在20世紀(jì)50年代,預(yù)防和治療心臟病的降膽固醇藥物和侵入性治療方法都還沒有出現(xiàn),
Heart attacks were an epidemic in the United States.
心臟病成為美國人生命的一大威脅。
They were the leading cause of death in men under the age of sixty-five.
在65歲以下的死亡者中,心臟病是致死的首要因素。
It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.
一般來說,作為醫(yī)生,是不可能不會見到心臟病死亡病例的。
Wolf decided to investigate.
沃爾夫決定展開調(diào)查。
He enlisted the support of some of his students and colleagues from Oklahoma.
他得到了俄克拉何馬大學(xué)的同事和他的一些學(xué)生的支持。
They gathered together the death certificates from residents of the town, going back as many years as they could.
他們收集了羅賽托死亡居民的死亡證明,盡最大努力收集死者生前的資料,
They analyzed physicians' records.
他們分析了死者的醫(yī)療記錄,
They took medical histories and constructed family genealogies.
探詢了死者的用藥記錄和家族歷史。
"We got busy." Wolf said.
“我們非常忙。”沃爾夫說,
"We decided to do a preliminary study.
“我們打算作個初步的分析。
We started in nineteen sixty-one.
我們的研究從1961年開始。
The mayor said, 'All my sisters are going to help you.'
當(dāng)時小城的市長對我說,‘我所有的姐妹都可以給你做幫手。’
He had four sisters. He said, 'You can have the town council room'
他有四個姐妹。他說:‘你可以住在參議廳里。’
I said, 'Where are you going to have council meetings?' He said, 'Well, we'll postponethem for a while.'
我說,‘如果這樣,你又到哪里召開參議會?’他說,‘沒事,我們可以把會議往后順延一下。’
The ladies would bring us lunch.
他的那幾個姐妹為我們提供午餐。
We had little booths where we would take blood, do EKGs.
我們搭了一個很小的棚子,可以在里面提取血液,做心電圖。
We were there for four weeks.
我們在這待了四個星期。
Then I talk with the authorities.
隨后,我們和這里的一些比較有威望的人士進(jìn)行了交談,
They gave us the school for the summer.
他們讓我們整個夏天都住在學(xué)校里面,
We invited the entire population of Roseto to be tested."
我們邀請了所有羅賽托的居民進(jìn)行了測試。”
The results were astonishing.
結(jié)果令人驚訝。
In Roseto, virtually no one under fifty-five had died of a heart attack, or showed any signs of heat disease.
事實(shí)上,年齡在55歲以下的羅賽托居民沒有一位死于心臟病或者有心臟病的跡象。
For men over sixty-five, the death rate from heart disease in Roseto was roughly half that of the United States as a whole.
65歲以上的人當(dāng)中,羅賽 托居民因?yàn)樾呐K病死亡的概率,還不到全美國心臟病死亡率的一半。
The death rate from all causes in Roseto, in fact, was 30 or 35 percent lower than it should have been.
實(shí)際上,在30?35歲的羅賽托居民中,各種原因致死的死亡率,也遠(yuǎn)低于原先的預(yù)期。
Wolf brought in a friend of his, a sociologist from Oklahoma named John Bruhn, to help him.
沃爾夫的朋友約翰?布魯恩,是同樣來自俄克拉何馬大學(xué)的社會學(xué)家。他幫助沃爾夫,參與了這項(xiàng)調(diào)査。
"I hired medical students and sociologist grad students as interviewers, and in Roseto we went house to house and talked to every person aged twenty-one and over," Bruhn remembers.
“我雇了一些醫(yī)學(xué)專業(yè)的學(xué)生和社會學(xué)專業(yè)的畢業(yè)生,讓他們?nèi)ゲ稍L當(dāng)?shù)氐拿癖?。在羅賽托,我們一家一家地拜訪,和21歲以上的每一個人交談,”布魯恩回憶道。