英語閱讀故事

　　閱讀的地位至關重要，通過英語故事來教英語能夠提高學生的學習興趣。下面小編為大家帶來，歡迎大家閱讀!

　　1：

　　We all have Escherichia coli bacteria in our intestines. These are the good strains of the bacteria. They help us digest our food. There are billions of these bacteria in our intestines and in our feces. Of the hundreds of strains of good E. coli, there are only a few strains that are bad for us. These strains usually cause stomach problems and diarrhea.

　　The worst of these strains is labeled E. coli 0157. This strain is common in healthy cows, sheep, and goats. But when it gets into humans, it causes illness. This strain can kill humans, but only rarely. It kills our red blood cells and causes our kidneys to stop functioning. Hospitalization and transfusions are necessary to prevent death.

　　Most people just get mildly sick from E. coli 0157. There are usually just two symptoms: stomach cramps and diarrhea ***non-bloody or bloody***. These symptoms may last up to two weeks. The very young and the very old are most susceptible to severe symptoms. In the US, more than 100,000 people get infected annually. People who live in countries with contaminated water develop immunity to infection.

　　The primary sources of infection are contaminated water, undercooked hamburger, unwashed fruits and vegetables, and unpasteurized milk or milk products. Swimming in or swallowing contaminated lake water can also result in infection. In the US, outbreaks involving hundreds of people have been traced to undercooked hamburgers at fast food restaurants, to packaged vegetable products such as spinach, and even to petting zoos. One of the best preventive measures is to wash our hands often, and wash thoroughly after using the toilet.

　　2：

　　Influenza, or the flu, attacks up to one billion people annually. In the US, it kills 20,000 annually, most of whom are children or elderly. Occasionally the flu becomes pandemic: in 1918, it killed 20 million people worldwide. The flu is a very contagious viral infection spread through the air by coughing, sneezing, or simply talking. It is not caused by getting caught in a rainstorm or by sleeping with the fan or air-conditioning on.

　　The incubation period is about three days. It doesn’t sneak up on you, like a cold does. All of a sudden, you feel weak, you have a high fever, you have chills, you cough frequently and forcefully, your throat is sore, and your body aches.

　　For most adults, the treatment is to simply wait it out: stay home, get lots of bed rest, drink lots of fluids, and take over-the-counter medications such as aspirin, pain-killers, and nasal decongestants. Symptoms usually go away within two weeks. For the elderly and young, the initial viral infection may become a bacterial infection with deadly consequences, because the victim becomes too weak to battle the disease. The death rate for the general population is about one in 1,000. Those most susceptible to severe effects of the flu are people over 65 and people with chronic heart or lung problems, such as asthma.

　　Flu season in the US is usually December to March. The best prevention, of course, is to stay away from infected people. Since that is almost impossible, the next best preventive strategy is to get an annual flu shot. This vaccine reduces the number of people who get infected—and who die—yearly.

　　3：

　　Jake was tired of his job. He’d been doing it for 10 years, and it wasn’t getting any easier. He was a hospital orderly. That’s a vague title that covers many specific duties—some of which are quite unpleasant. Whenever a patient threw up, for example, it was Jake's responsibility to clean the patient’s body and face, remove all the soiled clothing and bed linens, put fresh bed linens on the bed, and put clean hospital clothing on the patient. After hundreds of such incidents, Jake still had not gotten used to the odor and sight of fresh vomit. It was disgusting. Every time he cleaned up vomit, he thought to himself that he wasn’t getting paid nearly enough.

　　Jake was also responsible for checking a patient’s blood pressure, taking his pulse and temperature ***usually orally, but sometimes rectally***, and doing electrocardiograms to monitor his heart condition. These chores used to be done by nurses or technicians. Now they were done by Jake. He fed patients who couldn’t feed themselves. He helped move patients from their beds to gurneys, or from their beds to wheelchairs, and vice versa. Whenever a patient died in his hospital bed, it was Jake’s job to zip the body into a plastic bag, put the bag on a gurney, and roll the gurney into the elevator and downstairs into the basement morgue. Sometimes he stayed in the morgue, just thinking.