雅思阅读材料之London great plague

London's Great Plague killed 100,000 people in 1665-1666

伦敦大瘟疫（死亡10万人）

There is some dispute over whether this was a plague at all or an epidemic of viral hemorrhagic fever, regardless there is little argument that 100,000 Londoners died.

关于这场大灾难，一般有两种说法，一种认为这是一场瘟疫，另一种说法则主张这是病毒性出血热。不管怎么说，在这场灾难中有10万人丧生是无可争议的。

Imported on ships from Amsterdam, infections began on the docks in 1665. Stevedores, crowded in squalor, died first before spreading disease to the rest of the city.

1665年，在来自荷兰的船上这种病毒开始传播。首先，是那些挤在肮脏混乱的甲板上的装卸工先后死亡，后来，瘟疫就开始向伦敦的其他地方蔓延。

By July King Charles had fled and ill-advised instructions to eradicate all the cats and dogs in the city sent the rat population skyrocketing -- rats carried the fleas that carried the disease.

到了七月，当时的国王查尔斯二世被迫离开伦敦，临走前做出了导致瘟疫扩散更快的错误决定。他下令宰杀了城中所有的猫狗致使鼠患成灾，而老鼠身上的跳蚤正是传播瘟疫的始作俑者。

Deaths raged at 7,000 people at week up until September 2, 1666 when the Great Fire of London drew the epidemic to a close.

到1666年9月，平均每周死亡的人数达到了7000人。9月2日那天，伦敦城遭遇了一场大火才使得这场大瘟疫走到了末路。