The Hot Zone·读后

【2020Book14】Read "The Hot Zone". This book tells the story between humankind and one of the most fierce viruses on the planet, the Ebola virus. The author mentioned many times that the Ebola virus hurts the human body in a way similar to what the nuclear radiation does: it liquefies most of the soft tissues of the human body. The book quoted a medical expert as saying “AIDS is child’s play compared with this (Ebola)”. Two thoughts after reading: (1) I am not an extreme environmentalist, but I think the point at the end of the book is not unreasonable: humans have invaded too much space of Nature, so we inevitably come into contact with these viruses that used to be isolated from humans. It seems that these viruses “tend to spread in waves through the human population, like echoes from the dying biosphere”. “In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite”. From AIDS to Ebola to COVID19, facing the silent protests of Nature, should not we use our reason to limit our lusts? (2) The medical personnel are great people. The Ebola Zaire has a mortality as high as 90%, but in this world, there were still people who risked their lives to reduce the suffering of the infected animals trafficked in by humans and to save as many people as possible under the wrath of Nature. The medical personnel in every epidemic are worth to be sung. This is a book about the greed, ignorance, fragility, and courage of human beings. It is worthy of reading (although the description of the symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever is scary).

【2020Book14】原版的《The Hot Zone》（国内有中文版，还有一部美剧，译为《血疫》）。这本书讲述了人类与这个星球上最暴烈的病毒之一——埃博拉病毒之间的故事。作者多次提及，埃博拉病毒的作用机制几乎与核辐射类似，会液化人体的大多数软组织。书中引用一位医疗人员的话说，与埃博拉相比，艾滋只是小儿科。两点读后感：（1）我不是极端的环保人士，但是我觉得书末的观点不无道理：人类侵占了太多的自然空间，所以不可避免地接触到了这些本来与人类隔绝的病毒，这似乎是正在死去的生物圈在对人类进行免疫清除。从艾滋到埃博拉再到新冠，面对大自然无声的抗议，我们是不是应该用我们的理智限制一下我们的欲望。（2）医学工作者真的伟大。埃博拉的扎伊尔变种致死率高达90%，可谓真正意义上的九死一生。但这个世界上，依然有人冒着生命危险，去减少被人类贩卖的感染疾病的动物的痛苦，在大自然的盛怒之下拯救尽可能多的人的生命。每一场疫情中的医务人员都值得被歌颂。这是一本关于人类的贪婪、无知、脆弱与勇气的书，胆子大的同学可以看一下（埃博拉出血热的症状巨吓人）。