每日单词：influenza

influenza /ˌɪnfluˈenzə/

CET6丨IELTS丨TOEFL

 外刊例句 

Scientists have long debated why flu erupts when the days grow chilly. Is it that we spend more time cooped up together indoors? Or is there something about the virus that likes it cold and dry? To find out, researchers suspended influenza virus in a solution that mimics human mucus. They incubated this infectious soup at different humidities and measured viral survival.

科学家们一直在争论为什么天气越冷，流感越容易爆发？是因为我们花更多时间一起呆在室内吗？还是因为病毒喜欢寒冷和干燥？为了找到答案，研究人员将流感病毒培育在一种类似于人类粘液的容器内。他们在不同湿度的溶液中培育这种病毒，并测量病毒的存活率。

——《科学美国人》

influenza 来自我爱背单词 00:00 00:18

 基本释义 

A highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever, severe aching, and catarrh, and often occurring in epidemics.

n. 流行性感冒

 追根溯源 

十八世纪中叶，在意大利罗马爆发了一场传染病，它来势凶猛，而且蔓延极广，扩及整个欧洲大陆和隔海的英国。当时罗马人十分相信占星术，认为这是星体影响所致，所以把这场流行病称作influenza，在意大利语是“影响”的意思，相当于英语influence。

后来英语把这个词借了过来，用以表示“流行性感冒”，有时候也会简写成flu。

 同近义词 

infection: An infection is a disease caused by germs or bacteria.（传染病） 

pandemic: A pandemic is an occurrence of a disease that affects many people over a very wide area.（流行病）

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