Julie's English Wonderland

眾所皆知，托福考試作為歐美留學考試的一大主力，TOEFL測驗的內容偏向學術與專業是很正常的一件事，

但是準備托福的考生並不是每個人都具備專業的背景知識，這些知識能幫助你的TOEFL成績更上一層樓，多一點準備好過什麼都不知道，

這些背景知識的內容或許能在toefl閱讀或聽力上幫到你的忙也說不定。

1.查士丁尼瘟疫The Plague of Justinian

     The Plague of Justinian (541–542 AD) was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, especially its capital Constantinople,the Sasanian Empire, and port cities around the entire Mediterranean Sea.

One of the deadliest plagues in history, the devastating pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25–50 million people in two centuries of recurrence, equivalent to 13–26% of the world's population at the time of the first outbreak. The plague's social and cultural impact during the period of Justinian has been compared to that of the similar Black Death that devastated Europe 600 years after the last outbreak of Justinian plague. Procopius, the principal Greek historian of the 6th century, viewed the pandemic as worldwide in scope.(維基百科介紹)

查士丁尼瘟疫發生在東羅馬帝國也被稱為拜占庭帝國最知名的皇帝—查士丁尼一世(Justinianus I)統治時期，這個嚴重的瘟疫於西元541年傳染至拜占庭帝國首都—君士坦丁堡。

關於這次瘟疫的源頭，一種普遍被接受的說法是起源於非洲，之後經由非洲開往歐洲的商船上受到感染的老鼠傳播到整個歐洲。

當這可怕的鼠疫傳染到首都君士坦丁堡之後，每日的死亡人數達到1萬之多，並且日與俱增地加強它的影響力。根據流傳下來的史料研究，

當時因受感染而死亡的慘況甚至到了因為死亡人數過多，而屍體來不及埋葬只好堆在建築物內或是露天棄置的情形，可謂屍橫遍野。

根據古代歷史學家普羅科匹厄斯(Procopius)針對這場疫病的研究，被感染者表現出許多典型黑死病的症狀，包括突然高燒跟淋巴結腫大。

2013年科學家的研究證實了早年的猜測，即疫病大流行的原因是一種名為耶爾森氏(Yersinia pestis)的鼠疫桿菌，

研究人員在巴基斯坦與中國交接的邊界Kyrgyzstan，發現了與查士丁尼瘟疫菌株祖先有密切相關的現代菌株，這項發現表明了查士丁尼瘟疫可能起源於這個地方。

在這場瘟疫中最著名的一段故事是，查士丁尼皇帝本人也不可倖免的感染了鼠疫，但是最終很僥倖地保住了性命並且順利痊癒。不過其他拜占庭帝國的百姓就沒有這麼幸運了，

這場突如其來的大浩劫席捲了三分之一以上的居民性命。而即便在拜占庭帝國的瘟疫最終經過1年的時間(541–542 AD)止息，

但鼠疫的依然影響整個歐洲、非洲跟亞洲數年，並在往後的2個世紀中反覆復發，造成了廣泛的饑荒跟破壞。

據後世的歷史學家粗略估計，這場疾病至少造成當時世界13-26%的總人口死亡，也就是2500萬人以上喪生，而實際的死亡人數可能要更多。

2.黑死病The Black Death

In 1347, a virulent strain of plague invaded Europe from the East, most likely via Italian sailors returning home from Crimea. This “Black Death” would eventually spend half a decade tearing across the continent. The populations of whole towns were wiped out, and it was said that the living spent most of their time burying the dead in mass graves. “We see death coming into our midst like black smoke,” the Welsh poet Jeuan Gethin wrote, “a plague which cuts off the young, a rootless phantom which has no mercy or fair countenance.”

Medieval physicians tried to combat the disease using bloodletting, lancing and other crude techniques, but with little understanding of its cause, most fell back on the belief that it was a divine punishment for their sins. Some Christians even blamed it on Jews and launched bloody pogroms. The Black Death finally subsided in the West around 1353, but not before it killed as many as 50 million people—more than half the population of Europe. While the pandemic left much of the continent in disarray, many historians also believe that the labor shortages it caused were a boon to lower class workers, who saw increased economic and social mobility.

一提到歐洲中世紀，很多人腦中蹦出來的就是城堡莊園、騎士、獵巫跟黑死病，確實在歐洲歷史上這段長達千年，被稱為「黑暗時期」的漫長時光裡，黑死病在14世紀畫下了相當濃重的一筆，

也對當時整個世界局勢造成不可挽回的衝擊，以至於後世的人們提到歐洲中世紀時，黑死病是必須被提出來討論的。

在西元6世紀拜占庭帝國爆發過查士丁尼瘟疫之後，同樣的大規模鼠疫直到14世紀經由絲路的流通入侵歐陸，

並且造成人類史上最具破壞性、大規模、大範圍的瘟疫感染，當時感染黑死病的死亡人數保守估計至少有75200萬人，佔據了當時歐洲人口的60%。

中世紀的醫學水準與生活條件遠遠比不上羅馬時期先進，所以這也是造成黑死病疫情快速失控蔓延的原因之一。

中世紀的醫學觀念停留在「體液學說」，也就是認為人是由四種體以所組成: 血液、黏液、黃膽汁和黑膽汁，

這四種體液對應到四種元素、四種氣質，四種體液在人體內失去平衡就會造成疾病，又稱為四體液學說、四體液說。

因此中世紀醫生們非常流行的醫療手段就是藉由「放血」來使病人體內的體液達到平衡，更別提其它毫無科學根據、野蠻的民俗療法，

這些醫療手段對於黑死病來說毫無幫助，往往只是將情況弄得更糟。

或許有些人對歐洲中世紀的印象是當時的人們都不洗澡，其實這句話只對了一半，因為這種不洗澡的風氣源自於14世紀黑死病大爆發之後，

在此之前雖然澡堂流行因為羅馬帝國的衰亡而消失了一陣子，但是在經歷十字軍東征體驗過大眾浴池的美好以後，中世紀的民眾其實也重新開始熱衷於洗澡。

在14世紀中葉，死神的鐮刀已經收割了近一半的歐洲人口，開始有衛生專家出來呼籲民眾不要洗澡，

他們認為疾病是透過皮膚上的毛孔傳入的，而黑死病是透過水滲透進人的毛孔裡傳染疾病，想要抵禦疫病就要用汗水將毛孔堵住。

當時不管是貧賤或富貴，這種不洗澡的風氣都非常盛行，即便是中世紀的王公貴族也一樣，當時皇宮裡的醫生要皇帝用汗水來覆蓋整個身體以保持健康，

國王洗澡的頻率可能比平民還要低，有些人甚至一生只洗過一兩次澡。

如果你對歐洲中世紀黑死病，有興趣的話，或許可以再去找找，其他相關的知識來研究。

因為托福作文題，常常會出現跟公共衛生、疾病有關的話題，而歷史的經驗給人們教訓，不妨想一想，現代醫學從這些人類史上的重大疫病中，學習到的什麼教訓吧。

3.義大利瘟疫The Italian Plague of 1629-31

  Even after the Black Death ended, bubonic plague continued to sporadically rear its ugly head in Europe for several centuries. One of the most calamitous outbreaks began in 1629, when troops from the Thirty Years’ War carried the infection into the Italian city of Mantua. Over the next two years, the plague snaked its way across the countryside, striking the major cities of Verona, Milan, Venice, and Florence.  In Milan and Venice, city authorities quarantined the sick in “pesthouses” and burned their clothes and possessions to prevent the spread of infection.

The Venetians even banished some of their plague victims to a pair of islands in a nearby lagoon.These harsh measures may have helped contain the scourge, but it still killed some 280,000 people, including over half the residents of Verona. The Republic of Venice, meanwhile, lost nearly a third of its population of 140,000. Some scholars have since argued that the outbreak may have sapped the city-state’s strength and led to its decline as a major player on the world stage

十七世紀早期，在義大利爆發了一連串的瘟疫疫情，這場自黑死病以後數百年又造成嚴重死傷的疫病，在義大利北部跟中部持續蔓延，又被稱作「米蘭大瘟疫」。

這次的瘟疫保守估計奪去的義大利至少100萬人的生命，約占當時人口的25%。

自14世紀中葉黑死病在歐洲造成死亡數達到最高峰以來，後續幾個世紀，一直有斷斷續續的復發小規模模的感染，

而這次米蘭大瘟疫，之所以如此嚴重，其源頭是因為三十年戰爭，受感染的軍隊將疫病的源頭帶回了國內所致。

4.倫敦大瘟疫Great Plague of London

  Plague laid siege to the city of London several times during the 16th and 17th centuries, most famously between 1665 and 1666.  The pestilence first arose in the suburb of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, but it soon traveled into the cramped and filthy neighborhoods of the city proper. At its peak in September 1665, some 8,000 people were dying each week.The wealthy—including King Charles II—fled to the countryside, leaving the poor as the plague’s main victims.

“Never did so many husbands and wives die together,” a reverend named Thomas Vincent wrote, “never did so many parents carry their children with them to the grave.” As the sickness spread, London’s authorities tried to contain the infected by quarantining them in their homes, which were marked with a red cross.  Somewhere between 75,000 and 100,000 people eventually perished before the outbreak died down in 1666. Later that same year, London was visited by a second major tragedy when the Great Fire of 1666 torched much of its city center.

在1665年持續到1666年的瘟疫，是最後一次發生在英國的鼠疫。

這次鼠疫是黑死病疫情經過數百年，依然無法完全撲滅的再一次延續。這場17世紀晚期發生在倫敦的大瘟疫，同樣是由pestis病病所導致。

這場疫病最初由城郊開始感染，但很快地就蔓延到市區。

在感染的最高峰，每個星期有近8000人死亡，嚴峻的形勢，使得當時的國王查理二世下達了封鎖城市，並將病人隔離在疫區，任其自生自滅的命令。

據估計，倫敦大瘟疫在短短18個月之內，導致了10萬人口的死亡，也就是當時倫敦人口的四分之一。

5.馬賽大瘟疫The Great Plague of Marseille

  Western Europe’s last major outbreak of medieval plague began in 1720, when a “mortal distemper” seized the French port city of Marseille. The disease arrived on a merchant ship called the Grand Saint Antoine, which had picked up infected passengers during a journey to the Middle East.The vessel was quarantined, but its owner—who also happened to be Marseille’s deputy mayor—convinced health officials to let him unload its cargo. Plague-carrying rat fleas soon spread across the city, sparking an epidemic.

  People died by the thousands, and the piles of bodies on the streets grew so large that convicts were conscripted to dispose of them. In nearby Provence, “plague walls” were even built to try to and contain the infection, but it still spilled over into southern France before finally disappearing in 1722. By then, it had killed roughly 100,000 people.

18世紀在法國馬賽爆發的這場大瘟疫，是歐洲最後一次發生重大鼠疫。

這場瘟疫起始於1720年左右，據信該疫情的起源是從中東來的商船，經受感染的跳蚤傳播了整個馬賽市，前後總共造成法國近10萬人的喪生。

6. 第三次大流行 The Third Plague Pandemic 1894

  The first two major plague pandemics began with the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death. The most recent, the so-called “Third Pandemic,” erupted in 1855 in the Chinese province of Yunnan. The disease traversed the globe over the next several decades, and by the beginning of the 20th century, infected rats traveling on steamships had carried it to all six inhabited continents. The worldwide outbreak would eventually claim some 15 million lives before petering out in the 1950s.

Most of the devastation took place in China and India, but there were also scattered cases from South Africa to San Francisco. Despite the heavy casualties, the Third Pandemic led to several breakthroughs in doctors’ understanding of the bubonic plague.In 1894, a Hong Kong-based doctor named Alexandre Yersin identified the bacillus Yersinia pestis as the cause of the disease. A few years later, another physician finally confirmed that bites from rat fleas were the main way the infection spread to humans.

前兩次流傳最廣泛的是西元6世紀的查士丁尼瘟疫與14世紀的黑死病，而第三次，也就是所謂的「第三次大流行」則要到1855年。

19世紀末，這種瘟疫首先在中國雲南省爆發，接著隨著求交通的發達，很快的傳染到世界各地。20世紀初，受到感染的老鼠透過運輸鴉片的商船，傳染到全球所有有人居住的大陸，

首先爆發的是澳洲雪梨，而在接下來的50年裡，第三次大傳染伴隨著第二次世界大戰的戰況起伏不定，直到1959才結束。

當時瘟疫已經累計造成1500萬人死亡，大多數集中在印度。這場全球範圍的瘟疫最終奪去近1500萬條人命。

看完這篇文章是否有對你的托福準備有點幫助呢？如果你在toefl測驗中遇到相關的題目，是不是已經有了答題的基礎呢？

正所謂，「機會是留給已經準備好的人」，在托福這樣的學術考試中再怎樣準備都不為過！

參考資料:

https://case.ntu.edu.tw/blog/?p=13776

https://www.history.com/news/6-devastating-plagues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

https://www.history.com/news/6-devastating-plagues

https://jmvh.org/article/the-history-of-plague-part-1-the-three-great-pandemics/