星期日泰晤士报：2012年中国发现类似新冠肺炎病例和死亡

星期日泰晤士报

2020年7月4日报道，中国在2012年发现类似新冠病毒

Revealed: Seven year coronavirus trail from mine deaths to a Wuhan lab

部分原文和译文：

2013年中国科学家就在一个废弃的矿井中发现了已知与新冠病毒最接近的病毒，在那儿曾经发生与Covid-19类似的呼吸系统疾病并导致死亡。

The world’s closest known relative to the Covid-19 virus was found in 2013 by Chinese scientists in an abandoned mine where it was linked to deaths caused by a coronavirus-type respiratory illness

2012年8月的雨季，一小队科学家来到中国西南部调查一种新发现的神秘的致命疾病。在驱车经过了茶场的梯田后，他们到达此行目的地：一个已经废弃的铜矿，他们身着白色全身防护服和防毒面具，在黑暗中冒险前行。

突然一股恶臭迎面扑来，头顶上是群居倒挂的蝙蝠，脚下成群的老鼠和鼩鼱在厚厚的粪便堆积中匆匆乱窜。这里是一个各种微生物和对人类致命病原体发生变异的温床。有理由给以特别关注。几周前，有六个进入这个铜矿的人患上了无法控制的肺炎，其中三人已死亡。

In the monsoon season of August 2012 a small team of scientists travelled to southwest China to investigate a new and mysteriously lethal illness. After driving through terraced tea plantations, they reached their destination: an abandoned copper mine where — in white hazmat suits and respirator masks — they ventured into the darkness.

Instantly, they were struck by the stench. Overhead, bats roosted. Underfoot, rats and shrews scurried through thick layers of their droppings. It was a breeding ground for mutated micro-organisms and pathogens deadly to human beings. There was a reason to take extra care. Weeks earlier, six men who had entered the mine had been struck down by an illness that caused an uncontrollable pneumonia. Three of them died.