To visualize the progress of a disease outbreak over time, we can plot an epidemic curve.

为更形象化地描绘疫情爆发过程，我们可以画一条流行曲线。

To explore that, let's use an epidemic curve, which shows the number of new cases in a country seen each day.

为了方便理解，我们用一张流行病曲线图来阐释某个国家每天的新增的确诊人数。

The drugs themselves may not change the epidemic curve, but they may change the relationship the health care facilities and workers have with the community.

而单就药物本身而言可能不会改变埃博拉病毒的传染曲线，但可能会改变医疗卫生机构与工作者们同肆虐国家社会之间的关系。

For these reasons, a large number of lives can be saved by simply ensuring people get sick at a slower rate, and this is called flattening the epidemic curve.

鉴于这些原因，尽量减缓人群患病速度就可以挽救大量生命，这就是“拉平流行曲线”。