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If the pressure is changed too rapidly—as with a too-quick ascent by a diver—the bubbles trapped within the body will begin to fizz in exactly the manner of a freshly opened bottle of champagne, clogging tiny blood vessels, depriving cells of oxygen, and causing pain so excruciating that sufferers are prone to bend double in agony—hence "the bends."
要是压力变化太大——比如潜水员上升太快——体内的气泡就会泛起泡沫，犹如刚刚打开的香槟酒瓶那样，堵塞了细小的血管，造成细胞失氧，使病人痛得直不起腰。这就是“弯腰病”这个名字的由来。
The bends have been an occupational hazard for sponge and pearl divers since time immemorial but didn't attract much attention in the Western world until the nineteenth century, and then it was among people who didn't get wet at all (or at least not very wet and not generally much above the ankles). They were caisson workers. Caissons were enclosed dry chambers built on riverbeds to facilitate the construction of bridge piers. They were filled with compressed air, and often when the workers emerged after an extended period of working under this artificial pressure they experienced mild symptoms like tingling or itchy skin. But an unpredictable few felt more insistent pain in the joints and occasionally collapsed in agony, sometimes never to get up again.
自古以来，弯腰病一直是潜水采海绵人和潜水采珠人的职业病，但在10世纪以前没有引起西方世界的重视；而且，还包括那些不湿身体（至少不会湿得很厉害，一般不会湿到脚踝以上）的人。他们是沉箱工人。沉箱是密封的干室，建在河床，用于建造桥墩。沉箱里充满了压缩空气；当工人们在人造压力的条件下工作很长时间走出来的时候，他们会经历轻微的症状，比如皮肤刺痛或发痒。但是，无法预料的是，少数人会持续关节痛，偶尔痛得倒在地上，有时候再也爬不起来。
It was all most puzzling. Sometimes workers would go to bed feeling fine, but wake up paralyzed. Sometimes they wouldn't wake up at all. Ashcroft relates a story concerning the directors of a new tunnel under the Thames who held a celebratory banquet as the tunnel neared completion. To their consternation their champagne failed to fizz when uncorked in the compressed air of the tunnel.
这一切都是很令人费解的。有时候工人睡觉时还感觉不错，醒来时却瘫痪了。有时候，他们根本醒不过来了。阿什克罗夫特讲了个在泰晤士河底下修建新隧道的故事。隧道快完工的时候，主管们举行了一个庆祝宴会。他们在隧道的压缩空气里打开瓶盖，只见香槟有没有泛起任何泡沫，令他们大吃一惊。
