Lesson 53 Television Day:Penicillin
第53課 電視日:青霉素
If you leave a piece of bread in a warm damp place mould will soon grow on it.
如果你把一片面包放在溫暖潮濕的地方,上面很快會長上霉菌.
When this happens,we say that bread "has gone mouldy".
這種情況發(fā)生時我們說那面包"發(fā)霉"了.
Mould can grow on all kinds of things besides food--
除食品以外,所有東西上也都會長霉菌--
on leather,clothing,even on wood.
皮革、衣服,乃至木頭.
It grows from tiny spores which are in the air.
它是從空氣中的微孢里長出來的.
Each spore is like a little mushroom.
每個孢就像個小蘑菇.
If the conditions are right,
如果條件適宜,
a single spore can quickly spread and form a mould.
一個孢就能很快長成一個霉菌.
It is extremely common and we have all noticed it.
這是極尋常的事,我們都見過.
In 1928,Sir Alexander Fleming found that
1928年,亞歷山大.弗萊明爵士發(fā)現(xiàn)
mould had killed some germs he was trying to grow in his laboratory
霉菌殺死了他在實驗室培植的某些細菌.
If he had not noticed this
如果他沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)這一現(xiàn)象的話,
the world would have lost one of the greatest discoveries of the century.
世界就失去了本世紀內(nèi)最偉大的發(fā)現(xiàn)之一.
Fleming called the substance "penicillin"
弗萊明把這一物質(zhì)叫做"青霉素".
Because penicillin can kill germs,doctors use it to treat diseases.
青霉素能殺菌,所以醫(yī)生用它治病.
It has saved millions of lives.
它拯救了幾百萬人的`生命
Scientists grow enormous quantities of common mould
科學(xué)家培植大量的普通霉菌
so that they can get penicillin from it in order to make antibiotics,
從中提取青霉素生產(chǎn)出抗生素,
that is,substances that kill germs.
即殺菌物質(zhì).
Next time you see some mould on a piece of bread,
下次你要是看見面包上的霉菌,
remember that it is one of man's greatest friends!
記住它可是人類最好的朋友之一呢!