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AnneMadden_2017-_认识一下抢占你家园和霸占你容颜的微生物吧_
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I want you to touch your face. |
请大家摸摸自己的脸。 |
Go on. |
试一试, |
What do you feel? |
你们有什么感觉? |
Soft? Squishy ? |
是不是很柔软很有弹性? |
Squishy:adj.粘糊糊的;湿软的;
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It's you, right? You're feeling you? |
你摸到的是你自已吗? |
Well, it's not quite true. |
那可不全是你自己。 |
You're actually feeling thousands of microscopic creatures that live on our face and fingers. |
手指摸到的地方其实是 生活在我们的脸和手指上 成千上万个微生物。 |
microscopic:adj.微观的;用显微镜可见的; creatures:n.生物;动物;(具有某种特征的)人(creature的复数)
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You're feeling some of the fungi that drifted down from the air ducts today. |
你还摸到了一些真菌, 正从空气管道里进来落在我们身上, 进入我们的呼吸道,我们身体里。 |
fungi:n.真菌;菌类;蘑菇(fungus的复数); drifted:v.漂流;漂移;缓缓移动;缓慢行走;(drift的过去分词和过去式) ducts:n.[建]管道(duct的复数);通风管道;
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They set off our allergies and smell of mildew . |
这些霉菌会引起我们过敏症状, 还散发出难闻的气味。 |
allergies:n.变态反应;过敏反应;(allergy的复数) mildew:n.霉;霉病;vt.使发霉;vi.发霉;生霉;
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You're feeling some of the 100 billion bacterial cells that live on our skin. |
你摸到的是生活在 我们皮肤上的一千多亿个 细菌细胞。 |
bacterial:adj.[微]细菌的;
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They've been munching away at your skin oils and replicating , producing the smells of body odor . |
它们以我们皮肤上的油和汗为食 并以此繁衍它们的子孙, 还形成了我们的体味。 |
munching:vt.用力咀嚼;大声咀嚼;vi.用力咀嚼;大声咀嚼;n.用力的咀嚼; replicating:n.八音阶间隔的反复音; adj.复制的; v.复制(replicate的ing形式); odor:n.气味;名声;
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You're likely even touching the fecal bacteria that sprayed onto you the last time you flushed a toilet, or those bacteria that live in our water pipes and sprayed onto you with your last shower. |
你可能摸到的是你上次冲厕所时 溅到你身上的大便细菌; 或者上次你洗澡时冲溅到你身上 那些隐居在我们排水管里的细菌。 |
fecal:adj.排泄物的;残渣的;糟粕的; sprayed:adj.喷雾的;v.喷射;散布(spray的过去式和过去分词); flushed:adj.脸红的;v.发红;脸红;(用水)冲洗净,冲洗;(flush的过去分词和过去式)
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Sorry. |
抱歉(让你们感觉不适)了。 |
(Laughter) |
(笑声) |
You're probably even giving a microscopic high five to the two species of mites that live on our faces, on all of our faces. |
你摸脸时,其实是在帮助手上的螨虫和 霸占了我们每个人容颜的 螨虫庆祝大会师。 |
high five:举手击掌 species:n.[生物]物种;种类; mites:n.螨虫类(mite的复数);
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They've spent the night squirming across your face and having sex on the bridge of your nose. |
它们整夜的从你脸颊的一侧 欢歌曼舞到另一侧; 还在你的鼻梁上繁衍。 |
squirming:v.动来动去,坐卧不宁;十分尴尬;(squirm的现在分词)
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(Laughter) |
(笑声) |
Many of them are now leaking their gut contents onto your pores . |
你的毛孔正在被它们的排泄物填满。 |
leaking:v.渗漏;泄露(秘密信息);走漏;(leak的现在分词) gut:n.勇气;肠道;内脏;v.损毁内部;取出…的内脏;adj.非理性的;本能的 contents:n.内容; v.知足; (content的第三人称单数和复数) pores:n.[陶瓷]气孔;毛穴(pore的复数);v.注视;熟读;沉思(pore的第三人称单数);
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(Laughter) |
(笑声) |
Now look at your finger. |
再看一看你的手指, |
How's it feel? Gross ? |
你是什么感觉? 恶心吗? |
Gross:adj.总共的;粗野的;恶劣的;显而易见的;v.总共收入;n.总额,总数;
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In desperate need of soap or bleach ? |
是不是急需用香皂或消毒液洗一洗? |
desperate:adj.不顾一切的;令人绝望的;极度渴望的; bleach:n.漂白剂;v.(使)变白,漂白,晒白,退色
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That's how you feel now, but it's not going to be how you feel in the future. |
你们现在一定是这个感觉。 但是将来你们一定会有不同的感觉。 |
For the last 100 years, we've had an adversarial relationship with the microscopic life nearest us. |
在过去的一百年里, 我们一直以一种不共戴天的态度 对待这些微生物。 |
adversarial:adj.对抗的;对手的,敌手的;
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If I told you there was a bug in your house or bacteria in your sink, there was a human-devised solution for that, a product to eradicate , exterminate , disinfect . |
如果我说你们的房子里有虫子 或是你的洗手池里有细菌, 人们早就有了针对它们的解决方案, 驱虫或灭虫产品, 还有消毒产品。 |
bug:n.臭虫,小虫;故障;窃听器;v.烦扰,打扰;装窃听器; solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答; eradicate:vt.根除,根绝;消灭; exterminate:vt.消灭;根除; disinfect:v.将…消毒;
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We strive to remove most of the microscopic life in our world now. |
我们一直在拼命去除生活在 我们世界里的这些微生物。 |
strive:v.力求;斗争;反抗;(strive的第三人称单数)
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But in doing so, we're ignoring the best source of new technology on this planet. |
可是我们却不知道它们才是 地球上帮助发展新兴科技的 最好的资源。 |
ignoring:v.忽略,忽视;(ignore的现在分词); source:n.来源;水源;原始资料; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
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The last 100 years have featured human solutions to microbial problems, but the next 100 years will feature microbial solutions to human problems. |
过去的一百年里见证了 人类如何解决微生物带来的问题, 但在未来的一百年里,微生物 会成为帮助我们解决难题的英雄。 |
microbial:adj.微生物的;由细菌引起的;
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I'm a scientist, and I work with researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Colorado to uncover the microscopic life that is nearest us, |
我是名科学家,正和其他来自 北卡罗兰那州立大学和 克罗拉多大学的科研人员 寻找与我们共生共处的微生物。 |
Carolina:n.卡罗莱纳州(在美国东南部); State University:n.(美国)州立大学; Colorado:n.科罗拉多;[城]科罗拉多州;科罗拉多河; uncover:v.揭开盖子;发现;揭露;揭发;
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and that's often in our most intimate and boring environments, be it under our couches , in our backyards , or in our belly buttons. |
它们总是潜伏于我们 最隐私和无人问津的角落, 比如沙发下面,房子的后院, 或者在我们的肚脐眼里。 |
intimate:n.知己; v.暗示; adj.亲密的; boring:adj.无聊的;令人厌烦的;n.钻孔;v.使厌烦;钻孔;(bore的现在分词) couches:n.睡椅,长沙发;床;卧榻;vi.蹲伏,埋伏;躺着;vt.使躺下;表达;弯下; backyards:n.后院;后庭; belly:n.腹部;胃;食欲;v.涨满;鼓起;
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I do this work because it turns out that we know very little about the microscopic life that's nearest us. |
我做这个工作是因为我们不很了解 那些与我们形影不离的微生物。 |
As of a few years ago, no scientist could tell you what bugs or microorganisms live in your home -- your home, the place you know better than anywhere else. |
多年前没有科学家能够知道 你的家有什么虫子和微生物—— 你的家,相对于其他地方, 你最清楚你的家。 |
bugs:n.缺陷;虫子;窃听器;(bug的复数)v.窃听;使烦恼;(bug的第三人称单数) microorganisms:n.[微]微生物,微生虫(microorganism的复数);
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And so I and teams of others are armed with Q-tips and tweezers and advanced DNA techniques to uncover the microscopic life nearest us. |
于是,我与我的科研团队一起 配足了各式的棉签和镊子 和各种先进的基因技术设备, 开始了发掘微生物的征程。 |
Q-tips:n.棉花棒;棉签; tweezers:n.镊子;小钳子(tweezer的复数形式); advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式) techniques:n.技巧;技艺;工艺;技术;(technique的复数)
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In doing so, we found over 600 species of bugs that live in USA homes, everything from spiders and cockroaches to tiny mites that cling to feathers. |
这一过程中我们发现了 600多种不同种类 生活在美国家庭里的虫子, 我们收集的虫子从各种蜘蛛,蟑螂 到微小的粘在羽毛上的螨虫。 |
spiders:n.蜘蛛(spider的复数) cockroaches:n.[昆]蟑螂(cockroach的复数); cling:v.依附;抓紧;紧抱;粘住;依恋;
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And we found over 100,000 species of bacteria and fungi that live in our dust bunnies , thousands more that live on our clothes or in our showers. |
我们还找到了十万多种的细菌和真菌, 它们藏身于四处飞舞的灰尘颗粒中, 数千的微生物群居在我们的 衣服上或浴室里。 |
bunnies:n.小兔子(bunny的复数);
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We've gone further still, and we looked at the microorganisms that live inside the bodies of each of those bugs in our home. |
我们需要进一步探究这些微生物, 而且我们观察研究了一些 寄居于普通虫子体内的微生物。 |
In each bug, for example, a wasp , we see a microscopic jungle unfold in a petri plate, a world of hundreds of vibrant species. |
在每只虫子的体内,比如一只黄蜂, 我们从显微镜下看到装微生物的 培养皿上出现了一个微生物群落, 数以百计的活生生的微生物种群。 |
wasp:n.黄蜂;[昆]胡蜂;易怒的人;vi.黄蜂似的直扑; jungle:n.密林;尔虞我诈的环境;危险地带; unfold:v.(使)展开;打开;展示;透露; vibrant:adj.振动的;充满生气的;响亮的;战栗的;
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Behold the biological cosmos ! |
那真是令人叹为观止的生物宇宙! |
Behold:v.看;注视;把...视为;int.瞧;看呀; biological:adj.生物学的;生物的;与生命过程有关的;加酶的;n.[药]生物制品; cosmos:n.宇宙;和谐;秩序;大波斯菊;
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So many of the species you're looking at right now don't yet have names. |
你们看到的这张图片上的微生物, 都还没有名字。 |
Most of the life around us remains unknown. |
因为我们根本不了解这些与我们 朝夕相处的微生物。 |
I remember the first time I discovered and got to name a new species. |
我无法忘记我第一次发现并给一个 新物种起名字的时刻。 |
It was a fungus that lives in the nest of a paper wasp. |
那是一种生活在胡峰窝里的真菌。 |
fungus:n.真菌,霉菌;菌类;
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It's white and fluffy , and I named it " mucor nidicola," |
白色而且毛绒绒的, 所以我给它起名叫“毛霉虫”, |
fluffy:adj.蓬松的;松软的;毛茸茸的;无内容的; mucor:n.毛霉菌;
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meaning in Latin that it lives in the nest of another. |
它的拉丁语意思是寄居在 其它虫子的窝里。 |
Latin:adj.拉丁语的;用拉丁语写成的;n.拉丁语;
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This is a picture of it growing on a dinosaur, because everyone thinks dinosaurs are cool. |
这是它和它寄居的恐龙的合影, 因为每个人都认为恐龙非常酷。 |
At the time, I was in graduate school , and I was so excited that I had found this new life form . |
那时我还在研究生院学习, 我发现了这个新的生命体,兴奋至极。 |
graduate school:研究所,研究院; life form:n.生物;
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I called up my dad, and I go, "Dad! I just discovered a new microorganism species." |
我马上给我父亲打电话, “爸爸!我刚刚发现了一个 新的微生物种。” |
And he laughed and he goes, "That's great. I hope you also discovered a cure for it." |
他高兴的大笑,说, 那太好了。我希望你也能研究出 对付它的办法。“ |
(Laughter) |
(笑声) |
'"Cure it." |
”对付它。“ |
Now, my dad is my biggest fan, so in that crushing moment where he wanted to kill my new little life form, |
现在,我的父亲是我最忠实的粉丝, 在那令人崩溃的时刻,就是我父亲 想要杀死我新发现的小生命时, |
crushing:adj.惨重的,毁坏性的;v.压碎;压坏;压伤;挤压变形;(crush的现在分词)
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I realized that actually I had failed him, both as a daughter and a scientist. |
我才意识到我让他失望了, 因为我不是好女儿也不是好科学家。 |
In my years toiling away in labs and in people's backyards, investigating and cataloging the microscopic life around us, |
当我在实验室和别人的后院里辛苦 研究和收集微生物的那些年, 当我忙于调查记录各种微生物种时, |
toiling:n.辛苦;苦工;网;圈套;vi.辛苦工作;艰难地行进;vt.费力地做;使…过度劳累; labs:n.实验室;实验大楼;(lab的复数) investigating:v.调查;研究;审查;(investigate的现在分词) cataloging:n.图书编目;目录;
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I'd never made clear my true mission to him. |
我从没有给他解释清楚 我真正的科研使命是什么。 |
mission:n.使命,任务;代表团;布道;v.派遣;向…传教;
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My goal is not to find technology to kill the new microscopic life around us. |
我的目标不是发现新技术 去消灭那些生活在 我们周围的新微生物。 |
My goal is to find new technology from this life, that will help save us. |
我的目标是研究新生命物种,从中找到 新技术,去帮助保护我们人类。 |
The diversity of life in our homes is more than a list of 100,000 new species. |
每个家庭中,除了人和宠物以外, 还生活着十万多种新的物种。 |
diversity:n.差异(性):多样性:多样化:
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It is 100,000 new sources of solutions to human problems. |
我们就拥有十万个新方法来 解决人类的难题。 |
sources:n.来源;出处;起源;根源;原因;v.(从…)获得(source的第三人称单数和复数)
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I know it's hard to believe that anything that's so small or only has one cell can do anything powerful, but they can. |
我知道你很难相信那么小的生命体, 甚至只有一个细胞, 怎么可能帮助解决人类的难题呢? 事实是,它们可以。 |
These creatures are microscopic alchemists , with the ability to transform their environment with an arsenal of chemical tools. |
这些微生命体是能够创造奇迹的 微生物炼金术士, 能够运用自备的各种化学工具, 改变它们的生活环境。 |
alchemists:n.炼金师(alchemist的复数形式); transform:v.使改变;使改观;使转换;n.[数]变换式;[化]反式; arsenal:n.兵工厂;军械库; chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的;
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This means that they can live anywhere on this planet, and they can eat whatever food is around them. |
这就是说它们可以生活在 地球上的任何地方, 而且它们可以以周围的任何食物为食。 |
This means they can eat everything from toxic waste to plastic, and they can produce waste products like oil and battery power and even tiny nuggets of real gold. |
这也意味着它们可以吃任何 有毒的废物或者塑料, 而且可以生产有用的产品, 像油和电力, 甚至微小的真金块。 |
toxic:adj.有毒的;中毒的; battery:n.[电]电池,蓄电池;n.[法]殴打;n.[军]炮台,炮位; nuggets:n.丹佛掘金(nugget的复数);金砖;
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They can transform the inedible into nutritive . |
它们可以把不能吃的东西改造成 有养分的东西。 |
inedible:adj.不能吃的; nutritive:adj.有营养的;滋养的;有营养成份的;与营养有关的;n.营养物;
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They can make sugar into alcohol . |
它们可以把糖转化成酒。 |
alcohol:n.酒精;乙醇;含酒精饮料;
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They give chocolate its flavor , and soil the power to grow. |
它们赋予巧克力诱人的味道, 并且改良土壤使万物生长。 |
flavor:n.情味,风味;香料;滋味;v.加味于;
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I'm here to tell you that the next 100 years will feature these microscopic creatures solving more of our problems. |
我希望你们知道, 在未来的100年会见证这些微生物 为我们解决更多的难题。 |
And we have a lot of problems to choose from. |
目前我们有太多的困难需要解决。 |
We've got the mundane : bad-smelling clothes or bland food. |
我们有一系列无关紧要的困难: 臭气熏天的衣服和平淡无味的食物。 |
mundane:adj.世俗的,平凡的;世界的,宇宙的; bland:adj.乏味的; vt.使…变得淡而无味; vi.变得平淡无奇;
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And we've got the monumental : disease , pollution, war. |
我们还有一堆紧迫又棘手的问题: 疾病,污染,战争。 |
monumental:adj.不朽的;纪念碑的;非常的; disease:n.病,[医]疾病;弊病;vt.传染;使…有病;
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And so this is my mission: to not just catalog the microscopic life around us, but to find out what it's uniquely well-suited to help us with. |
所以,我的使命是 不仅要把与我们共处的 微生物分类编制成册; 而且要从它们身上找到那些独特的, 适宜的特征来帮助我们。 |
uniquely:adv.独特地;珍奇地; well-suited:adj.便利的;适当的;
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Here's an example. |
我给大家举个例子。 |
We started with a pest, a wasp that lives on many of our homes. |
我们从一种害虫开始研究, 很多人家的房子周围都有黄蜂出没。 |
Inside that wasp, we plucked out a little-known microorganism species with a unique ability: it could make beer. |
在黄蜂身体里,我们拔出来一些 不知是什么的微生物种, 它有一种特殊的本事: 可以制作啤酒。 |
plucked:v.摘;拔;拔掉(死禽的毛);弹拨(乐器的弦);(pluck的过去分词和过去式) little-known:鲜为人知的;
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This is a trait that only a few species on this planet have. |
在地球上只有不多的物种 具备这个特性。 |
trait:n.特性,特点;品质;少许;
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In fact, all commercially produced beer you've ever had likely came from one of only three microorganism species. |
实际上你喝过的所有商业话生产的啤酒 很可能是从三种微生物种的 其中之一制作出来的。 |
commercially:adv.商业上;通商上;
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Yet our species, it could make a beer that tasted like honey, and it could also make a delightfully tart beer. |
我们所发现的黄蜂体内的微生物种, 却能制作出带有蜂蜜味的啤酒, 而且它也可能制作出 令人愉悦的酸爽啤酒。 |
delightfully:adv.欣然地,快乐地; tart:adj.酸的;锋利的;尖刻的;n.果馅饼;妓女;vt.打扮;
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In fact, this microorganism species that lives in the belly of a wasp, it could make a valuable sour beer better than any other species on this planet. |
事实上这种寄居在黄蜂肚子里的微生物 酿造出的贵重的酸啤酒, 比地球上任何其它的微生物种 制造的酸啤酒都更好。 |
valuable:adj.有价值的;贵重的;可估价的;n.贵重物品;
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There are now four species that produce commercial beer. |
现在我们有四种微生物种可以 用于商业化的啤酒酿造了。 |
Where you used to see a pest, now think of tasting your future favorite beer. |
以前你看到害虫, 现在你会想到未来你最爱喝的啤酒。 |
As a second example, |
还有第二个例子, |
I worked with researchers to dig in the dirt in people's backyards. |
我和几个研究人员在 一些人家的后院挖泥时, |
dirt:n.污垢;尘土;下流话;
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There, we uncovered a microorganism that could make novel antibiotics , antibiotics that can kill the world's worst superbugs. |
发现了一种微生物可以 制成一种新奇的抗生素。 这种新型抗生素可以消灭 世界上最厉害的超级病菌。 |
uncovered:adj.裸露的; v.揭开盖子; (uncover的过去式和过去分词) novel:adj.新奇的;异常的;n.小说; antibiotics:n.抗菌素;抗生素(如青霉素);(antibiotic的复数)
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This was an awesome thing to find, but here's the secret: for the last 60 years, most of the antibiotics on the market have come from similar soil bacteria. |
这可是一件非常了不起的发现, 但是,有一个秘密: 在过去的六十年里, 市场上的绝大多数抗生素 都是来自类似的土壤细菌。 |
awesome:adj.令人敬畏的;使人畏惧的;可怕的;极好的; on the market:上市;出售的;
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Every day, you and I and everyone in this room and on this planet, are saved by similar soil bacteria that produce most of our antibiotics. |
每一天,你们和我,还有在这个 房间里的每一个人, 在这个地球上的每一个人, 都被这种能制成绝大多数抗生素的 类似土壤细菌保护着。 |
Where you used to see dirt, now think of medication . |
以前你看到的只是泥土, 现在你会想到救命的良药。 |
medication:n.药;药物;
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Perhaps my favorite example comes from colleagues who are studying a pond scum microorganism, which is tragically named after the cow dung it was first found in. |
我最喜欢的例子是我同事正在研究的 池塘表面浮沫中的微生物。 这个微生物不幸被命名为“牛粪”, 因为它最早是在牛粪里找到。 |
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); pond:n.池塘;水池(尤指人工的);v.把…挖成池塘;堵(溪流)水成池; scum:n.浮渣;泡沫;糟粕;v.产生泡沫;被浮渣覆盖;将浮渣去除掉; tragically:adv.悲剧地;悲惨地; dung:vt.施粪肥于;n.粪;
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It's pretty unremarkable and would be unworthy of discussion, except that the researchers found that if you feed it to mice, it vaccinates against PTSD . |
它非常普通,没有什么好谈的, 但有一点,研究人员发现, 如果你把它喂给老鼠吃, 老鼠就会对创伤后的 应激障碍症有免疫力。 |
unremarkable:adj.平凡的;不显著的;不值得注意的; unworthy:adj.不值得的;无价值的;不相称的; vaccinates:vi.接种疫苗;vt.给…注射疫苗;n.被接种牛痘者; PTSD:abbr.创伤后精神紧张性精神障碍(post-traumaticstressdisorder);
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It vaccinates against fear. |
也就是说老鼠会对恐惧有免疫力。 |
Where you used to see pond scum, now think of hope. |
你们以前看到的池塘浮沫, 现在就会让你联想到希望。 |
There are so many more microbial examples that I don't have time to talk about today. |
我还有更多微生物的例子, 可是今天没有时间一一介绍。 |
I gave you examples of solutions that came from just three species, but imagine what those other 100,000 species in your dust bunnies might be able to do. |
我提到的那几个解决人类难题的例子 只是来自三个微生物种。 但是设想一下,那些生活在 灰尘颗粒上的数十万个微生物种 可能完成的事情。 |
In the future, they might be able to make you sexier or smarter or perhaps live longer. |
将来,它们有可能会使你更性感, 或者更聪明 或者更长寿。 |
sexier:性感的(sexy的比较级);
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So I want you to look at your finger again. |
现在我要你们再看一看你们的手指, |
Think about all those microscopic creatures that are unknown. |
想一想所有这些还不为我们所知的 微生物。 |
Think about in the future what they might be able to do or make or whose life they might be able to save. |
设想一下在未来,它们可能会 怎样帮助我们? 或制造出什么? 或者它们可能会挽救谁的生命? |
How does your finger feel right now? |
你们的手指现在有什么感觉? |
A little bit powerful? |
是不是感到了一点点的力量? |
That's because you're feeling the future. |
那是因为你们正在感受未来。 |
Thank you. |
谢谢。 |
(Applause) |
(掌声) |