| Louis Pasteur was one of the greatest scientists of all time. |
| Pasteur made very important discoveries in biology and chemistry, |
| and the techniques he developed helped greatly to develop medical science and the agricultural and food industries. |
| Pasteur was born in a small town in France during the year 1822. |
| When he was a young man, Pasteur studied science at a university in the city of Paris. |
| He soon did some excellent work in chemistry, |
| and later began his famous study of germs. |
| Pasteur was one of the first scientists to understand that many diseases |
| could be caused by extremely small, invisible organisms. |
| Only a few other scientists had believed this before Pasteur. |
| He advised doctors to wash their hands thoroughly before treating patients. |
| Pasteur also demonstrated that life forms did not arise spontaneously. |
| His research confirmed the idea, |
| developed by previous scientists, |
| that a living organism would not appear unless other individuals of its kind were present. |
| One of Pasteur’s most important contributions |
| was a technique that has been named after him: pasteurization. |
| Pasteurization kills the germs that are found in drinks |
| such as milk or beer. |
| Because of Pasteur’s technique, |
| people are no longer infected with diseases by drinking these liquids. |
| Just as important as pasteurization was a technique called immunization. |
| Pasteur found that a person or animal could be made safe, or immune, from a disease |
| by injecting the person with some weakened germs that cause the disease. |
| The body can resist the disease after being immunized in this way. |
| Today, many diseases are prevented by the use of this technique. |
| Pasteur’s discoveries also helped to save people who had already been infected with diseases. |
| One such disease is rabies. |
| Rabies is a disease that sometimes occurs in animals. |
| This disease usually kills the animal, |
| but before dying, the animal becomes very aggressive, |
| and may spread the disease by biting a person or another animal. |
| One day, the parents of a young boy came to Pasteur. |
| Their son had been bitten by a dog that had the rabies disease. |
| The parents knew that their son would die from the disease, |
| unless something could be done to save him. |
| Pasteur agreed to help the boy, |
| and the immunization technique saved the boy’s life. |
| Pasteur died in 1895. |
| He was greatly admired around the world for his achievements, |
| which have helped all of mankind. |
| Today, Pasteur is considered to be the greatest figure in the history of medicine. |
More English listening lessons for intermediate level:
Lesson 40: William Shakespeare
