catti一級筆譯材料練習：病毒塑造世界

1、HUMANS THINK of themselves as the world7 sapex predators. Hence the silence of sabre-tooth tigers, the absence of moas from New Zealand and the long list of endangered megafauna. But SARS-CoV-2 shows how people can also end up as prey. Viruses have caused a litany of modern pandemics, from covid-19,

2、 to HIV/AIDS to the influenza outbreak in 1918-20, which killed many more people than the first world war. Before that, the colonisation of the Americas by Europeans was abetted一and perhaps made possible-by epidemics of smallpox, measles and influenza brought unwittingly by the invaders, which annih

3、ilated many of the original inhabitants.A 類認為自己站在食物鏈的頂端，于是劍齒虎滅絕了，新西蘭 恐鳥消失了，瀕危的巨型動物數(shù)之不盡。但是，新冠病毒告 訴人類，他們自己有一天也會成為獵物?，F(xiàn)代的很多傳染病 都是由病毒引起的，包括新冠肺炎和艾滋病，以及1918年Humanity, s unique, virus-chiselledconsciousness opens up new avenues to deal with the viral threat and to exploit it. This starts with the miracle of

4、 vaccination, which defends against a pathogenic attack before it is launched. Thanks to vaccines, smallpox is no more, having taken some 300m lives in the 20th century. Polio will one day surely follow. New research prompted by the covid-19 pandemic will enhance the power to examine the viral realm

5、 and the best responses to it that bodies can muster一taking the defence against viruses to a new level.在應對和利用 病毒帶來的威脅時，人類獨特的，由病毒塑造的意識開辟 了新的途徑。這要從疫苗這一奇跡說起，疫苗能在病原體發(fā) 動攻擊之前展開防御。天花在20世紀奪走了 3億人的生命, 多虧了疫苗才終結了這場瘟疫。小兒麻痹癥也有望被消滅。 新冠肺炎疫情引發(fā)的新研究將增強對病毒的檢測能力，提升各機構團體的應對能力，將對病毒的防御提升到一個新的水 平。Another avenue for progres

6、s lies in the tools for manipulating organisms that will come from an understanding of viruses and the defences against them. Early versions of genetic engineering relied on restriction enzymes-molecular scissors with which bacteria cut up viral genes and which biotechnologists employ to move genes

7、around. The latest iteration of biotechnology, gene editing letter by letter, which is known as CRIS PR, makes use of a more precise antiviral mechanism.人類在應對病毒方面取得的另一個進展是依靠操控生特的工具，而這源于人們了解了病毒及防御手段。早期的生物工程依靠的是限制性內切酶一種分子剪刀，細菌用這種分子剪刀切斷病毒基因序列，而生物技術 人員用它們來移動基因。最新的生物技術利用更為精準的 抗病毒機制，可以逐個對基因序列進行編輯，即CRISPR。

8、到1920年間爆發(fā)的流感，那次流感導致的死亡人數(shù)比一戰(zhàn) 的死亡人數(shù)還要多。歐洲人入侵美國時，在不知情的情況下 帶去了天花、麻疹和流感病毒，導致大量原住民死亡，這可 能是歐洲能殖民美洲的一個原因。The influence of viruses on life on Earth, though, goes far beyond the past and present tragedies of a single species, however pressing they seem. Though the study of viruses began as an investigation in

9、to what appeared to be a strange subset of pathogens, recent research puts them at the heart of an explanation of the strategies of genes, both selfish and otherwise.從古至今，病毒對地球上的生命的影響絕不僅僅只是給單單一個物種帶來悲劇。雖然對病毒的研究始于對一 組奇怪的病原體所展開的調查，最新的研究將其置于解釋 基因策略的核 心位置，這既自私又是不自私的方法。Viruses are unimaginably varied and

10、ubiquitous.And it is becoming clear just how much they have shaped the evolution of all organisms since the very beginnings of life. In this, they demonstrate the blind, pitiless power of natural selection at its most dramatic. And一for one group of brainy bipedal mammals that viruses helped create-t

11、hey also present a heady mix of threat and opportunity.病毒的種類多到難以想象，而 且無處不在。很明了的是，從生命誕生之初起，病毒越來越 多地影響所有微生物的進化。病毒最為顯著的方式證明了自 然選擇盲目性和殘酷性。病毒創(chuàng)造了一群聰明的兩足哺乳動 物人類，既是威脅，也是機遇,令人捉摸不透。As our essay in this week7 s issue explains, viruses are best thought of as packages of genetic material that exploit another org

12、anism s metabolism in order to reproduce. They are parasites of the purest kind: they borrow everything from the host except the genetic code that makes them what they are. They strip down life itself to the bare essentials ofinformation and its replication. If the abundance of viruses is anything t

13、o go by, that is a very successful strategy indeed.正如我們本周刊登的文章所言，對病 毒最好的解釋就是利用另一種生物的新陳代謝來進行 繁殖的遺傳物質組合。它們是一種最純粹的寄生蟲：除了 遺傳密碼外，它們的一切都來自宿主。它們將生命剝離到只 剩下赤裸裸的信息及其復制品。如果說種類豐富的病毒們有 什么值得學習的地方，那就是它們的生存策略真地非常成 功。The world is teeming with them. One analysis of seawater found 200,000 different viral species, and

14、it was not setting out to be comprehensive. Other research suggests that a single litre of seawater may contain more than lOObn virus particles, and a kilo of dried soil ten times that number. Altogether, according to calculations on the back of a very big envelope, the world might contain 1031 of t

15、hethings一that is one followed by 31 zeros, far outnumbering all other forms of life on the planet.世界 上到處都是病毒。一項針對海水的分析發(fā)現(xiàn)，海水里有20萬 種病毒，而這還不是全部。有一些研究發(fā)現(xiàn),一升海水中可 能含有1000億病毒顆粒，而一千克干燥土壤中的病毒數(shù)量 可能是這個數(shù)字的10倍。據(jù)計算,世界上可能有10的31 次方個病毒（即1后面有31個零），遠遠超過了地球上所有其 他生物的總和。As far as anyone can tell, virusesoften of many diff

16、erent sortshave adapted to attack every organism that exists. One reason they are powerhouses of evolution is that they oversee a relentless and prodigious slaughter, mutating as they do so. This is particularly clear in the oceans, where a fifth of single-celled plankton are killed by viruses every

17、 day. Ecologically, this promotes diversity by scything down abundant species, thus making roomfor rarer ones. The more common an organism, the more likely it is that a local plague of viruses specialised to attack it will develop, and so keep it in check.眾所周知，病毒通常有許多不同的種類,已適應了 攻擊每一個既有的有機體。病毒之所以是進化的

18、動力源，其 中一個原因是它們進行著一場無情的大屠殺，并在屠殺過程 中變異一這在海洋中尤其明顯。在海洋中，病毒每天危 殆五分之一的單細胞浮游生物。從生態(tài)學的角度來說，病毒 通過削減物種數(shù)量為更稀有的生物騰出空間，促進了物種多 樣性。一種生物越常見，專門攻擊它的病毒就越有可能開展 成一場瘟疫，從而控制這種生物。This propensity to cause plagues is also a powerful evolutionary stimulus for prey to develop defences, and these defences sometimes have wider co

19、nsequences. For example, one explanation for why a cell may deliberately destroy itself is if its sacrificelowers the viral load on closely related cells nearby.That way, its genes, copied in neighbouring cells, are more likely to survive. It so happens that such altruistic suicide is a prerequisite

20、 for cells to come together and form complex organisms, such as pea plants, mushrooms and human beings.病毒弓|發(fā)瘟疫這一傾向 促進了生物進化，因為這會促使病毒的獵物作出防御，并時 常帶來更為廣泛的后果。例如，有一種說法，稱細胞故意毀 滅自己的原因是它的犧牲降低了附近緊密相關細胞的病毒 載量。這樣，它的基因才得以在鄰近細胞中復制，更有可能 存活下來。這種無私的自我毀滅是細胞聚集在一起形成復雜 生物體（如豌豆植物、蘑菇和人類）的先決條件。The other reason viruses are

21、engines of evolution is that they are transport mechanisms for genetic information. Some viral genomes end up integrated into the cells of their hosts, where they can be passed down to those organisms7 descendants. Between 8% and 25% of the human genome seems to have suchviral origins. But the virus

22、es themselves can in turn be hijacked, and their genes turned to new uses. For example, the ability of mammals to bear live young is a consequence of a viral gene being modified to permit the formation of placentas. And even human brains may owe their development in part to the movement within them of virus-like elements that create genetic differences between neurons within a single organism. 病毒成為生物進化動力的另一個原因是，它們有基因信息的 傳輸機制。一些病毒的基因組最終融入宿主的細胞之中，然 后遺傳給宿主的后代。人類基因組里應該有8%-25%來源于 病毒。但是，這些病毒基因自身也可能反過來遭宿主劫持， 它們的基因也有了新作用。比方，哺乳動物能擁有生育后代 的能力，是因為它們體