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JohnAmory_2017P-_男性避孕药会如何起效_
When I tell people that I'm trying to develop a contraceptive pill for men, the response usually varies along gender lines. 当我跟别人说 我正在尝试研发男性避孕药时, 对方的反应一般取决于性别。
contraceptive:n.避孕用具;[药]避孕剂;adj.避孕的; pill:n.[医]药丸;药品; response:n.响应;反应;回答; varies:n.多重复合;v.使不同;改变;违背(vary的三单形式); gender:n.性别;
Women say something like, " Fantastic . It's about time. When?" 女性会说, “太好了,是时候了。 什么时候（能研制出来）啊？”
Fantastic:奇异的,空想的
(Laughter) （笑）
Men have one of two responses . 男性一般会有两种反应。
responses:n.回答,答复;反应;响应;(response的复数)
They either love the idea, or they look at me a little warily and wonder what exactly I have in store for their testicles . 他们要么很喜欢这个想法, 要么就会用警惕的眼神看着我, 在想我到底打算 对他们的睾丸做些什么。
warily:adv.警惕地;谨慎地;留心地; testicles:n.[解剖]睾丸;(testicle的复数)
(Laughter) （笑）
So why does the world need a male pill? 那么,这个世界 为什么需要男性避孕药？
Well, what if I told you that of the six million pregnancies annually in the United States, three million of them are unintended ? 如果我告诉你 美国每年六百万的怀孕人口中, 有三百万都是意外怀孕的？
what if:如果…怎么办? pregnancies:n.怀孕;丰富,多产;意义深长; annually:adv.每年;一年一次; United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式) unintended:adj.无意识的;非计划中的;
That's half. 也就是一半。
That's a really surprising number. 这是一个很让人惊讶的数字。
And those three million unintended pregnancies account for the vast majority of the more than one million abortions annually performed in the United States. 而这三百万计划之外的怀孕 很大程度导致了美国每年 一百多万次的堕胎。
account for:对…负有责任;对…做出解释;说明…的原因;导致;(比例)占; majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: abortions:n.[妇产]堕胎(abortion的复数);多次流产; performed:v.表演;执行;履行;演出;工作,运转(好/不好)(perform的过去分词和过去式)
Happily, the rate of unintended pregnancy has fallen in the last few years by about 10 percent. 令人欣慰的是,最近一些年 意外怀孕的比例 已下降了 10% 左右。
pregnancy:n.怀孕;丰富,多产;意义深长;
This is because more women are using effective , long-acting, reversible forms of contraception . 这是因为更多的女性 在使用有效、长效、 可恢复的避孕方式。
effective:adj.有效的,起作用的;实际的,实在的;给人深刻印象; reversible:adj.可逆的;可撤消的;可反转的;n.双面布料; contraception:n.避孕;
But we still have a long way to go. 但我们还有很长的路要走。
One approach that's finally becoming a real possibility is better contraceptive options for men. 一种即将成为现实的办法 是针对男性的更好的避孕措施。
approach:n.方法;路径;v.接近;建议;着手处理; finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; options:n.选择; v.得到或获准进行选择; (option的三单形式)
Think about it. 想想吧。
We have over a dozen methods of contraception for women: pills , patches , IUDs, shots, sponges , rings, etc. 我们有数十种女性避孕手段: 避孕药、避孕贴、节育环、 避孕针、避孕海绵、阴道环等等。
pills:n.药丸; v.起球; (pill的第三人称单数和复数) patches:n.斑点;小块;补丁;眼罩;v.打补丁;缝补;修补;(patch的第三人称单数和复数) sponges:n.[无脊椎]海绵(sponge的复数形式); v.用海绵擦拭,吸收掉,抹掉(sponge的第三人称单数形式);
For men, we've had the same two options for more than a hundred years: condoms and vasectomy . 可对于男性,我们一百多年来 都只有两种选择: 避孕套和输精管结扎术。
condoms:n.避孕套,安全套;(condom的复数) vasectomy:n.[泌尿]输精管切除术;
Despite having only two options, both of which have significant drawbacks , men currently account for 30 percent of all contraceptive use, with 10 percent of couples relying on vasectomy and 20 percent of couples using condoms. 尽管只有两种选择, 且两者都有重大缺陷, 在所有使用避孕措施的人群中, 男性目前占了 30%, 其中 10% 的伴侣用的是结扎术, 20% 用的是避孕套。
Despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱; significant:adj.重大的;有效的;有意义的;值得注意的;意味深长的;n.象征;有意义的事物; drawbacks:n.缺点;退税(drawback的复数); currently:adv.当前;一般地; relying:v.依赖;信任;指望(rely的现在分词);
Why are 20 percent of couples relying on condoms for contraception when condoms have a one-year failure rate of over 15 percent? 为什么 20% 的情侣会 依赖避孕套来避免怀孕, 尽管避孕套一年内的 失败率超过了 15% ？
It's because many women can't either safely take currently available female contraceptives , for reasons such as blood clots , or they can't tolerate the side effects. 这是因为很多女性 要么由于血液凝结等原因, 无法安全的使用 目前提供的女性避孕措施, 要么是因为她们无法承受副作用。
female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物; contraceptives:n.[药]避孕药(contraceptive的复数形式);避孕用品; clots:n.血块(clot的复数);v.凝结(clot的第三人称单数形式); tolerate:v.容忍;忍受;容许;包容;
So if we think a male contraceptive would be useful, the next question is: 那么如果我们觉得让男性避孕 会很有效,那下一个问题就是:
How do we go about developing one? 我们该如何研发出 这样一种措施呢？
Well, there's two general approaches . 有两种大体的方向:
approaches:v.靠近,接近; n.方式,方法,态度;
The first approach is to try and interfere with the way the sperm swim towards or bind to the egg. 第一种办法是尝试干扰 精子移动并与卵子结合的方式。
interfere:v.干涉;干预;介入; sperm:n.精子;精液;鲸蜡油; bind:v.结合;装订;有约束力;过紧;n.捆绑;困境;讨厌的事情;植物的藤蔓;
This approach turns out to be really difficult, because it's hard to get enough medication in the small volume of the ejaculate and have it still work inside the female reproductive tract . 事实上这个办法难度相当高, 因为射出的精液容量很小, 很难让足量的药物溶在里面, 并且还能在女性的生殖道里工作。
medication:n.药;药物; volume:n.体积;容积;音量;响度;一册;合订本 ejaculate:vt.突然说出;射出;vi.射精;射出液体;n.一次射出的精液; reproductive:adj.生殖的;再生的;复制的; tract:n.束;地带;小册子;大片土地;
This is why there's been a lot more work done on the second approach, which is turning off sperm production entirely. 这就是为什么更多的研究 集中在第二种方式: 即直接停止精子的产生。
This is also challenging. 不过这个方法也很有挑战性。
Why? Turns out that men make a lot of sperm. 为什么？因为你会发现 男性能生产很多精子。
(Laughter) （笑）
Men make a thousand sperm every second and to have an effective contraceptive, you need to get that level of sperm production down to one percent of its normal value. 每秒中,男性可生产出一千个精子, 所以有效的避孕药 必须把这个精子生产率 降到正常值的1%。
The good news is, this is possible, almost. 好消息是,这是可以做到的, 几乎可以。
The most studied approach has been to use hormones to suppress sperm production. 被研究最多的方法是 用激素抑制精子生产。
hormones:n.[生理]激素;荷尔蒙;性激素;荷尔蒙制剂(hormone的复数); suppress:vt.抑制;镇压;废止;
Testosterone and progesterone , when administered together, will suppress the signals from the brain to the testes to make sperm, and in about 90 percent of men, sperm production after three to four months will stop. 睾丸酮和黄体酮, 当一起被服用的时候, 会抑制大脑发射的 让睾丸生产精子的信号。 在 90% 左右的男性中, 这个方法能使精子的产生 在三四个月后停止。
Testosterone:n.[生化]睾酮,睾丸素(男性荷尔蒙的一种); progesterone:n.[生化]黄体酮,[生化]孕酮; administered:v.管理;治理(国家);执行;给予;提供;(administer的过去分词和过去式) testes:n.睾丸(testis的复数);
Unfortunately , 10 percent of men don't respond to these hormonal regimens for reasons that aren't understood. 不过很遗憾,还有 10% 的男性 不会对这些激素疗法做出反应, 原因我们目前还不了解。
Unfortunately:adv.不幸地; respond:vi.回答;作出反应;承担责任;n.应答;唱和; hormonal:adj.荷尔蒙的,激素的; regimens:n.[医]养生法;生活规则;政体;支配;
For the last several years, my colleagues and I have been taking a different approach to male contraceptive development, one that doesn't involve the administration of hormones. 过去几年里,我和我的同事 采用了另一种解决男性 避孕问题的方法, 一个不需要激素疗程的方法。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); involve:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加;
Specifically , we are looking to block the function of vitamin A in the testes. 具体来说,我们在研究如何 阻止睾丸中维生素A的活动。
Specifically:adv.特别地;明确地; vitamin:n.维生素;维他命;
Why? Well, for over 90 years it's been known that you need vitamin A to make sperm. 为什么这么做呢？90 多年来, 我们一直都知道 你需要维生素A来生产精子。
Animals who are deprived of vitamin A in their diet stop making sperm and restart making sperm again when the vitamin A is reintroduced . 饮食中缺乏维生素A的动物 会停止生产精子, 当维生素A被重新引进饮食后, 它们又会重新开始精子的生产。
deprived:adj.缺少食物的;缺乏足够教育的; reintroduced:vt.再引入;再提出;再介绍;
The vitamin A that we ingest is converted by a family of enzymes to something called retinoic acid. 我们摄入的维生素A 会被一个类别的酶转化成视黄酸。
ingest:vt.摄取;咽下;吸收;接待; converted:adj.修改的;改变信仰的;v.转变;改变信仰(convert的过去式和过去分词形式); enzymes:n.[生化]酶(enzyme的复数);酶类,酵素; retinoic:用法,发音,音标,搭配,同义词,反义词和例句等在线英语服务。;
One of these enzymes is found only in the testes. 其中一种酶只在睾丸才有。
It's this enzyme that we are attempting to block. 我们试图限制的就是这种酶。
attempting:v.努力;尝试;试图;(attempt的现在分词)
The blockade of this enzyme should deprive the testes of retinoic acid and stop sperm production without affecting vitamin A's functions elsewhere in the body. 阻断这个酶应该可以 使精子丧失视黄酸, 从而停止精子生产, 同时并不影响维生素A 在身体其他部分的功能。
blockade:vt.封锁;n.阻塞; elsewhere:adv.在别处;到别处;
We're testing this approach in animals and hope to move to human testing soon. 我们正在动物体内测试这个方法, 希望不久后可以在人体内测试。
Obviously, the impact of such a male contraceptive would go well beyond reproductive biology . 当然了,这样的男性避孕药 影响的肯定不只是生殖生物学。
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学;
It's interesting to speculate about the effect that it would have on relationships between men and women. 它会如何影响男性与女性的关系 也是个有意思的题目。
speculate:v.推测;猜测;推断;投机;做投机买卖;
One intriguing possibility is that a man could monitor his contraceptive status over time. 一个有趣的可能性 是男性可以随时监测 自己的避孕状态。
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) status:n.地位;状态;情形;重要身份;
In the last several years, two groups have introduced home sperm-testing devices that are iPhone-based and that are easy to use. 在过去的几年里, 两组人员引入了 家用的精子测量设备, 这些设备基于 iPhone, 并且很容易使用。
devices:n.[机][计]设备;[机]装置;[电子]器件(device的复数);
A man could test his sperm count and share the result with his partner. 男性可以测量自己的精子数量, 并把结果分享给自己的伴侣。
If the man's sperm count were zero, the man and his partner would feel very comfortable relying on his contraceptive. 如果他的精子量为零, 那他和他的伴侣就可以很安心的 依靠他的避孕药避孕。
A tool like this, coupled with a male contraceptive, could greatly increase the role for men in preventing unintended pregnancy. 像这样的工具,加上男性避孕药, 可以大大增加男性在 预防意外怀孕中的作用。
greatly:adv.很,大大地;非常;
The researchers who are working on male contraception are trying to create a better future for couples, a future where contraception is no longer considered just "a woman's issue ," 研发男性避孕药的研究人员 正在尝试为伴侣创建更美好的未来, 一个避孕不再只是“女性的问题”,
issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行;
rather an issue for couples to decide together. 而是由伴侣双方一起决定的未来。
So why does the world need a male pill? 所以说,为什么 世界需要男性避孕药？
Well, I believe that a male pill will help reduce the stubbornly high rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion and allow men to equally participate in contraception. 因为我相信男性避孕药 可以帮助降低总是居高不下的 意外怀孕和堕胎的比率, 让男性可以平等的参与避孕。
stubbornly:adv.顽固地;倔强地; participate:v.参加;参与;
Thank you. 谢谢！
(Applause) （掌声）