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DavidBrenner_2017-_对抗超级病菌的新武器_
So ... we're in a real live war at the moment, and it's a war that we're truly losing. 所以…我們現在正處於真實的戰爭中, 且我們真的在節節敗退。
It's a war on superbugs . 這是場與超級病菌之戰。
superbugs:n.超级病菌;
So you might wonder, if I'm going to talk about superbugs, why I'm showing you a photograph of some soccer fans -- 你們可能會納悶, 如果我要來談超級病菌, 為什麼我給各位看的是 一些足球迷的照片？
Liverpool soccer fans celebrating a famous victory in Istanbul, a decade ago. 這些是利物浦的足球迷, 正在慶祝一場著名的勝仗, 十年前在伊斯坦堡的勝仗。
Liverpool:n.利物浦;
In the back, in the red shirt, well, that's me, and next to me in the red hat, that's my friend Paul Rice. 在後排,穿著紅色上衣的, 就是我。 我旁邊戴紅帽子的那位, 是我的朋友保羅萊斯。
So a couple of years after this picture was taken, 這張照片拍攝後幾年,
Paul went into hospital for some minor surgery , and he developed a superbug-related infection , and he died. 保羅去醫院做小手術時, 受到超級病菌的感染, 然後過世了。
minor:adj.未成年的; n.未成年人; vi.副修; surgery:n.外科;外科手术;手术室;诊疗室; infection:n.感染;传染;(身体某部位的)感染;传染病;
And I was truly shocked. 我非常震驚。
He was a healthy guy in the prime of life. 他是個很健康的人,正值壯年。
prime:adj.主要的; v.极好地; n.初期; v.使准备好;
So there and then, and actually with a lot of encouragement from a couple of TEDsters, 在那時, 由於幾位 TED 的人給我許多鼓勵,
I declared my own personal war on superbugs. 我個人向超級病菌宣戰。
personal:adj.个人的;身体的;亲自的;n.人事消息栏;人称代名词;
So let's talk about superbugs for a moment. 我們先來談一下超級病菌。
The story actually starts in the 1940s with the widespread introduction of antibiotics . 故事開始於 1940 年代, 當時抗生素被廣泛推廣。
widespread:adj.普遍的,广泛的;分布广的; antibiotics:n.抗菌素;抗生素(如青霉素);(antibiotic的复数)
And since then, drug-resistant bacteria have continued to emerge , and so we've been forced to develop newer and newer drugs to fight these new bacteria. 從那之後, 抗藥物的細菌就持續出現, 我們就不得不一直開發更新的藥物 來對抗新的細菌。
drug-resistant:adj.耐药的;抗药性的; bacteria:n.[微]细菌; emerge:v.浮现;显现;暴露;露出真相;
And this vicious cycle actually is the origin of superbugs, which is simply bacteria for which we don't have effective drugs. 這個惡性循環正是超級病菌的起源, 超級病菌就是我們沒有任何 有效藥物可以對抗的細菌。
vicious:adj.恶毒的;恶意的;堕落的;有错误的;品性不端的;剧烈的; origin:n.起源;起因;源头;出身; effective:adj.有效的,起作用的;实际的,实在的;给人深刻印象;
I'm sure you'll recognize at least some of these superbugs. 我相信你們應該認識 其中幾種超級病菌。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
These are the more common ones around today. 這些是現今比較常見的超級病菌。
Last year, around 700,000 people died from superbug-related diseases . 去年,大約有七十萬人 死於超級病菌相關的疾病。
diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类;
Looking to the future, if we carry on on the path we're going, which is basically a drugs-based approach to the problem, the best estimate by the middle of this century is that the worldwide death toll from superbugs will be 10 million. 展望未來, 如果我們繼續在現行的路線上前進, 基本上就是採取以藥物 為基礎的方法來解決問題, 到這個世紀中期,最合理預估, 全世界會有一千萬人 因為感染超級病菌而死亡,
basically:adv.主要地,基本上; approach:n.方法;路径;v.接近;建议;着手处理; estimate:v.估计;估算;估价;n.估价;(对大小、数量、成本等的)估计;估计的成本; worldwide:adj.全世界的;adv.在世界各地; death toll:n.(事故、战争、灾难等的)死亡人数;
10 million. 一千萬人。
Just to put that in context , that's actually more than the number of people that died of cancer worldwide last year. 以比喻來說,這個數字 比去年全世界死於癌症的人數還多。
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉; cancer:n.癌症;恶性肿瘤;
So it seems pretty clear that we're not on a good road, and the drugs-based approach to this problem is not working. 所以顯然我們的現行路線 不是很理想。 以藥物為基礎的方法 來解決這個問題是行不通的。
I'm a physicist , and so I wondered, could we take a physics-based approach -- a different approach to this problem. 我是物理學家, 所以我就想,我們是否 可以用以物理為基礎的方法, 用一個不同的方法來解決此問題。
physicist:n.物理学家;物理学研究者;
And in that context, the first thing we know for sure, is that we actually know how to kill every kind of microbe , every kind of virus, every kind of bacteria. 在那個情況下, 我們能確定的第一件事, 就是我們確實知道如何 殺死每一種微生物, 每一種病毒, 每一種細菌。
microbe:n.细菌,微生物;
And that's with ultraviolet light. 做法就是用紫外線。
ultraviolet:adj.紫外的;紫外线的;n.紫外线辐射,紫外光;
We've actually known this for more than 100 years. 我們早在一百年前就知道這件事了。
I think you all know what ultraviolet light is. 我想,你們都知道紫外線是什麼。
It's part of a spectrum that includes infrared , it includes visible light, and the short-wavelength part of this group is ultraviolet light. 它是光譜的一部份, 光譜上包括了紅外線, 它包括了可見光, 其中短波長的部份就是紫外線。
spectrum:n.光谱;频谱;范围;余象; infrared:n.红外线;adj.红外线的; visible:adj.明显的;看得见的;现有的;可得到的;n.可见物;进出口贸易中的有形项目;
The key thing from our perspective here is that ultraviolet light kills bacteria by a completely different mechanism from the way drugs kill bacteria. 我們想法的關鍵是 紫外線殺死細菌的機制 完全不同於藥物殺死細菌的方法。
perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的; mechanism:n.机制;原理,途径;进程;机械装置;技巧;
So ultraviolet light is just as capable of killing a drug-resistant bacteria as any other bacteria, and because ultraviolet light is so good at killing all bugs, 紫外線能夠殺死 那些能抵抗藥物的細菌, 就像殺死其他細菌一樣。 因為紫外線非常擅長 殺死所有的細菌,
capable:adj.能干的,能胜任的;有才华的;
it's actually used a lot these days to sterilize rooms, sterilize working surfaces. 其實近期它常常被用來消毒房間、 消毒工作表面。
sterilize:v.灭菌;消毒;使绝育;
What you see here is a surgical theater being sterilized with germicidal ultraviolet light. 各位現在看到的是一間手術室, 正在用殺菌紫外線進行消毒。
surgical:adj.外科的;外科手术的; sterilized:v.灭菌;消毒;使绝育;(sterilize的过去分词和过去式) germicidal:adj.杀菌(剂)的;
But what you don't see in this picture, actually, is any people, and there's a very good reason for that. 在照片上看不到的一樣東西, 就是人。 這背後有個很好的理由。
Ultraviolet light is actually a health hazard , so it can damage cells in our skin, cause skin cancer, it can damage cells in our eye, cause eye diseases like cataract . 紫外線對人體的健康有害, 它可能會傷害我們的皮膚細胞, 造成皮膚癌, 它可能會傷害我們的眼睛細胞, 造成眼睛疾病,如白內障。
hazard:n.危害;危险;v.试着提出;大胆猜测;冒…的风险;使处于危险中; cataract:n.[眼科]白内障;大瀑布;暴雨,洪水;奔流;vt.倾注;
So you can't use conventional , germicidal, ultraviolet light when there are people are around. 所以,你不能把常見的殺菌紫外線 用在有人的地方。
conventional:adj.符合习俗的,传统的;常见的;惯例的;
And of course, we want to sterilize mostly when there are people around. 然而, 我們就是想要對人來做殺菌。
So the ideal ultraviolet light would actually be able to kill all bacteria, including superbugs, but would be safe for human exposure . 所以,理想的紫外線 要能夠殺死所有細菌, 包括超級病菌, 但在人類被照射到時,也要是安全的。
exposure:n.暴露;显露;揭露;面临;
And actually that's where my physics background kicked into this story. 那就是我的物理背景 進入這個故事的地方了。
Together with my physics colleagues , we realized there actually is a particular wavelength of ultraviolet light that should kill all bacteria, but should be safe for human exposure. 我和我的物理同事合作, 我們發現,紫外線有一個特定的波長 應該能夠殺死所有細菌, 而且照射到人類也是安全的。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); wavelength:n.[物]波长;
That wavelength is called far-UVC light, and it's just the short-wavelength part of the ultraviolet spectrum. 那波長被稱為「遠紫外線」, 它只是紫外線光譜上的短波部份。
So let's see how that would work. 我們來看看它是怎麼運作的。
What you're seeing here is the surface of our skin, and I'm going to superimpose on that some bacteria in the air above the skin. 各位在這裡看到的是皮膚的表面, 我要在皮膚上面的空氣中 加上一些的細菌。
superimpose:vt.添加;重叠;附加;安装;
Now we're going to see what happens when conventional, germicidal, ultraviolet light impinges on this. 現在我們來看看 用常見的殺菌紫外線 在上面照射後會發生什麼事。
impinges:vi.撞击;侵犯;vt.撞击;
So what you see is, as we know, germicidal light is really good at killing bacteria, but what you also see is that it penetrates into the upper layers of our skin, and it can damage those key cells in our skin which ultimately , when damaged, can lead to skin cancer. 你們現在看到的是, 如我們所知,殺菌紫外線 真的很擅長殺死細菌, 但你們也看到, 它穿透過皮膚的上面幾層, 它可能會傷害皮膚的重要細胞。 當這些細胞受損, 最終可能就會導致皮膚癌。
penetrates:穿透;进入;打入; upper:adj.上面的;内陆的;n.靴面;兴奋剂; layers:n.层;表层;层次;阶层;v.把…分层堆放;(layer的第三人称单数和复数) ultimately:adv.最终;最后;归根结底;终究;
So let's compare now with far-UVC light -- same situation, skin and some bacteria in the air above them. 現在來和遠紫外線做個比較－－ 在同樣的情況下, 皮膚上的空氣中有一些細菌。
compare:v.比较;对比;n.比较;
So what you're seeing now is that again, far-UVC light's perfectly fine at killing bacteria, but what far-UVC light can't do is penetrate into our skin. 現在各位看到的, 是遠紫外線也可以很完美地殺死細菌, 但遠紫外線卻不會穿透我們的皮膚。
And there's a good, solid physics reason for that: far-UVC light is incredibly , strongly absorbed by all biological materials, so it simply can't go very far. 這個現象的背後有個很好 而且很可靠的物理理由: 遠紫外線能被所有的生物材料 以不可思議的程度強力吸收, 所以它就是走不遠。
incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地; absorbed:adj.被…吸引住; v.吸收(液体、气体等); (absorb的过去分词和过去式) 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;
Now, viruses and bacteria are really, really, really small, so the far-UVC light can certainly penetrate them and kill them, but what it can't do is penetrate into skin, and it can't even penetrate the dead-cell area right at the very surface of our skin. 病毒和細菌都極其微小, 所以遠紫外線肯定 可以穿透並殺死它們。 但它無法做到的,就是穿透皮膚, 它甚至無法穿透我們皮膚 表面的死細胞區域。
So far-UVC light should be able to kill bacteria, but kill them safely. 所以遠紫外線應該可以殺死細菌, 而且對人體是安全的。
So that's the theory. 所以理論是這樣,
It should work, should be safe. 它應該有用,應該安全。
What about in practice ? 那麼在實際運作時呢？
in practice:在实践中;实际上,事实上;
Does it really work? 它真的有用嗎？
Is it really safe? 它真的安全嗎？
So that's actually what our lab has been working on the past five or six years, and I'm delighted to say the answer to both these questions is an emphatic yes. 那正是過去五到六年間, 我們的實驗室在努力的, 我很高興地告訴各位, 這兩個問題的答案, 是很肯定的「是的」。
delighted:adj.高兴的; v.使高兴; (delight的过去分词和过去式) emphatic:adj.着重的;加强语气的;显著的;
Yes, it does work, but yes, it is safe. 是的,它的確有用, 是的,它是安全的。
So I'm delighted to say that, but actually I'm not very surprised to say that, because it's purely the laws of physics at work. 我很高興能那麼說, 但其實這結果並不會讓我訝異, 因為那很單純就是物理原理。
purely:adv.完全;仅仅;
So let's look to the future. 咱們來看看未來。
I'm thrilled that we now have a completely new weapon, and I should say an inexpensive weapon, in our fight against superbugs. 我們現在有了全新的武器, 我感到很興奮, 我應該說是不貴的武器, 能用來對抗超級病菌。
thrilled:adj.非常兴奋; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的过去分词和过去式) inexpensive:adj.廉价的;不昂贵的;
For example, 比如,
I see far-UVC lights in surgical theaters . 我可在手術室看到遠紫外線。
theaters:n.影剧院,剧院(theater复数);
I see far-UVC lights in food preparation areas. 在製作食物的區域看到遠紫外線。
And in terms of preventing the spread of viruses, 在預防病毒散播方面,
I see far-UVC lights in schools, preventing the spread of influenza , preventing the spread of measles , and I see far-UVC lights in airports or airplanes , preventing the global spread of viruses like H1N1 virus. 我可在學校看到遠紫外線, 預防感冒傳播, 預防麻疹散佈, 我在機場或飛機上看到遠紫外線, 預防像 H1N1 這類病毒在全球散佈。
influenza:n.[内科]流行性感冒(简写flu);家畜流行性感冒; measles:n.[内科]麻疹;风疹; airports:n.[航]机场;[航]航空港(airport的复数形式); airplanes:n.(美)[航]飞机(airplane的复数); global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的;
So back to my friend Paul Rice. 回到我的朋友保羅萊斯。
He was actually a well-known and well-loved local politician in his and my hometown of Liverpool, and they put up a statue in his memory in the center of Liverpool, and there it is. 在我們的家鄉利物浦, 他其實是位知名 且受愛戴的當地政治家, 他們在利物浦的中心 為他立了一座紀念雕像, 就這個。
well-known:adj.著名的;众所周知的;清楚明白的; politician:n.政治家;(蔑)政客;(美)政治贩; statue:n.雕像;塑像;铸像;v.用雕像装饰;
But me, 但是我,
I want Paul's legacy to be a major advance in this war against superbugs. 我希望保羅留給世人的是 在超級病菌之戰中的重大進展。
legacy:n.遗赠,遗产;
Armed with the power of light, that's actually within our grasp . 有了遠紫外線為武器, 勝利已經不遠了。
grasp:n.抓住;理解;控制;v.抓住;领会;
Thank you. 謝謝。
(Applause) （掌聲）
Chris Anderson: Stay up here, David, I've got a question for you. 克里斯安德森:請留步,大衛, 我有個問題想請教。
(Applause) （掌聲）
David, tell us where you're up to in developing this, and what are the remaining obstacles to trying to roll out and realize this dream? 大衛,請告訴我們, 你們開發這個的目的是什麼？ 若要實現這個夢想, 還有什麼其他障礙待突破？
obstacles:n.障碍;障碍物;阻碍;(obstacle的复数形式)
David Brenner: Well, I think we now know that it kills all bacteria, but we sort of knew that before we started, but we certainly tested that. 大衛布倫納:我想, 我們現在知道它能殺死所有細菌, 但在我們開始之前就知道這點了, 但我們對它做了測試。
So we have to do lots and lots of tests about safety, and so it's more about safety than it is about efficacy . 所以,我們得要做很多 安全相關的測試, 重點比較是在安全而非效能。
efficacy:n.功效,效力;
And we need to do short-term tests, and we need to do long-term tests to make sure you can't develop melanoma many years on. 我們需要做短期測試, 我們需要做長期測試, 以確保使用者不會因此 在多年之後得到黑色素瘤。
short-term:adj.短期的; long-term:adj.长期的;从长远来看; melanoma:n.[肿瘤]黑素瘤;胎记瘤;
So those studies are pretty well done at this point. 所以,目前那些研究都做得很好。
well done:好样的,干得好;
The FDA of course is something we have to deal with, and rightly so, because we certainly can't use this in the real world without FDA approval . 當然,我們必須得到 食品及藥物管理局批准, 這是理所當然的, 因為如果要實際廣泛運用, 就一定要先有食品及藥物管理局的核准。
rightly:adv.正确地;恰当地;公正地;合适地; approval:n.批准;认可;赞成;
CA: Are you trying to launch first in the US, or somewhere else? 克里斯:你打算先在美國推出, 或其他地方？
launch:v.发射(导弹,火箭等); n.发射;
DB: Actually, in a couple of countries. 大衛:事實上,會在兩個國家。
In Japan and in the US, both. 在日本和美國。
CA: Have you been able to persuade biologists , doctors, that this is a safe approach? 克里斯:你是否已經 說服了生物學家及醫生, 讓他們相信這是安全的方法？
persuade:v.说服;劝说;使信服;使相信; biologists:n.生物学家(biologist的复数);
DB: Well, as you can imagine, there is a certain skepticism because everybody knows that UV light is not safe. 大衛:你可以想像, 一定有人會抱持懷疑態度, 因為每個人都知道紫外線不安全。
skepticism:n.怀疑论;怀疑的态度;
So when somebody comes along and says, "Well, this particular UV light is safe," 所以當有個人說: 「這種特定的紫外線是安全的。」
there is a barrier to be crossed, but the data are there, and I think that's what we're going to be standing on. 就會有障礙需要跨越, 但我們已經有數據資料了, 那些資料會是我們的基礎。
barrier:n.屏障;障碍;障碍物;关口;v.用栅围住;
CA: Well, we wish you well. 克里斯:祝你順利。
This is potentially such important work. 這是可能是相當重要的研究。
potentially:adv.可能地,潜在地;
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. 非常謝謝和我們分享。
Thank you, David. 謝謝,大衛。
(Applause) （掌聲）