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NathanWolfe_2012U-_还有什么值得探索_
Recently I visited Beloit, Wisconsin . 最近我去了威斯康星州的伯洛伊特市。
Recently:adv.最近;新近; Wisconsin:n.威斯康星州(美国州名);
And I was there to honor a great 20th century explorer , 我去那里是为了纪念一名20世纪的探险家,
explorer:n.探险者;勘探者;考察者;
Roy Chapman Andrews. 罗伊·查普曼·安德鲁斯。
Chapman:n.叫卖小贩;商人;
During his time at the American Museum of Natural History , 当他在美国自然历史博物馆的时候,
Natural History:n.自然史;
Andrews led a range of expeditions to uncharted regions , like here in the Gobi Desert. 安德鲁斯领导了一系列对未知领域的探险, 比如说在这里的戈壁滩。
expeditions:n.探险(expedition的复数);远征; uncharted:adj.未知的;图上未标明的; regions:n.地区;地域;行政区;左近;(region的复数)
He was quite a figure. 他是个了不起的人物。
He was later, it's said, the basis of the Indiana Jones character. 他后来据说是印第安娜琼斯角色的原型。
And when I was in Beloit, Wisconsin, 当我在威斯康星州的伯洛伊特市的时候,
I gave a public lecture to a group of middle school students. 我给一群中学学生上了一堂公开课。
lecture:n.演讲;讲座;讲课;谴责;v.开讲座;讲授;讲课;指责;告诫 middle school:n.初中;(英国为9到13岁儿童所设的)中间学校;
And I'm here to tell you, if there's anything more intimidating than talking here at TED, it'll be trying to hold the attention of a group of a thousand 12-year-olds for a 45-minute lecture. 我现在想告诉你们, 如果真的有什么比在TED做演讲还难的话, 那就是尝试保持他们的注意力 一群上千个12岁的孩子,并保持45分钟。
intimidating:adj.吓人的;令人胆怯的;v.恐吓;威胁;(intimidate的现在分词)
Don't try that one. 别想了
At the end of the lecture they asked a number of questions, but there was one that's really stuck with me since then. 在我讲完之后,他们问了很多问题, 但有一个让我自始至终难以忘记。
There was a young girl who stood up, and she asked the question: "Where should we explore?" 有个小女孩站起来, 问了一个问题: “我们该去哪里探索呢？”
I think there's a sense that many of us have that the great age of exploration on Earth is over, that for the next generation they're going to have to go to outer space or the deepest oceans in order to find something significant to explore. 我想我们中的绝大多数有种观念, 那就是,地球上的大探索时代已经结束, 我们的下一代人 应该去外太空或者海洋最深处 从而去寻找值得探索的东西。
exploration:n.探索;勘探;探险;[医]探查术; outer:adj.外面的,外部的;远离中心的;n.环外命中; 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;
But is that really the case? 但真的是这样吗？
Is there really nowhere significant for us to explore left here on Earth? 真的没有重要的地方留给我们探索了吗？ 整个地球上都没有？
nowhere:v.无处; n.无处; adj.不存在的;
It sort of made me think back to one of my favorite explorers in the history of biology . 这让我回忆起 我最喜欢的生物领域的探险家之一。
explorers:n.探险者;勘探者;考察者;(explorer的复数) biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学;
This is an explorer of the unseen world, Martinus Beijerinck. 他是位未知世界的探索家,马丁努斯·威廉·拜耶林克。
unseen:adj.看不见的,未看见的;未经预习的;n.(事前未看过原文的)即席翻译;
So Beijerinck set out to discover the cause of tobacco mosaic disease . 拜叶林克当初想找出 引起烟草花叶病的原因。
mosaic:adj.摩西的;拼成的;嵌花式的;n.马赛克;镶嵌;镶嵌细工; disease:n.病,[医]疾病;弊病;vt.传染;使…有病;
What he did is he took the infected juice from tobacco plants and he would filter it through smaller and smaller filters . 他提取了受过感染的烟草汁液, 然后让这些汁液经过一层比一层更细的过滤。
infected:adj.带菌的; v.传染; (infect的过去分词和过去式) filters:n.过滤器; v.过滤; (filter的第三人称单数和复数)
And he reached the point where he felt that there must be something out there that was smaller than the smallest forms of life that were ever known -- bacteria , at the time. 他得出一个结论, 剩下的（汁液）里面一定有什么东西 它们比那时最小的已知的生命形态 -- 细菌,还要小。
bacteria:n.[微]细菌;
He came up with a name for his mystery agent . 他给这个神秘的东西起了个名字
agent:n.代理人,代理商;药剂;特工;v由…作中介;由…代理;adj.代理的;
He called it the virus -- 叫它们,病毒
Latin for "poison." 在拉丁文里是“毒药”的意思。
Latin:adj.拉丁语的;用拉丁语写成的;n.拉丁语;
And in uncovering viruses, 在发现病毒之后,
uncovering:adj.露出的; v.发现(uncover的现在分词); n.露出;
Beijerinck really opened this entirely new world for us. 拜耶林克为我们打开了一个全新的世界。
We now know that viruses make up the majority of the genetic information on our planet, more than the genetic information of all other forms of life combined. 我们现在知道病毒构成我们 星球上绝大部分的遗传信息 超过所有 其他生命的遗传信息的总和。
majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: genetic:adj.基因的;遗传学的;
And obviously there's been tremendous practical applications associated with this world -- things like the eradication of smallpox , the advent of a vaccine against cervical cancer , which we now know is mostly caused by human papillomavirus . 而且显然已经出现了无数有关病毒的 切实应用在这个世界上 -- 像天花的根除, 子宫癌的疫苗的降临-- 我们现在知道它大部分是由乳头瘤病毒引起的。
tremendous:adj.极大的,巨大的;惊人的;极好的; practical:adj.实际的;真实的;客观存在的;n.实习课;实践课; associated:adj.有关联的; v.联想; (associate的过去分词和过去式) eradication:n.消灭,扑灭;根除; smallpox:n.[内科]天花; advent:n.到来;出现;基督降临;基督降临节; vaccine:n.疫苗;牛痘苗;adj.疫苗的;牛痘的; cervical:adj.颈的;子宫颈的; cancer:n.癌症;恶性肿瘤; papillomavirus:n.[病毒]乳头瘤病毒;
And Beijerinck's discovery, this was not something that occurred 500 years ago. 而且拜耶林克的发现 可不是500年前的事情。
occurred:v.发生;出现;存在于;出现在;(occur的过去分词和过去式)
It was a little over 100 years ago that Beijerinck discovered viruses. 拜耶林克发现病毒这件事 也就发生于100多年前。
So basically we had automobiles , but we were unaware of the forms of life that make up most of the genetic information on our planet. 也就是说当汽车都已经出现在世的时候, 我们还不知道这种 构成了我们星球上大部分的遗传信息的生物。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上; automobiles:n.[车辆]汽车,发动器(automobile复数);关于汽车; unaware:adj.不知道的,无意的;未察觉到的;adv.意外地;不知不觉地;
We now have these amazing tools to allow us to explore the unseen world -- things like deep sequencing , which allow us to do much more than just skim the surface 我们现在有些很了不起的工具 来帮助我们探索未知世界, 像基因深度测序, 可以让我们不只是停留在表面
sequencing:n.[计]排序; v.[计]定序(sequence的ing形式); skim:v.浏览; n.撇去浮沫; adj.撇去奶油的;
and look at individual genomes from a particular species , but to look at entire metagenomes, the communities of teeming microorganisms in, on and around us and to document all of the genetic information in these species. 来看自某个特定物种的独立基因组, 而是研究整个基因组-- 我们身体里面和周边无处不在的微生物群落, 并且记录下这些物种的遗传信息。
individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; genomes:n.[遗]基因组(genome复数); species:n.[生物]物种;种类; communities:n.社区;社会;团体;共有(community的复数) teeming:adj.多产的,丰富的;热闹的;v.充满(teem的现在分词); microorganisms:n.[微]微生物,微生虫(microorganism的复数);
We can apply these techniques to things from soil to skin and everything in between. 我们可以应用这些技术 来研究从土壤到皮肤和它们中间的一切。
apply:v.申请;涂,敷;应用;适用;请求; techniques:n.技巧;技艺;工艺;技术;(technique的复数)
In my organization we now do this on a regular basis to identify the causes of outbreaks that are unclear exactly what causes them. 在我所在的机构里面,我们现在经常这么做, 来寻找（疾病）暴发的原因, 那些我们还不清楚的原因.
organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体; identify:v.识别:鉴定:确认:发现: outbreaks:n.(战争的)爆发;(疾病的)发作;vi.爆发; unclear:adj.不清楚的;不易了解的;
And just to give you a sense of how this works, imagine that we took a nasal swab from every single one of you. 稍微给你们讲下这是怎么做的, 想象下从你们每个人那里取一个鼻腔分泌物标本
nasal:adj.鼻的;鼻音的;n.鼻骨;鼻音;鼻音字; swab:n.药签,[外科]拭子; vt.打扫,擦拭;
And this is something we commonly do to look for respiratory viruses like influenza . 像这种事是我们经常做的, 为了寻找呼吸道病毒,像流行性感冒病毒。
respiratory:adj.呼吸的; influenza:n.[内科]流行性感冒(简写flu);家畜流行性感冒;
The first thing we would see is a tremendous amount of genetic information. 我们首先看到的是 海量的遗传信息。
And if we started looking into that genetic information, we'd see a number of usual suspects out there -- of course, a lot of human genetic information, but also bacterial and viral information, mostly from things that are completely harmless within your nose. 如果我们开始仔细看看这些遗传信息, 我们会看到一些常见的信息 当然了,有很多人类的遗传信息, 但也有很多细菌和病毒的信息, 大部分是你鼻子里面完全无害的东西。
suspects:v.怀疑;不信任;(suspect的第三人称单数) bacterial:adj.[微]细菌的; viral:adj.滤过性毒菌引起的;滤过性毒菌的;
But we'd also see something very, very surprising. 但我们也会看到一些非常非常让人吃惊的东西。
As we started to look at this information, we would see that about 20 percent of the genetic information in your nose doesn't match anything that we've ever seen before -- no plant, animal, fungus , virus or bacteria. 当我们开始研究这些信息, 我们会发现你鼻子里面20%的遗传信息 跟我们所见过的东西-- 任何植物,动物,真菌或者细菌,都对不上号。
fungus:n.真菌,霉菌;菌类;
Basically we have no clue what this is. 我们基本上对这些一无所知。
clue:n.提示;迹象;(纵横填字谜、游戏或问题的)提示词语;v.提示;为…提供线索;
And for the small group of us who actually study this kind of data, a few of us have actually begun to call this information biological dark matter . 我们这里的一小部分研究这些数据的人们, 称呼这些信息为 生物暗物质。
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; dark matter:n.暗物质(根据一些理论,指太空中不反射光的物质);
We know it's not anything that we've seen before; it's sort of the equivalent of an uncharted continent right within our own genetic information. 我们知道以前从未见过这些生物暗物质; 这似乎可以被称之为 我们自己遗传信息里的未知大陆。
equivalent:adj.等价的,相等的;同意义的;n.等价物,相等物; continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的;
And there's a lot of it. 而且数量非常之多。
If you think 20 percent of genetic information in your nose is a lot of biological dark matter, if we looked at your gut , up to 40 or 50 percent of that information is biological dark matter. 如果你认为你鼻子里面20%的遗传信息 有很多生物暗物质, 那当我们看你内脏的时候, 那有将近40%到50%的生物暗物质。
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
And even in the relatively sterile blood, around one to two percent of this information is dark matter -- can't be classified , can't be typed or matched with anything we've seen before. 即使在相对无菌的血液里, 也有1%到2%的信息是暗物质-- 无法被归类,无法被判别类别,跟我们所见过的东西都不同。
relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; sterile:adj.不育的;无菌的;贫瘠的;不毛的;枯燥乏味的; classified:adj.机密的; v.将…分类; (classify的过去分词和过去式)
At first we thought that perhaps this was artifact . 开始我们以为这是人为的东西。
artifact:n.人工制品;手工艺品;
These deep sequencing tools are relatively new. 这些基因深度测序工具相当比较新。
But as they become more and more accurate , we've determined that this information is a form of life, or at least some of it is a form of life. 但当它们变得越来越来精确, 我们认为这些信息是一种新的生命, 或者至少某一部分是种生命。
accurate:adj.精确的; determined:adj.决定了的:v.决定;(determine的过去分词和过去式)
And while the hypotheses for explaining the existence of biological dark matter are really only in their infancy , there's a very, very exciting possibility that exists: 即使这些关于解释生物暗物质的存在的假设 还处于婴儿期, 一个让人非常非常激动的可能性存在着:
hypotheses:n.假定;臆测(hypothesis的复数); infancy:n.初期;婴儿期;幼年;
that buried in this life, in this genetic information, are signatures of as of yet unidentified life. 那就是藏在这个生命里面,在这些遗传信息里, 有一种没有被识别的生命的标识。
signatures:n.签名;鲜明特征(signature的复数); unidentified:adj.未经确认的;未辨别出的,身份不明的;
That as we explore these strings of A's, T's, C's and G's, we may uncover a completely new class of life that, like Beijerinck, will fundamentally change the way that we think about the nature of biology. 当我们探索这些一串串A/T/C/G嘌呤的时候, 我们也许会发现全新的生命, 就像拜耶林克,从根本上改变 我们对生物学特性的理解。
strings:一串,悬挂(string的第三人称单数和复数) fundamentally:adv.从根本上;基础地;重要地
That perhaps will allow us to identify the cause of a cancer that afflicts us or identify the source of an outbreak that we aren't familiar with or perhaps create a new tool in molecular biology. 这也许会让我识别出困扰我们的某种癌症的原因, 或者识别出我们不熟悉的疾病暴发的根源, 或者创造出一种分子生物学的新工具。
afflicts:vt.折磨;使痛苦;使苦恼; source:n.来源;水源;原始资料; familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友; molecular:adj.[化学]分子的;由分子组成的;
I'm pleased to announce that, along with colleagues at Stanford and Caltech and UCSF, we're currently starting an initiative to explore biological dark matter for the existence of new forms of life. 我很高兴的宣布, 和我的斯坦福、加州理工和旧金山加利福尼亚大学的同事们一起, 我们正在开始开始一个新的行动 去探索生物暗物质来寻找新生命的存在。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); Caltech:n.加利福尼亚理工学院; currently:adv.当前;一般地; initiative:n.倡议;主动性;积极性;主动权;adj.起始的;
A little over a hundred years ago, people were unaware of viruses, the forms of life that make up most of the genetic information on our planet. 100多年前, 人们还不知道病毒的存在, 这些包含我们星球上大部分遗传信息的生命形态。
A hundred years from now, people may marvel that we were perhaps completely unaware of a new class of life that literally was right under our noses. 一百年以后,人类可能为 我们以前完全不了解的新的生命形态而感到惊讶 而它们就在我们眼皮底下。
marvel:n.奇迹;vt.对…感到惊异;vi.感到惊讶; literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地:
It's true, we may have charted all the continents on the planet and we may have discovered all the mammals that are out there, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing left to explore on Earth. 没错,我们或许已经绘制这个星球上所有大陆板块的地图, 我们或许已经发现了当前所有的哺乳动物, 但这并不代表地球上没什么好探索的了。
continents:n.[地理]大陆,大洲(continent复数); mammals:n.哺乳动物;(mammal的复数)
Beijerinck and his kind provide an important lesson for the next generation of explorers -- people like that young girl from Beloit, Wisconsin. 拜耶林克和像他一样的人们 给下一代探索者上了重要的一课---- 给那些像那个在伯洛伊特市的女孩一样的人们。
And I think if we phrase that lesson, it's something like this: 我想如果总结一下他给我们上的这一课,大概是:
Don't assume that what we currently think is out there is the full story. 不要假设我们现在想到的东西是一个完整的故事。
assume:v.承担;假定;采取;呈现;
Go after the dark matter in whatever field you choose to explore. 在不管你选择的任何领域里去探索那些暗物质吧。
There are unknowns all around us and they're just waiting to be discovered. 未知的事物在我们身边无处不在 它们只是在等待人类的探索。
Thank you. 谢谢
(Applause) (鼓掌声）