
D.He claimed plagues would never happen again.
解析:选A 推理判断题。根据最后一段第一句和最后一句可知,1911年后,伍博士继续与瘟疫作斗争。