TEXT:once smallpox arrives at Valley Forge, it spreads through the cramped huts like wildfire.Washington survived smallpox as a child. Now he decides to take a gamble...with one of the most daring experiments in US military history.Surgeons have learned about inoculation from African slaves. They harvest pus from a smallpox victim...and smear the live virus into cuts on the skin of a healthy patient. The inoculation spreads the infection, but at a slower rate. A week after exposure, the victim's white blood cells create antibodies. These attack and kill the virus that causes smallpox before the disease can spread. But it's a dangerous race against time. To survive, the patient's immune system has to work faster than the virus, or it will run out of control. One in 50 of those inoculated will die. But Washington's gamble pays off. New cases of smallpox fall from several thousand to just a few dozen. But to win the war against the British, Washington turns to an unlikely hero who will transform his ragtag militia into a formidable fighting machine.1778. George Washington's Patriot Army survives a hard winter and an outbreak of smallpox at Valley Forge. Now Washington introduces a new recruit who will change the course of the war. Baron von Steuben is an ex-Prussian Army officer, an elite soldier whose career is said to have been ruined by his homosexuality. But Washington makes him one of th e most powerful men in his command. Washington was a genius in taking people in who didn't seem like they could achieve great things, but under him, they rose to the challenge, they rose to the occasion. And that's what great leaders do.Von Steuben's task : Reinvent the demoralized Patriot Army so they can take on the British in aclose fight.

译文:天花刚一出现在佛吉谷就迅速在拥挤的营帐中传播开来。华盛顿小时候得过天花，这次他决定冒险一搏，做一个美军历史上最大胆的试验。军医从非洲奴隶那里学到了接种的技术，他们从天花病人身上采集脓液，然后把活病毒抹在健康人伤口上接种使得感染扩散，但扩散速度慢一些。感染一周后患者的白细胞会分泌出抗体，它们会在病情蔓延之前攻击并且消灭天花病毒，但这是一场与时间的赛跑，生死攸关。要想生存，病人的免疫系统的反应必须快于病毒的扩散，否则病情会一发不可收拾。受接种的人，五十个中会有一个丧命于此，但华盛顿赌赢了，天花的新病例从几千人降到了几十人。但要击败英国人华盛顿还要完成一个壮举，把手下这群乌合之众训练成强大的战争机器。1778年，华盛顿的爱国大军在佛吉谷相继经受了严冬和天花的考验，接下来华盛顿新招募的一名军官将扭转战局。拜伦·冯·施托伊本是名前普鲁士军官，同时也是名杰出的士兵，但据说其因同性恋者身份而前途尽失。华盛顿不拘一格，将他提拔为手下的一员大将。戴维·鲍尔达奇[犯罪推理小说作家]：“华盛顿深谙用人之道，那些看似平庸的人在他领导下却能成为临危受命的贤才良将，伟大的领袖往往如此。冯·施托伊本的任务是重振低落的士气，使他们能够与英军近距离作战。