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EmmaTeeling_2012X-_蝙蝠基因的秘密_
What I want you all to do right now is to think of this mammal that I'm going to describe to you. 我现在想你们所有人做的 是想一想我将要和你们谈的这种哺乳动物。
mammal:n.哺乳动物; describe:v.描述;形容;把…称为;画出…图形;
The first thing I'm going to tell you about this mammal is that it is essential for our ecosystems to function correctly. 关于这种动物我首先要告诉你们的 是它对于我们生态系统的正常运作是必不可少的。
essential:n.要点;要素;实质;必需品;adj.完全必要的;必不可少的;极其重要的;本质的; ecosystems:n.生态系统(ecosystem的复数);
If we remove this mammal from our ecosystems, they simply will not work. 如果我们从生态系统中除掉这种动物, 生态系统就运作不了。
That's the first thing. 这是第一点。
The second thing is that due to the unique sensory abilities of this mammal, if we study this mammal, we're going to get great insight into our diseases of the senses, such as blindness and deafness . 第二是因为这种动物独特的感知能力 我们研究这种动物, 我们就可以深入了解我们的感官疾病 比如失明和失聪。
unique:adj.独特的,稀罕的;[数]唯一的;n.独一无二的人或物; sensory:adj.感觉的;知觉的;传递感觉的; insight:n.洞察力;洞悉; diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类; deafness:n.聋;听力不佳;
And the third really intriguing aspect of this mammal is that I fully believe that the secret of everlasting youth lies deep within its DNA. 这种动物第三个非常奇妙的一面是 我完全相信青春常驻的秘密 就隐藏在这种动物的DNA(脱氧核糖核酸)里。
intriguing:adj.有趣的;迷人的;v.引起…的兴趣;策划阴谋;私通;(intrigue的现在分词) aspect:n.方面;层面;外观;方位; everlasting:adj.永久的;永恒的;冗长的;n.永久;无穷;
So are you all thinking? 你们想的是什么？
So, magnificent creature , isn't it? 那么 神奇的生物,是吗？
magnificent:adj.高尚的;壮丽的;华丽的;宏伟的; creature:n.生物;动物;(具有某种特征的)人;
Who here thought of a bat? 在座有想到蝙蝠的吗？
Ah, I can see half the audience agrees with me, and I have a lot of work to do to convince the rest of you. 哈,有一半观众和我想的一样, 我还要努力说服其他人。
convince:v.使确信;使相信;说服,劝说;
So I have had the good fortune for the past 20 years to study these fascinating and beautiful mammals . 我非常幸运地在过去20年里 研究这些让人着迷的美丽的哺乳动物。
fortune:n.财富;命运;运气;v.给予财富,偶然发生 fascinating:adj.极有吸引力的;迷人的;v.深深吸引;迷住;(fascinate的现在分词) mammals:n.哺乳动物;(mammal的复数)
One fifth of all living mammals is a bat, and they have very unique attributes . 现存的哺乳动物中有五分之一是蝙蝠, 它们有非常独特的属性。
attributes:v.把…归因于; n.属性; (attribute的第三人称单数和复数)
Bats as we know them have been around on this planet for about 64 million years. 据我们所知蝙蝠已经在这个星球上繁衍了 大概六千四百万年。
have been around:见识(很)多;世故(很)深;遍布全球;世故深;遍布各地;
One of the most unique things that bats do as a mammal is that they fly. 蝙蝠其中一个最独特的地方是 它们作为哺乳动物却可以飞行。
Now flight is an inherently difficult thing. 飞行是一件本质上很困难的事情。
inherently:adv.内在地;固有地;天性地;
Flight with invertebrates has only evolved three times: once in the bats, once in the birds, and once in the pterodactyls. 飞行在无脊椎动物中止只进化过三次: 一次在蝙蝠中, 一次在鸟类中, 还有一次在翼龙中。
invertebrates:n.[无脊椎]无脊椎动物(invertebrate的复数); evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式)
And so with flight, it's very metabolically costly . 所以飞行在代谢中代价是很高的。
metabolically:代谢的(metabolic的副词形式); costly:adj.昂贵的;代价高的;
Bats have learned and evolved how to deal with this. 蝙蝠习得如何飞行并进化成擅长飞行。
But one other extremely unique thing about bats is that they are able to use sound to perceive their environment. They use echolocation . 但蝙蝠还有另一个奇特的地方 它们能够运用声音 察觉周围的环境。它们用回声定位。
extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地; perceive:v.注意到;意识到;将…理解为;认为; echolocation:n.回波定位;回声测距;回声定位能力(鲸和蝙蝠等所具备得一种机能);
Now, what I mean by echolocation -- they emit a sound from their larynx out through their mouth or through their nose. This sound wave comes out and it reflects and echoes back off objects in their environment, and the bats then hear these echoes and they turn this information into an acoustic image. 我所说的回音定位是指什么-- 蝙蝠用喉咙发出声音经过嘴巴 或经过鼻子。声波发射出去 声波碰到周围的物体反射返回, 蝙蝠便会听到这些回声 它们把这些信息转变成声像图。
emit:v.发出,射出,散发(光、热、声音、气等); larynx:n.[解剖]喉;喉头; sound wave:n.声波; reflects:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达;(reflect的第三人称单数) echoes:n.回声; v.发出回声; acoustic:adj.声学的;音响的;听觉的;n.原声乐器;不用电传音的乐器;
And this enables them to orient in complete darkness. 这就足以让他们在一片漆黑中定位。
enables:v.使得; (enable的第三人称单数) orient:vt.使适应;确定方向;使朝东;n.东方;东方诸国;adj.东方的;vi.向东;
Indeed, they do look very strange. We're humans. 确实,它们看起来很奇怪。我们作为人类
We're a visual species . When scientists first realized that bats were actually using sound to be able to fly and orient and move at night, we didn't believe it. 我们是视觉物种。当科学家们第一次意识到 蝙蝠竟然凭借声音来飞行 并能在夜间定位和移动,我们无法相信。
visual:adj.视觉的,视力的;栩栩如生的; species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
For a hundred years, despite evidence to show that this is what they were doing, we didn't believe it. 近一百年里,尽管证据显示 蝙蝠确实是这样的,我们还是不能相信。
despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱; evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明;
Now, if you look at this bat, it looks a little bit alien. 如果你看一下这只蝙蝠,它看起来有点异类。
Indeed, the very famous philosopher Thomas Nagel once said, "To truly experience an alien life form on this planet, you should lock yourself inside a room with a flying, echolocating bat in complete darkness." 事实上,非常著名的哲学家托马斯?内格尔（Thomas Nagel） 曾经说过 “要真正体验这个星球上异类的生命形态 你应该把自己关在房间里 在完全黑暗中和一只飞行的 靠回声定位的蝙蝠在一起。”
philosopher:n.哲学家;深思的人;善于思考的人; Nagel:n.纳高(德国拍卖行); life form:n.生物; echolocating:v.[物]用回音测定(方向或距离);(echolocating是echolocate的现在分词);
And if you look at the actual physical characteristics on the face of this beautiful horseshoe bat, you see a lot of these characteristics are dedicated to be able to make sound and perceive it. 如果你看看蝙蝠的实体特征 看看这只马蹄状的蝙蝠的脸, 你看到很多特征都有助于 它们发出声音,察觉声音。
physical:adj.[物]物理的;身体的;物质的;符合自然法则的;n.体格检查; characteristics:n.特征;特点;品质;(characteristic的复数) horseshoe:vt.装蹄铁于;n.马蹄铁;U形物; dedicated:adj.献身的; v.把…奉献给; (dedicate的过去分词和过去式)
Very big ears, strange nose leaves, but teeny-tiny eyes. 很大的耳朵,奇怪的鼻叶,非常小的眼睛。
teeny-tiny:极小的;
So again, if you just look at this bat, you realize sound is very important for its survival . 所以如果你看到蝙蝠的样子,你会意识到 声音对于它的生存而言是很重要的。
survival:n.幸存,残存;幸存者,残存物;
Most bats look like the previous one. 大部分的蝙蝠看起来都像之前的那一只。
previous:adj.以前的;早先的;过早的;adv.在先;在…以前;
However, there are a group that do not use echolocation. 然而有一种蝙蝠不用回音定位。
They do not perceive their environment using sound, and these are the flying foxes. 它们不是用声音来察觉环境, 它们是飞狐。
If anybody has ever been lucky enough to be in Australia, you've seen them coming out of the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, and if you just look at their face, you can see they have much, much larger eyes and much smaller ears. 如果有人有幸到过澳大利亚, 你可以在悉尼的植物园看到它们, 如果你看看它们的脸,你可以看到 它们大大的眼睛和小小的耳朵。
Botanic:adj.植物的;植物学的;
So among and within bats is a huge variation in their ability to use sensory perception . 所以在蝙蝠种群中也有很大变异 它们运用不同的感知能力。
variation:n.变异;变体;变奏;变种; perception:n.感知;知觉;看法;洞察力;
Now this is going to be important for what I'm going to tell you later during the talk. 这点很重要 我下面的演讲将会提到。
Now, if the idea of bats in your belfry terrifies you, and I know some people probably are feeling a little sick looking at very large images of bats, that's probably not that surprising, because here in Western culture, bats have been demonized . 如果想到钟楼里的蝙蝠会让你害怕, 我想有的人也许会感到不舒服 在看着这些蝙蝠图像时会这么觉得, 那也许并什么让人惊讶的事, 因为在西方文化里, 蝙蝠已经被妖魔化。
belfry:n.钟楼;钟塔; terrifies:v.使恐惧;使十分害怕;使惊吓;(terrify的第三人称单数) images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数) demonized:vt.妖魔化;使…成为魔鬼;
Really, of course the famous book "Dracula," 真的,那本有名的的《德库拉》
written by a fellow Northside Dubliner Bram Stoker , probably is mainly responsible for this. 北都柏林的布莱姆?斯托克所写的书 也许该对此负上主要责任。
Stoker:n.司炉;自动添煤装置; mainly:adv.大多;大部分;主要地;首要地; responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的;
However, I also think it's got to do with the fact that bats come out at night, and we don't really understand them. We're a little frightened by things that can perceive the world slightly differently than us. 然后,我也认为这和事实上 蝙蝠在晚上出来活动也有关系,我们并不 真正懂得它们。我们有一点害怕 那些以不同方式感知世界的生物。
frightened:adj.害怕的;受惊的;惊吓的;v.使惊吓;使惊恐;(frighten的过去分词和过去式) slightly:adv.些微地,轻微地;纤细地;
Bats are usually synonymous with some type of evil events. 蝙蝠常常是某些邪恶活动的同义词。
synonymous:adj.同义的;同义词的;同义突变的; evil:adj.邪恶的;不幸的;有害的;讨厌的;n.罪恶,邪恶;不幸;
They are the perpetrators in horror movies, such as this famous "Nightwing." 它们是恐怖电影里面的肇事者, 比如这部有名的“夜翼”。
perpetrators:n.作恶者;行凶者;犯罪者;(perpetrator的复数) horror:n.恐惧;厌恶;震惊;对某事物的强烈畏惧(或憎恨);
Also, if you think about it, demons always have bat wings, whereas birds, they typically -- or angels have bird wings. 如果你想一想,恶魔 通常有蝙蝠翼,而鸟类就不同 天使通常有鸟翼。
demons:n.恶魔;魔鬼;心魔;邪念;(demon的复数) whereas:conj.然而;鉴于;反之; typically:adv.代表性地;作为特色地;
Now, this is Western society, and what I hope to do tonight is to convince you of the Chinese traditional culture, that they perceive bats as creatures that bring good luck, and indeed, if you walk into a Chinese home, you may see an image such as this. 这是西方社会的情况,我希望在今晚 说服你们,在中国传统文化中, 他们把蝙蝠看作 带来好运气的生物,确实,如果你走进 一个中国家庭,你会看到这样一幅图。
traditional:传统的,惯例的, creatures:n.生物;动物;(具有某种特征的)人(creature的复数)
This is considered the Five Blessings . 这被认作五福。
Blessings:n.祝福(blessing复数);
The Chinese word for "bat" sounds like the Chinese word for "happiness," and they believe that bats bring wealth , health, longevity , virtue and serenity . 汉字“蝠”听起来就像汉字 “福”,他们相信蝙蝠 带来富贵,康宁,长寿,好德,善终。
wealth:n.财富;大量;富有; longevity:n.长寿,长命;寿命; virtue:n.美德;优点;贞操;功效; serenity:n.平静,宁静;晴朗,风和日丽;
And indeed, in this image, you have a picture of longevity surrounded by five bats. 确实在这幅图中,你看到长寿 被五只蝙蝠所包围。
And what I want to do tonight is to talk to you and to show you that at least three of these blessings are definitely represented by a bat, and that if we study bats we will get nearer to getting each of these blessings. 所以今晚我想对你们说的是 想向你们展示的是这些福中至少三个 确实可以由蝙蝠所代表。如果我们研究蝙蝠 我们就越能靠近这三个福。
definitely:adv.清楚地,当然;明确地,肯定地; represented:v.代表; (represent的过去式和过去分词)
So, wealth -- how can a bat possibly bring us wealth? 首先,财富,蝙蝠怎么给我们带来财富呢？
Now as I said before, bats are essential for our ecosystems to function correctly. And why is this? 正如我之前所说,蝙蝠对我们生态体系的 正常运作起了必不可少的作用。为什么会这样？
as I said:正如我所说的
Bats in the tropics are major pollinators of many plants. 热带地区的蝙蝠是许多植物的花粉传播者。
tropics:n.热带地区; pollinators:n.[植][农学]传粉者(pollinator的复数);
They also feed on fruit, and they disperse the seeds of these fruits. Bats are responsible for pollinating the tequila plant, and this is a multi-million dollar industry in Mexico. So indeed, we need them for our ecosystems to function properly. 它们以水果为食并会传播 这些事物的种子。蝙蝠负责传播 龙舌兰植物的花粉,这在墨西哥是个价值上百亿美元的行业。 所以我们确实需要蝙蝠 它们让我们的生态体系正常运作。
disperse:v.分散;驱散;疏散;散布;adj.分散的;弥散的 pollinating:vt.对...授粉; tequila:n.龙舌兰酒;蒸馏酒; multi-million:数百万;
Without them, it's going to be a problem. 如果没有它们,可能就会出现问题了。
But most bats are voracious insect predators . 大多数的蝙蝠喜欢捕食昆虫。
voracious:adj.贪婪的;贪吃的;狼吞虎咽的; predators:n.捕食性动物;实行弱肉强食的人(或机构);掠夺者;(predator的复数)
It's been estimated in the U.S., in a tiny colony of big brown bats, that they will feed on over a million insects a year, and in the United States of America , right now bats are being threatened by a disease known as white-nose syndrome . 据估计在美国一小群的 冠蝙蝠一年就进食 超过一百万只昆虫。 现在在美国 蝙蝠正受到一种据说是白鼻病的疾病所威胁。
estimated:adj.估计的;预计的;估算的; colony:n.殖民地;移民队; United States of America:un.美利坚合众国; syndrome:n.[临床]综合征;综合症状;并发症状;校验子;并发位;
It's working its way slowly across the U.S. and wiping out populations of bats, and scientists have estimated that 1,300 metric tons of insects a year are now remaining in the ecosystems due to the loss of bats. 这种疾病正在美国缓慢蔓延并消灭蝙蝠的数量。 科学家已预计 现在每年有1300公吨的昆虫 因为蝙蝠的减少而留在生态系统里。
metric:adj.米制的;公制的;按公制制作的;用公制测量的;
Bats are also threatened in the U.S. 蝙蝠在美国受到威胁
by their attraction to wind farms. Again, right now bats are looking at a little bit of a problem. 因为它们会被吸引去风电场。现在, 蝙蝠面临着一些问题。
a little bit of a:一点点了;
They're going to -- They are very threatened in the United States of America alone. 它们受很大威胁。 光是在美国就这样。
Now how can this help us? 这对我们有什么帮助吗？
Well, it has been calculated that if we were to remove bats from the equation , we're going to have to then use insecticides to remove all those pest insects that feed on our agricultural crops. 据计算如果我们把蝙蝠移除 到生态体系之外, 我们那时就要用 杀虫剂来消灭所有害虫 害虫蛀食我们的农作物。
equation:n.方程式,等式;相等;[化学]反应式; insecticides:n.[农药]杀虫剂(insecticide的复数); agricultural:adj.农业的;农艺的;
And for one year in the U.S. alone, it's estimated that it's going to cost 22 billion U.S. dollars, if we remove bats. So indeed, bats then do bring us wealth. 如果我们消灭蝙蝠,据计算光在美国一年, 就将要花费220亿美元。 所以蝙蝠确实带给我们财富。
They maintain the health of our ecosystems, and also they save us money. 他们留在我们健康的生态系统中 并帮我们省钱。
maintain:v.维持;保持;维修;保养;坚持(意见);
So again, that's the first blessing. Bats are important for our ecosystems. 这是第一个祝福。 蝙蝠对我们的生态系统很重要。
And what about the second? What about health? 第二点是什么？有关健康吗？
Inside every cell in your body lies your genome . 你身体里的每一个细胞都有你的基因组。
genome:n.基因组;染色体组;
Your genome is made up of your DNA, your DNA codes for proteins that enable you to function and interact and be as you are. 基因组是由DNA构成的, 你的DNA组合成蛋白质让你可以正常运作, 相互作用和做你所做的事。
made up of:由…组成,由…构成; proteins:n.[生化]蛋白质(protein复数); interact:v.互相影响;互相作用;n.幕间剧;幕间休息;
Now since the new advancements in modern molecular technologies , it is now possible for us to sequence our own genome in a very rapid time and at a very, very reduced cost. 因为现代分子技术的新进步, 现在我们可以排列自己的基因组, 只需很少时间和很低的费用。
advancements:n.进步;进展(advancement的复数形式);升任; molecular:adj.[化学]分子的;由分子组成的; technologies:n.技术;科技(technology的复数); sequence:n.顺序; v.按顺序排列;
Now when we've been doing this, we've realized that there's variations within our genome. 当我们这么做时,我们会意识到, 我们的基因组里有很多变体。
variations:n.变奏曲,变更;[生物]变种(variation的复数形式);
So I want you to look at the person beside you. 我想你看看在你身边的人。
Just have a quick look. And what we need to realize is that every 300 base pairs in your DNA, you're a little bit different. 迅速看一眼。我们要意识到, 你的DNA中的每300个基本对中,你有那么一点不同。
And one of the grand challenges right now in modern molecular medicine is to work out whether this variation makes you more susceptible to diseases, or does this variation just make you different? 现在大的挑战之一是 现代分子医学致力于弄清楚 这些基因变异是否让你更容易感染疾病, 或者这些变异让你变得不一样？
susceptible:adj.易受影响的;易感动的;容许…的;n.易得病的人;
Again, what does it mean here? What does this variation actually mean? So if we are to capitalize on all of this new molecular data and personalized genomic information that is coming online that we will be able to have 这意味着什么？ 这些变异究竟意味着什么？ 如果我们利用所有这些 新分子数据和通过网络搜集的个人基因信息, 我们将能够
capitalize on:利用; personalized:v.在…上标明主人姓名; (personalize的过去分词和过去式) genomic:adj.基因组的;染色体的;
in the next few years, we have to be able to differentiate between the two. So how do we do this? 在未来的几年里, 我们将能够区分 两者的关系。我们怎么做到的呢？
differentiate:vi.区分,区别;vt.区分,区别;
Well, I believe we just look at nature's experiments. 我认为我们只要看看大自然的实验。
So through natural selection , over time, mutations , variations that disrupt the function of a protein will not be tolerated over time. 通过自然选择,随着时间突变 变异破坏了蛋白质 那些蛋白质会发生变化。
natural selection:n.自然选择;物竞天择; mutations:n.[遗]突变;变化;转变(mutation的复数形式); disrupt:vt.破坏;使瓦解;使分裂;使中断;使陷于混乱;adj.分裂的,中断的;分散的; tolerated:v.容许;忍受;包容;有耐受性;(tolerate的过去式和过去分词)
Evolution acts as a sieve. It sieves out the bad variation. 进化就像一个筛子,筛出不好的突变。
Evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; sieves:[粮食][数]筛;
And so therefore, if you look at the same region of a genome in many mammals that have been evolutionarily distant from each other and are also ecologically divergent , you will get a better 因此如果你去看看哺乳动物的同一区基因组 很多基因组都已经 进化到很不一样, 生态上也很不一样,你就能更好地
region:n.地区;范围;部位; evolutionarily:进化上; distant:adj.遥远的;远处的;久远的; ecologically:adv.从生态学的观点看; divergent:adj.相异的,分歧的;散开的;
understanding of what the evolutionary prior of that site is, i.e., if it is important for the mammal to function, for its survival, it will be the same in all of those different lineages , species, taxa . 理解哪一部分会优先进化, 所以如果对哺乳动物的生存很重要的部分 那么,对其他 一切不同的血统,物种,类群也一样重要。
evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的; prior:adj.先前的; n.(小隐修院)院长; v.居先; site:n.地点;位置;场所;v.设置;为…选址; lineages:n.世系;宗系;家系;血统;(lineage的复数) taxa:n.分类群(taxon的复数);
So therefore, if we were to do this, what we'd need to do is sequence that region in all these different mammals and ascertain if it's the same or if it's different. So if it is the same, 所以如果我们真的要这么做, 我们需要做的是排列那一区的基因组, 通过不同哺乳动物的基因组确定它们是否相同 或不同。如果基因组相同,
ascertain:vt.确定;查明;探知;
this indicates that that site is important for a function, so a disease mutation should fall within that site. 表明这个地方对某一功能很重要, 疾病突变会落在这个区域内。
indicates:v.表明指示,显示;(indicate的第三人称单数)
So in this case here, if all the mammals that we look at have a yellow-type genome at that site, it probably suggests that purple is bad. 这种情况下,如果我们研究的所有哺乳动物 在那个地方都有黄色类型的基因, 那么如果是紫色类型的基因则可能表明是不好的基因。
purple:n.紫色;紫袍;v.变紫;使成紫色;adj.紫色的;华丽的文辞;
This could be even more powerful if you look at mammals that are doing things slightly differently. 如果你观察的哺乳动物在某功能稍有不同 这种研究方法会更加强大。
So say, for example, the region of the genome that I was looking at was a region that's important for vision . 比如一个我正在观察的基因组, 是对视力很重要的基因组。
vision:n.视力;美景;幻象;想象力;v.想象;显现;梦见;
If we look at that region in mammals that don't see so well, such as bats, and we find that bats that don't see so well have the purple type, we know that this is probably what's causing this disease. 如果我们研究那些视力不太好的哺乳动物的基因组, 比如蝙蝠, 我们发现蝙蝠视力不太好, 它们紫色类型的基因,我们知道这也许 是构成疾病的原因。
So in my lab, we've been using bats to look at two different types of diseases of the senses. 在我的实验室里,我们一直尝试通过白蝙蝠观察 两种不同类型的感官疾病。
We're looking at blindness. Now why would you do this? 我们研究失明。为什么要这么做呢？
Three hundred and fourteen million people are visually impaired , and 45 million of these are blind. So blindness is a big problem, and a lot of these blind disorders come from inherited diseases, so we want to try and better understand which mutations in the gene cause the disease. 世界上有三亿四千万人视力衰弱, 其中的四千五百万人失明。所以失明是一个大问题。 而很多视力障碍来自于遗传病, 所以我们想尝试更好地了解 哪个基因突变引起这个疾病。
visually:adv.形象化地;外表上;看得见地; impaired:adj.受损的;v.损害(impair的过去式和过去分词); disorders:n.无秩序,混乱; v.[电子]扰乱(disorder的单三形式); inherited:v.继承(金钱、财产等);接替(责任等);继任;(inherit的过去式和过去分词) gene:n.基因;遗传基因;遗传因子;
Also we look at deafness. One in every 1,000 newborn babies are deaf, and when we reach 80, over half of us will also have a hearing problem. 我们也研究失聪。每1000个新生儿中 有1个是聋的,当我们到了80岁的时候, 我们中有超过一半的人有听力问题。
newborn:adj.新生的;再生的;n.婴儿;
Again, there's many underlying genetic causes for this. 同样,有很多潜在的基因诱因导致这个疾病。
underlying:adj.根本的; v.构成…的基础; (underlie的现在分词) genetic:adj.基因的;遗传学的;
So what we've been doing in my lab is looking at these unique sensory specialists, the bats, and we have looked at genes that cause blindness when there's a defect in them, 所以我们一直在实验室做的是 通过研究这些独一无二的感官专家--蝙蝠 我们研究导致失明的基因。 当基因有缺陷导致失明,
genes:n.基因;(gene的复数) defect:n.缺陷;缺点;毛病;v.叛变;背叛;投敌;
genes that cause deafness when there's a defect in them, and now we can predict which sites are most likely to cause disease. 基因有缺陷时导致失聪, 现在我们能预测哪个地方最容易导致疾病。
predict:v.预报;预言;预告; sites:n.网站(site的复数);遗址,举办地点;v.使...位于(site的单三形式);
So bats are also important for our health, to enable us to better understand how our genome functions. 所以蝙蝠对我们的健康也很重要, 帮助我们更好地明白我们基因组是如何运作的。
So this is where we are right now, but what about the future? 我们现在正致力于此, 那么未来又如何呢？
What about longevity? 长寿这个问题呢？
This is where we're going to go, and as I said before, 我们未来朝着这个方向,就像我之前所说的,
I really believe that the secret of everlasting youth lies within the bat genome. 我真的相信长生不老的秘密 就藏在蝙蝠的基因组里面。
So why should we be interested in aging at all? 我们为什么要对老化问题感兴趣呢？
Well, really, this is a picture drawn from the 1500s of the Fountain of Youth. Aging is considered one of the most familiar , yet the least well-understood, aspects of all of biology , and really, since the dawn of civilization , mankind has sought to avoid it. 这是一幅1500年代的图。 画中是不老泉。老化被认为 最熟悉之一,但却是最鲜为人知的 一个生物领域。 自文明之初,人类就已经开始避免它。
Fountain:n.喷泉,泉水;源泉; familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友; aspects:n.方面;相位;面貌(aspect的复数); biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; dawn:n.黎明;开端;vt.破晓;出现;被领悟; civilization:n.文明;文明社会;文明世界;(特定时期和地区的)社会文明; mankind:n.人类;男性; sought:v.seek(寻求、寻找)的过去式和过去分词形式;
But we are going to have to understand it a bit better. 但我们要更好地认识它。
In Europe alone, by 2050, there is going to be a 70 percent increase of individuals over 65, and 170 percent increase in individuals over 80. 光在欧洲,到了2050年, 年龄超过65岁的将有70%的增长, 年龄超过80岁的有170%的增长。
individuals:n.[经]个人;[生物]个体(individual的复数);
As we age, we deteriorate , and this deterioration causes problems for our society, so we have to address it. 随着我们老化,我们会退化,而这些退化 会给我们的社会带来问题,所以我们要处理它。
deteriorate:vi.恶化,变坏;vt.恶化; deterioration:n.恶化;退化;堕落;
So how could the secret of everlasting youth actually lie within the bat genome? Does anybody want to hazard a guess over how long this bat could live for? 长生不老的秘密怎么会在 蝙蝠的基因组里？有人想猜猜 蝙蝠可以活多长时间？
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;
Who -- put up your hands -- who says two years? 谁,举起你们的手,谁认为是两年？
Nobody? One? How about 10 years? 没有人？一个？10年呢？
Some? How about 30? 有一些？30年呢？
How about 40? Okay, it's a whole varied response . 40年呢？好,各种想法都有。
varied:adj.多变的;各式各样的;杂色的;v.改变;使多样化;(vary的过去式和过去分词) response:n.响应;反应;回答;
This bat is myotis brandtii. It's the longest-living bat. 这只是布氏鼠耳蝠,是寿命最长的蝙蝠。
It lived for up to 42 years, and this bat's still alive in the wild today. 它活了42年 它至今依然在野外生存着。
But what would be so amazing about this? 但这有什么惊人之处吗？
Well, typically, in mammals there is a relationship between body size, metabolic rate, and how long you can live for, and you can predict how long a mammal can live for given its body size. 通常,哺乳动物中 体型大小,代谢率 和存活寿命有关系, 你可以通过哺乳动物的体型来预测它的寿命。
So typically, small mammals live fast, die young. 所以通常,小型哺乳动物繁衍得快死得也早。
Think of a mouse. But bats are very different. 比方说老鼠。但蝙蝠很不一样。
As you can see here on this graph, in blue, these are all other mammals, but bats can live up to nine times longer than expected despite having a really, really high metabolic rate, and the question is, how can they do that? 正如你看到这个图, 蓝色的这些是其它哺乳动物, 但是蝙蝠却能比预期寿命存活九倍有多。 尽管它们的代谢率非常非常高, 问题是它们是怎么做到的？
As you can see:正如你所看到的;你是知道的; live up to:不辜负;做到;实践;
There are 19 species of mammal that live longer than expected, given their body size, than man, and 18 of those are bats. 考虑到它们的体型,有19种哺乳动物的寿命 比预期的长,比人类的寿命要长 其中有18种是蝙蝠。
So therefore, they must have something within their DNA that ables them to deal with the metabolic stresses, particularly of flight. They expend three times more energy than a mammal of the same size, but don't seem to suffer the consequences or the effects. 所以他们的DNA里面一定有某种东西, 能让它们处理代谢的压力。 尤其是飞行引起的代谢。较那些同等大小的哺乳动物而言, 飞行需要三倍有多的能量, 但蝙蝠似乎没有受到飞行的影响。
particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; expend:vt.花费;消耗;用光;耗尽; consequences:n.后果,结果;影响(consequence的复数);
So right now, in my lab, we're combining state-of-the-art bat field biology, going out and catching the long-lived bats, with the most up-to-date , modern molecular technology to understand better what it is that they do to stop aging as we do. 所以现在我的实验室 正结合先进的蝙蝠生物科学, 到外面捕捉长寿的蝙蝠,利用最先进的 现代分子技术来更好地了解 它们是怎么停止像我们那样老化。
state-of-the-art:adj.最先进的;已经发展的;达到最高水准的; long-lived:adj.长命的;历时长久的; up-to-date:adj.最新的;最近的;现代的; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
And hopefully in the next five years, I'll be giving you a TEDTalk on that. 希望未来的5年里,我可以就此在TED给你们演讲。
Aging is a big problem for humanity , and I believe that by studying bats, we can uncover the molecular mechanisms that enable mammals to achieve extraordinary longevity. If we find out what they're doing, perhaps through gene therapy , we can enable us to do the same thing. 老化是人类面对的一个很重要问题, 我相信通过研究蝙蝠,我们可以解开 分子机制让哺乳动物能够更长寿之谜。 如果我们弄清楚 它们是如何做到的,也学通过基因治疗, 我们也能做到同样的事。
humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科; uncover:v.揭开盖子;发现;揭露;揭发; mechanisms:n.机制;[机]机构(mechanism的复数);机械;[机]机构学; extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的; gene therapy:n.基因疗法;基因治疗;
Potentially , this means that we could halt aging or maybe even reverse it. 很有可能,这意味着我们可以停止老化或者甚至可以将之逆转。
Potentially:adv.可能地,潜在地; halt:v.停止;立定;踌躇,犹豫;n.停止;立定;休息; reverse:n.反面; v.颠倒; adj.相反的;
Just imagine what that would be like. 想象一下那将会是什么样子。
So really, I don't think we should be thinking of them as flying demons of the night, but more as our superheroes . 所以,我认为我们不该把蝙蝠想作夜间会飞的恶魔, 而应该是我们的超级英雄。
superheroes:超级英雄(superhero的名词复数);
And the reality is that bats can bring us so much benefit if we just look in the right place. They're good for our ecosystem, they allow us to understand how our genome functions, and they potentially hold the secret to everlasting youth. 事实上如果我们正确看待它们,蝙蝠可以带给我们非常多的好处。 它们有利于我们的生态系统。 它们让我们明白基因的运作。 它们很可能掌握长生不老的秘密。
So tonight, when you walk out of here and you look up in the night skies, and you see this beautiful flying mammal, 所以,今晚,当你离开这里望着夜空的时候, 你看到这种美丽的飞行着的哺乳动物时,
I want you to smile. Thank you. (Applause) 我希望你可以抱以微笑。谢谢。（掌声）