牛隻海綿狀腦症 bovine spongiform encephalopathy （BSE）

牛隻海綿狀腦症 bovine spongiform encephalopathy （BSE）

● 字源

「spongiform」由拉丁文 spongia（海綿）加 -form（形狀）組成，指腦組織呈海綿狀空洞；「encephalopathy」由希臘文 enkephalos（腦）、pathos（疾病）組合而成，指腦部疾病。「bovine spongiform encephalopathy」（BSE，牛隻海綿狀腦症）於二十世紀八十年代中期在英國確認，因病牛行為失常，俗稱「狂牛症」。

● 例句

Such was the alarm among nations whose herds, which had unwittingly been fed meat-and-bone meal, a rendered product that, as investigators later established, carried prions, misfolded proteins that resist cooking and sterilization, eventually developed a degenerative spongiform brain disease, that governments, whose early assurances had been repeated long after evidence became troubling, banned the feed, ordered the destruction of suspect cattle, and removed high-risk brain and spinal tissue from carcasses, lest variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is invariably fatal and incurable, be transmitted to people who had eaten contaminated beef products.

（約 90 字）

● 排列為比較容易閱讀的方式

Such was the alarm among nations

whose herds,

which had unwittingly been fed meat-and-bone meal,

a rendered product

that,

as investigators later established,

carried prions,

misfolded proteins that resist cooking and sterilization,

eventually developed a degenerative spongiform brain disease,

that governments,

whose early assurances had been repeated long after evidence became troubling,

banned the feed,

ordered the destruction of suspect cattle,

and removed high-risk brain and spinal tissue from carcasses,

lest variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,

which is invariably fatal and incurable,

be transmitted to people who had eaten contaminated beef products.

● 分解為原初的短小句

The alarm among nations was such that governments took drastic action.（Such 置於句首，was 倒裝於主詞前，還原為 The alarm was such that ...。）

The nations' herds eventually developed a degenerative spongiform brain disease.（whose 引導之關係子句，主詞 herds，動詞 developed 隔了很遠才出現。）

The herds had unwittingly been fed meat-and-bone meal.（which 引導之非限定性關係子句，被動完成式。）

Meat-and-bone meal is a rendered product.（a rendered product 為 meal 之同位語。）

Investigators later established this.（as 引導之插入子句，as 代替後面整個內容。）

The product carried prions.（that 引導之關係子句，動詞 carried。）

Prions are misfolded proteins that resist cooking and sterilization.（prions 之同位語，內含 that 關係子句。）

The governments' early assurances had been repeated long after evidence became troubling.（whose 引導之關係子句，過去完成被動。）

Governments banned the feed, ordered the destruction of suspect cattle, and removed high-risk tissue from carcasses.（三個並列動詞，共用主詞 governments。）

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is invariably fatal and incurable.（which 引導之非限定性關係子句。）

The disease might be transmitted to people who had eaten contaminated beef products.（lest 子句之內容，who 子句為過去完成式。）

● 文法解析

Such was ... that 倒裝（Such + be + 主詞 ... that + 子句）：

Such 置於句首時，be 動詞須倒裝於主詞之前，構成「如此……以致」之結果結構。本句主詞 the alarm 之後，that 並不立即出現，而要等到很長的插入之後才接 governments banned，讀者容易誤把中途的 that 當成關係代名詞。

whose 子句長距離隔開（nations whose herds, ..., eventually developed）：

whose herds 之後，which 子句、同位語、as 插入、that 關係子句、prions 同位語依序嵌入，直到 eventually developed 才出現 herds 的動詞，主詞與動詞間相隔甚遠。

同位語與關係子句疊加（meat-and-bone meal, a rendered product that ... carried prions, misfolded proteins that resist ...）：

a rendered product 為 meal 之同位語，其後 that 子句修飾 product；prions 之後的 misfolded proteins 又為同位語，並帶出另一個 that 子句，形成同位語套同位語。

as 準關係代名詞（that, as investigators later established, carried prions）：

as 插在 that 與 carried 之間，as 代替後面整個內容，使 product 與動詞 carried 被隔開。

並列動詞（banned ..., ordered ..., and removed ...）：

三個動詞並列，共用主詞 governments，前方 whose 子句使主詞與動詞分離，需回頭對應。

lest 虛擬語氣（lest + 主詞 + 原形動詞）：

lest 意為「以免」，其後子句用原形動詞（或 should + 原形），故為 be transmitted，而非 is transmitted。其內再含 which 非限定子句與 who 子句，形成最後一層插入。

● 參考譯文

各國（其牛群因被無意間餵食肉骨粉，而這種經加工處理的產品，如調查人員後來證實的，帶有普里昂蛋白，即耐煮沸與消毒的錯誤摺疊蛋白質，牛群最終罹患一種退化性的海綿狀腦病）的恐慌如此之甚，以致政府（其早期的保證在證據令人不安之後仍長期被一再重複）禁止了該飼料、下令撲殺可疑牛隻，並從屠體移除高風險的腦與脊髓組織，以免本身必然致命且無法治癒的變異型庫賈氏症，傳染給食用受污染牛肉製品的人。

● 補充說明

句型亮點與文法變化：

Such was 倒裝： 前幾篇已用過 Hardly had、No sooner、Seldom、Little、Only after、Not only、Not until 等結構，本篇改用 Such was ... that 倒裝，that 結果子句被長插入推遲到很後面才出現。

不使用分號： 全句僅以 whose、which、that、as、lest、who 等連接詞與關係詞層層推進，單一主幹貫穿到底（中譯為求順暢，才加入括號與逗號）。

多重插入： nations 與 developed 之間、product 與 carried 之間、governments 與 banned 之間，共有多處插入，其中 whose、which、that、as 層層嵌套。

虛擬語氣 lest： 句末 lest ... be transmitted 使用原形動詞，與前面的過去式敘述形成對照，容易誤判為錯誤。

核心學術字彙與文法重點總結：

關鍵字詞： Bovine spongiform encephalopathy（牛隻海綿狀腦症）、Meat-and-bone meal（肉骨粉）、Rendered（經加工提煉的）、Prion（普里昂蛋白）、Misfolded（錯誤摺疊的）、Degenerative（退化性的）、Carcass（屠體）、Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease（變異型庫賈氏症）。

文法重點： Such was ... that 倒裝、whose 長距離插入、同位語疊加、as 準關係代名詞、並列動詞、lest 虛擬語氣、非限定性關係子句。

一點小提醒： 例句為文法示範之概括，簡化了疫情歷史與防疫措施，並非完整科學或公衛說明；肉骨粉飼料遭禁、移除特定風險物質，均為各國實際採取之措施，但時程與細節各國不同。例句實際約 90 個英文單字（連字號詞視為一字）。參考譯文為求順暢，已調整部分分句順序。