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Unit 1 Book 1 早读材料------时文阅读 Ebola outbreak started with a boy infected by a fruit bat, say researchers 科学家发现埃博拉疫情源头：蝙蝠叮咬2岁男孩 据英国《每日邮报》报道，一个由多国科学家组成的研究团队宣称找到此次埃博拉病毒大爆发的源头：一名2岁男孩被感染该病毒的果蝠叮咬。 研究人员认为，一名2岁小男孩被感染了埃博拉病毒的果蝠叮咬，随后他又将病毒传给母亲，母子二人都在一周内死亡。此后，埃博拉病毒随着前来参加葬礼的人越传越远，疫情范围越来越大。很早以前，科学家们就已经发现，蝙蝠是埃博拉病毒的主要携带源，但很少传染给人。 此前，埃博拉病毒爆发多是因为猎人捡到感染病毒动物的肉，并将其卖掉引发的。而在西非乡村地区，果蝠是一种常见食物，经常被熏烤或做汤吃掉。 但科学家们称，他们还没有百分之百的证据，只能说果蝠是导致此次埃博拉病毒大爆发的可能原因。如果蝙蝠理论获得证实，当地人可能会试图消灭这种动物，这将造成“生态灾难”，因为蝙蝠能给作物授粉和消灭害虫。 The largest outbreak of the deadly disease Ebola was caused by an infected bat biting a toddler（学步的小孩）, say a group of international researchers. The 17-strong team of European and African tropical disease researchers, ecologists and anthropologists have spent three weeks investigating the outbreak of the disease in Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The researchers captured the bats and other creatures near the village of Meliandoua in remote eastern Guinea, where the present epidemic（传染病） began in December 2013. The boy was bitten and passed the infection on to his mother and both were dead within a week. The disease was then spread far and wide by mourners（哀悼者） who came to the funeral. Scientists have long believed that bats are the main carriers for the disease but it is rare for them to pass it on to man. Most of the previous outbreaks have been caused by meat from dead infected animals collected by hunters who then sell it on. Fruit bats, however, are widely eaten in rural west Africa – either smoked, grilled or in a spicy soup. The team lead by epidemiologist Fabian Leendertz , a disease ecologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, are expected to publish their results in a major journal soon. Initial research believed that a new strain of Ebola had emerged（出现） in west Africa but according to Herr Leendertz the strain of the disease is one related to as Zaire ebolavirus, identified more than 10 years ago in the Congo. Herr Leendertz’s team believe that an infected straw-co