TED演讲:个体DNA检测的时代来了(1)

 Imagine that you're a pig farmer. You live on a small farm in the Philippines. 想象你是一个养猪户。你住在一个菲律宾的小农场。

Your animals are your family's sole source of income -- as long as they're healthy. 你的牲口是家庭唯一的收入来源--只要它们是健康的。

You know that any day, one of your pigs can catch the flu, the swine flu. 你知道任意一天，你的猪都有可能感染流感，猪流感。

Living in tight quarters, one pig coughing and sneezing may soon lead to the next pig coughing and sneezing, 住在狭小的猪圈，一只猪的咳嗽和喷嚏很可能马上感染另一只猪，

until an outbreak of swine flu has taken over your farm. 直至感染你的整个猪圈。

If it's a bad enough virus, the health of your herd¹ may be gone in the blink of an eye. 如果是一个十分严重的病毒，你猪圈里的猪将迅速被传染，无一幸免。

If you called in a veterinarian, he or she would visit your farm and take samples from your pigs' noses and mouths. 如果你叫来一个兽医，他会拜访你的农场，并且在猪的鼻腔和口腔内取样。

But then they would have to drive back into the city to test those samples in their central lab. 但之后他们会开车回到城里，在他们的实验室里检测那些样品。

Two weeks later, you'd hear back the results. 两周后，你会收到检测结果。

Two weeks may be just enough time for infection to spread and take away your way of life. 而两周时间足以让疫情蔓延，夺走你的生计。

But it doesn't have to be that way. Today, farmers can take those samples themselves. 但现实并不一定会这么糟。如今，农户们可以自己采集那些样本。

They can jump right into the pen and swab their pigs' noses and mouths with a little filter paper, 他们可以直接进入猪圈中，用一张小小的滤纸在猪的鼻子和口腔中取样，

place that little filter paper in a tiny tube, 将这张滤纸放在一个小试管中，

and mix it with some chemicals that will extract genetic² material from their pigs' noses and mouths. 和一些化学物质混合起来，提取出他们从猪的鼻子和口腔中得到的遗传物质。

And without leaving their farms, they take a drop of that genetic material and put it into a little analyzer smaller than a shoebox, 不用离开他们的农场，他们要做的只是将一滴遗传物质放入一个比鞋盒还小的分析仪中，

program it to detect DNA³ or RNA from the swine flu virus, and within one hour get back the results, visualize⁴ the results. 设定程序分析猪流感病毒的DNA或者RNA，只1个小时内便可以取回结果，看到是否感染。

This reality is possible because today we're living in the era of personal DNA technology. 我并非是在夸大其实，因为如今我们生活在个体DNA技术的时代。

Every one of us can actually test DNA ourselves. 每个人都能检测我们自己的DNA。

1 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

2 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

3 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

4 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。