Now, in order to talk about

现在为了方便探讨
a variety of epidemic diseases and their impact,

一系列流行病及其影响
we ought to have some comparative questions that we make explicit.

我们需要弄清一些比较研究的问题
That is, what is it that we need to know

即对于每一种所讨论的疾病
about each of the diseases that we're talking about?

我们需要知道些什么
What are the crucial aspects that make it a transformative force or not?

哪些主要因素决定流行病是否具改革力量
What are the historical variables?

历史变量有哪些
I have a sort of suggestion of maybe ten major questions

我建议对本学期课上提到的
that we ought to

每一种疾病
be thinking about with regard to each of the diseases

我们都思考一下
that we examine throughout the semester.

以下十个主要问题
A first one is--these questions, by the way, are not canonical.

顺带一提这十个问题并不是铁则