88 The Panama Canal

Here are some basics about the Panama Canal. It cuts through Panama to join the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Work on it started in 1904. The first ship sailed through on August 15, 1914. The canal is 50.72 miles long. From ocean to ocean, travel time is about eight hours.

What makes the canal so important is this. Ships don’t have to sail around the tip of South America. For example, consider a ship sailing from New York City to San Francisco. Sailing around South America is 13,000 miles. Going through the canal is about 5,200 miles less.

About 40 ships pass through the canal in a day. All ships, including warships, must pay a toll. The toll depends on a ship’s size and cargo. For example, the U.S. Navy paid $28,838. The German ship Hamburg paid $40,936. Warships are allowed to use the canal, but only in peacetime.

What was the greatest problem in building the canal? The answer: disease. The Canal Zone was one of the most disease-ridden areas in the world. In 1904, Colonel William Gorgas was put in charge of improving health conditions. He was a doctor. He had already gained fame by wiping out yellow fever in Cuba. His first two years were devoted to sanitation. Swamps were drained. Brush was cleared. Tall and short grasses were cut. By 1906, Gorgas had wiped out yellow fever. He eliminated the rats that carried bubonic plague. He did not completely wipe out malaria. But he greatly reduced its rate. So it is fair to say this. The canal engineers were great. But the project would never have been completed without William Gorgas.

88 巴拿马运河

以下是关于巴拿马运河的一些基本情况。它穿过巴拿马，连接大西洋和太平洋。运河的修建工程始于1904年，第一艘船于1914年8月15日通航。运河长50.72英里，从一个大洋到另一个大洋的航行时间约为8小时。

运河之所以如此重要，原因在于船只不必绕行南美洲的南端。例如，考虑一艘从纽约市驶往旧金山的船，绕行南美洲的航程是13000英里，而通过运河的话，航程要少约5200英里。

每天约有40艘船通过运河，包括军舰在内的所有船只都必须缴纳通行费。通行费取决于船只的大小和货物。例如，美国海军缴纳了28838美元，德国船只“汉堡”号缴纳了40936美元。军舰获准使用运河，但仅限和平时期。

修建运河时最大的问题是什么？答案是：疾病。运河区曾是世界上疾病最猖獗的地区之一。1904年，威廉·戈加斯上校负责改善卫生条件。他是一名医生，此前因在古巴消灭黄热病而声名鹊起。他头两年致力于公共卫生工作，排干了沼泽，清理了灌木丛，割除了高矮杂草。到1906年，戈加斯已经消灭了黄热病，清除了携带腺鼠疫的老鼠。他虽然没有完全消灭疟疾，但大大降低了其发病率。因此可以公平地说，运河的工程师们很伟大，但如果没有威廉·戈加斯，这项工程永远无法完成。