"世界最好工作"得主被水母蜇伤 险丧命

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”在本周也遇到了麻烦。“世界最好工作”获得者、澳大利亚一热带岛屿的护岛员近日被一种致命性的水母蜇伤。

这个名叫本．索撒尔的英国小伙于本周二写博客称，日前他被一种剧毒的伊鲁坎吉水母蜇伤，所幸没有丧命。此前，索撒尔在这份“世界最好工作”的应聘中脱颖而出，他的主要任务是在澳大利亚的汉密尔顿岛生活六个月，写博客宣传该地的旅游业。

本周早些时候，索撒尔从海上的水上摩托艇下来后，突然觉得一只胳膊“像被蜜蜂蜇了一下”。之后，他感到手脚刺痛，岛上的工作人员立刻将其送往医院。

之后，索撒尔出现了发热、头痛、下背痛、胸口发闷、以及血压升高等症状。医生据此做出诊断，他是被一种叫做伊鲁坎吉的水母所蜇。索撒尔服用了止痛药，睡了一夜，中毒反应才消失。

索撒尔在博客中写道：“我觉得自己已经很小心了，尽量避免与危险生物接触，这些生物都将这里当成了它们的家。我根本没想到会这样，退一步讲，我也放松了警惕。在汉密尔顿岛的最后几天，我本应该好好放松一下。”

澳大利亚以种类繁多的致命生物而闻名，但花生般大小的伊鲁坎吉水母仍旧是一种很神秘的物种。人们几乎看不见它。它的身型十分微小，可以穿过阻挡水母的网，进入人多的游泳区域。

被这种水母蜇到后，会出现肌肉和胸部刺痛、呕吐、烦躁以及焦虑等症状。有些症状可持续一周以上，有时还会出现血压迅速升高和心力衰竭。

2002年，就有两名游客丧生于伊鲁坎吉水母的触手之下，这两起事故均发生于澳大利亚东北部，是首次有关伊鲁坎吉水母致死的记录。

索撒尔写道：“这次经历给我一个教训，千万不可掉以轻心。我真应该穿上防护服。在一年中的这段时间，所有海滩都有这种提示。”

索撒尔称自己目前感觉良好，正在享受在此工作的最后一周。

这位34岁的前慈善工作者从全世界近3.5万名竞聘者中脱颖而出，得到这份众人梦寐以求的工作。他于7月份上岗，主要工作职责是在大堡礁的汉密尔顿岛上游泳、探索和放松，同时撰写博客宣传该地区，这份工作的薪水为15万澳元（12万美元）。

Vocabulary:

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

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

to say the least：without exaggerating at all（退一步讲，毫不夸张地说）

myriad：of an indefinitely great number; innumerable（无数的）

best：to get the better of; defeat; beat（打败，胜过）