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The American Civil War was a conflict between the United States and the 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America.
美国内战是美国和11个南方州之间的一场冲突，这些州脱离了联邦，只为成立美利坚联盟国。
It lasted from 1861 to 1865.
这场战争从1861年持续到1865年。
The war ended when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
当南方联盟的罗伯特·李将军在弗吉尼亚州的阿波马托克斯法院向北方联盟的尤利西斯·格兰特将军投降时，意味着战争结束了。
It ended slavery and permanently altered life in the United States.
它终结了奴隶制，永久地改变了美国人的生活。
It also resulted in medical developments that changed the battlefield forever, including new practices for amputation.
它还促进了医学上的发展，永远改变了战场，包括新的截肢方法。
Of the approximately 80,000 surgeries performed on wounded soldiers during the Civil War, about 60,000--that is, three-fourths--were amputations.
在内战期间为受伤士兵进行的大约80000例手术中，大约60000例——也就是四分之三——都是截肢手术。
Before the American Civil War, wounded soldiers were often treated with little more than rest and relaxation in order to stave off infection.
在美国内战之前，为了避免感染，受伤的士兵通常只能休息和放松。
Though Civil War physicians still didn't fully understand the need for sanitation, they had learned that removing a wounded limb would prevent the wound from becoming infected--and, in many cases, prevent the soldier's death.
虽然内战期间的医生们还没有完全明白卫生设施的必要性，但他们已经知道，切除受伤的肢体可以防止伤口感染，在很多情况下，还可以防止士兵死亡。
For soldiers, amputation was a terrifying prospect: the procedures were sometimes performed without any anesthetic, and wounds from severed limbs were often left open to scab over and heal on their own.
对于士兵来说，一想到截肢就非常害怕：手术过程有时没有任何麻醉剂，被切断的肢体伤口往往裸露在外，自行结痂愈合。
It was also an ordeal they weren't unlikely to encounter.
这也是他们可能会遇到的严峻考验。
By the end of the war, amputation had become such a common practice that a skilled doctor could remove a limb in under six minutes.
到战争结束时，截肢已经成为一种非常普遍的做法，一个熟练的医生可以在六分钟内切除一条肢体。
These amputations were far from an ideal medical procedure--they were painful and unsanitary and often resulted in severed limbs piling up next to operating tables as soldier after soldier lost arms and legs.
这些截肢手术远非理想的医疗程序——它们既痛苦又不卫生，一个接一个的士兵失去胳膊和腿，往往会有被切断的肢体堆积在手术台上。
But still, amputation saved lives.
但截肢仍然可以挽救生命。
Only about 25 percent of soldiers who underwent amputation died, compared with 75 percent of similarly wounded civilians.
在接受截肢手术的士兵中，只有25%的人死亡，而受了同样伤的平民，死亡率高达75%。
For many soldiers, amputation was the difference between life and death--and for the wounded in general, this messy Civil War innovation was a crucial step toward learning how to fight infection on and off the battlefield.
对于许多士兵来说，截肢是生与死的区别，而对于普通伤员来说，这种内战时期的混乱创新是学习如何在战场内外抗感染的关键一步。
