"世界最好工作"得主被水母蜇傷 險喪命

Trouble struck paradise this week when a British man who has the "Best Job in the World" as the caretaker of a tropical Australian island was stung by a potentially lethal jellyfish.

Ben Southall - who won a contest to blog for six months about life on Australia's Hamilton Island to promote tourism - wrote Tuesday that he was lucky to have survived his brush with the extremely venomous Irukandji jellyfish.

Earlier this week, Southall was getting off a Jet Ski in the ocean when he felt "a small bee-like sting" on his arm. When he later noticed a tingling in his hands and feet, island staff took Southall immediately to the doctor.

Progressive symptoms of fever, headache, lower back pain, chest tightness and high blood pressure led the doctor to diagnose that Southall had been stung by an Irukandji jellyfish. He was given pain medication and slept off the venom's effects overnight.

"I thought I'd done particularly well at avoiding any contact with any of the dangerous critters that consider this part of the world their home," Southall wrote. "This was not what I'd wanted at all and had caught me little off guard to say the least - I'm supposed to be relaxing in my last few days on Hamilton Island."

Australia is well-known for its myriad deadly creatures, but the peanut-sized Irukandji remains rather mysterious. It is virtually impossible to see and is tiny enough to pass through nets meant to keep jellyfish away from popular swimming spots.

Its sting can lead to symptoms including shooting pains in the muscles and chest, vomiting, restlessness and anxiety. Some symptoms can last for more than a week, and the syndrome can occasionally lead to a rapid rise in blood pressure and heart failure.

In 2002, two tourists were killed in separate incidents after being stung by the tiny creatures off northeast Australia - the first recorded Irukandji fatalities.

"My slight knock was enough to tell me that it's not something to be messed around with," Southall wrote of the jellyfish. "I really should have been wearing a full stinger suit, as it recommended at all beaches here at this time of year."

He said he was feeling well and was enjoying his last week on the job.

The 34-year-old former charity worker bested nearly 35,000 applicants from around the world for the dream assignment that started in July to swim, explore and relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef while writing a blog to promote the area and earning a salary of 150,000 Australian dollars ($120,000).

“天堂”在本週也遇到了麻煩。“世界最好工作”獲得者、澳大利亞一熱帶島嶼的護島員近日被一種致命性的水母蜇傷。

這個名叫本•索撒爾的英國小夥於本週二寫博客稱，日前他被一種劇毒的伊魯坎吉水母蜇傷，所幸沒有喪命。此前，索撒爾在這份“世界最好工作”的應聘中脫穎而出，他的主要任務是在澳大利亞的漢密爾頓島生活六個月，寫博客宣傳該地的旅遊業。

本週早些時候，索撒爾從海上的水上摩托艇下來後，突然覺得一隻胳膊“像被蜜蜂蜇了一下”。之後，他感到手腳刺痛，島上的工作人員立刻將其送往醫院。

之後，索撒爾出現了發熱、頭痛、下背痛、胸口發悶、以及血壓升高等症狀。醫生據此做出診斷，他是被一種叫做伊魯坎吉的水母所蜇。索撒爾服用了止痛藥，睡了一夜，中毒反應才消失。

索撒爾在博客中寫道：“我覺得自己已經很小心了，儘量避免與危險生物接觸，這些生物都將這裏當成了它們的家。我根本沒想到會這樣，退一步講，我也放鬆了警惕。在漢密爾頓島的最後幾天，我本應該好好放鬆一下。”

澳大利亞以種類繁多的致命生物而聞名，但花生般大小的伊魯坎吉水母仍舊是一種很神祕的物種。人們幾乎看不見它。它的身型十分微小，可以穿過阻擋水母的網，進入人多的游泳區域。

被這種水母蜇到後，會出現肌肉和胸部刺痛、嘔吐、煩躁以及焦慮等症狀。有些症狀可持續一週以上，有時還會出現血壓迅速升高和心力衰竭。

2002年，就有兩名遊客喪生於伊魯坎吉水母的觸手之下，這兩起事故均發生於澳大利亞東北部，是首次有關伊魯坎吉水母致死的記錄。

索撒爾寫道：“這次經歷給我一個教訓，千萬不可掉以輕心。我真應該穿上防護服。在一年中的這段時間，所有海灘都有這種提示。”

索撒爾稱自己目前感覺良好，正在享受在此工作的最後一週。

這位34歲的前慈善工作者從全世界近3.5萬名競聘者中脫穎而出，得到這份衆人夢寐以求的工作。他於7月份上崗，主要工作職責是在大堡礁的漢密爾頓島上游泳、探索和放鬆，同時撰寫博客宣傳該地區，這份工作的薪水爲15萬澳元（12萬美元）。

Vocabulary:

venomous：full of or containing venom; poisonous（有毒的）

Jet Ski：a brand of personal watercraft（噴氣式滑艇；吉斯基水上摩托艇）

to say the least：without exaggerating at all（退一步講，毫不誇張地說）

myriad：of an indefinitely great number; innumerable（無數的）

best：to get the better of; defeat; beat（打敗，勝過）