"The havoc of plague had been far more rapid.

瘟疫的浩劫来势汹汹
But the plague has visited our shores

但在我们一生中
only once or twice in living memory.

瘟疫只会来临一两次
But smallpox was always there,

然而天花却永远在那儿
filling the churchyards with corpses,

伴随着墓地横尸万里
tormenting with constant fear all whom it had not yet stricken,

折磨着未感染者们惊惶恐惧
and leaving on those, whose lives it spared,

使那些幸免于难的人们
the hideous traces of its power,

铭记其恐怖的破坏力
turning the babe into a changeling, at which the mother shuddered,

将婴儿变得面貌丑陋使其母亲战栗
and making the eyes and cheeks of the betrothed maiden

将订婚的少女的眼眸与脸颊
objects of horror to her lover."

变为令她的爱人恐惧的样子
Two of the most famous descriptions of smallpox in this century

在那个时期天花被形容为