人教版高中英语-必修5-各单元课文原文

精品文档---下载后可任意编辑Unit 1 Great scientistsJOHH SHOW DEFEATS “KING CHOLERA” John Snow was a famous doctor in London - so expert, indeed, that he attended Queen Victoria as her personal physician. But he became inspired when he thought about helping ordinary people exposed to cholera. This was the deadly disease of its day. Neither its cause nor its cure was understood. So many thousands of terrified people died every time there was an outbreak. John Snow wanted to face the challenge and solve this problem. He knew that cholera would never be controlled until its cause was found. He became interested in two theories that possibly explained how cholera killed people. The first suggested that cholera multiplied in the air. A cloud of dangerous gas floated around until it found its victims. The second suggested that people absorbed this disease into their bodies with their meals. From the stomach the disease quickly attacked the body and soon the affected person died. John Snow suspected that the second theory was correct but he needed evidence. So when another outbreak hit London in 1854, he was ready to begin his enquiry. As the disease spread quickly through poor neighbourhoods, he began to gather information. In two particular streets, the cholera outbreak was so severe that more than 500 people died in ten days. He was determined to find out why. 1111精品文档---下载后可任意编辑 First he marked on a map the exact places where all the dead people had lived. This gave him a valuable clue about the cause of the disease. Many of the deaths were near the water pump in Broad Street (especially numbers 16, 37, 38 and 40). He also noticed that some houses (such as 20 and 21 Broad S...