So familiar was smallpox

天花对我们来说如此熟悉
that it bred a kind of fatalism,

以至于产生了一种宿命论
the belief that it was inevitable in people's lives.

即它在人的一生中是不可避免的
And this attitude was so pervasive

这种观点很广泛
that it wasn't uncommon even

大多数父母甚至不愿意
for parents to expose healthy children intentionally to mild cases,

让健康的孩子接触到极其普通的小病
in the hope that they could protect them

借以希望这样
from something much more catastrophic.

能保护他们免遭更大的灾祸
We could look at this attitude by--or appreciate it--

我们可以从欧洲文学的角度看待
by thinking about European literature,

或者说理解这种观点
particularly British literature, let's say in the eighteenth century.

尤以英国文学的角度假定我们在十八世纪
Let's think, for example,

举个例子