Meanwhile, British soldiers returning from northern France on furlough
与此同时，法国北部的英国士兵从休假中归来，
introduced the flu to Dover and other Channel ports,
把流感从多佛和其他港口
from where the virus was carried by rail to London.
带到了火车车上，一并运到了伦敦。
By the time the pandemic had run its course in April 1919,
在此时，流行病于1919年4月开始肆虐了。
an estimated 675,000 Americans and 230,000 Britons were dead.
大概有六十七万五千名美国人和二十三万名英国人因此而死亡。
In India alone, some 10 million were killed, and worldwide the death toll was an astonishing 50 million.
仅仅在印度就已经有将大约一千万人死亡，而全世界死亡人数是一个惊人的数字，五千万！
But that was then.
但那些已经过去了。
Today, planes can transport viruses to any country on the globe in a fraction of the time it took in 1918.
今天，飞机可以运载病毒到这个世界上的任何一个国家，比1918年那次传播得更快。
In February 2003, for instance, a Chinese doctor arrived at the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong feeling unwell.
例如，在2003年2月，一位住在香港某大酒店的中国医生感到不适。
Unknown to him, he was harboring a new animal-origin virus called SARS, short for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
他并不知道他感染了一种新的动物有机病菌，叫非典。非典是严重急性呼吸系统综合症的缩写。
Within 24 hours of checking into Room 913, sixteen other guests had been infected,
在24小时内，住在913号房间附近的16位房客全部被感染，
and over the following days five boarded planes to overseas destinations, spreading the virus to Vietnam, Singapore and Canada.
接下来的几天，通过5趟国际航班，病毒传播到了越南、新加坡和加拿大。
Flights between Hong Kong, Toronto and other international cities were quickly grounded
香港与多伦多还有其他国际城市的航班立刻被停止，
and thanks to other emergency measures, a pandemic was averted.
多亏了各种紧急措施，大规模传染得到了避免。
By the time the outbreak was over four months later,
四个月之后，非典爆发了，
SARS had infected 29 countries worldwide and more than 1,000 people were dead.
在29个国家肆虐，超过1000人因此而死亡。
For all that the virus was rapidly contained, however,
虽然病菌传播得很快，
there was little that could be done about the alarming news reports carried by cable news channels and the Internet.
但有小部分可以通过来自有线频道或者网络的预警新闻来制止。
As bloggers added to the hysteria by spreading unfounded conspiracy theories,
随着一些博主对非典的各种添油加醋，甚至传播阴谋论，
tourism in Hong Kong and other affected cities ground to a halt, costing businesses more than 10 billion U.S. dollars.
香港和其他受影响的城市游客的数量急剧降低，生意损失了将近一百亿美元。
One business, however, did very well.
然而有一种行业却门庭若市。
Above all, SARS was a reminder that pandemics have always been associated with panic.
综上所述，非典乃至于其他流行病带给我们的都是痛苦回忆。
If history teaches us anything, it's that while pandemics may start small,
历史教训我们，传染病一开始可能很小型，
their impacts can be as dramatic as wars and natural disasters.
然而它们的破坏力与战争和自然灾害一样强大。
The difference today is that science gives us the ability to detect pandemics right at the very beginning
不同于往日，科技给我们带来第一时间察觉到传染病的机会，
and to take action to mitigate their impacts before they spread too widely.
同时在它们广为传播之前减轻它们的影响。
