In the large cities, the disease typically would arrive in the spring,

在大城市中疾病一般在春天爆发
reach a peak of ferocity after a few weeks,

几周后达到肆虐的顶峰
then continue as a violent outbreak for two to four months,

这个强烈的劲头会延续两到四个月
and then decline with the coming of colder, dry weather,

干冷气候的到来使疫情逐渐减退
either to disappear entirely,

它也许会彻底消失
or to be rekindled when favorable climatic conditions returned.

也许会随着适宜气候的出现而再次爆发
Well, that's the etiology, in a nutshell, of the plague.

这就是关于瘟疫病源论的简述
I'd like to turn now to its symptomatology and pathology;

现在我们开始讨论瘟疫的症候学和病理学
that is, how does it affect the individual human body?

即它是如何影响人类身体的
And the study of the symptoms of the epidemics we study

我们研究传染病症状
isn't just a matter of ghoulish curiosity.

不仅是出于残忍的好奇心理
I'm going to argue

我要说明的是