经济学人192:疫苗能阻止药物滥用吗?

 　　科学技术

　　Combating addiction²

　　打击毒瘾

　　Can a vaccine³ stop drug abuse?

　　疫苗能阻止药物滥用吗？

　　It may be possible to vaccinate⁴ people against addictive⁵ drugs

　　人们也许能通过疫苗来阻止成瘾药物的使用

　　THE idea of vaccinating⁶ drug addicts⁷ against their affliction is an intriguing⁸ one.

　　对药物滥用者进行免疫来对抗他们受到的折磨是一个吸引人的课题。

　　In principle, it should not be too hard.

　　原理上，这应该不会太难。

　　The immune system works, in part, by making antibodies that are specific to particular sorts of hostile molecule⁹.

　　免疫系统可以部分参与产生那些针对某些有害分子的抗体。

　　Such antibodies recognise and attach themselves to these molecules¹⁰, rendering¹¹ them harmless.

　　这些抗体可以识别并与那些有害分子结合，使他们变成对身体无害的物质。

　　Vaccines¹² work by presenting the immune system with novel targets,

　　疫苗则是通过向免疫系统提供新的靶物质的方法起作用的，

　　so that it can learn to react to them if it comes across them again.

　　因此当免疫系统再次遇到这些物质时，它就会知道该如何作出反应。

　　The problem is that the molecules antibodies recognise and react to are the big ones,

　　问题是抗体能识别和做出反应的分子是大分子，

　　such as proteins, that are characteristic of bacteria, viruses and other infectious agents.

　　比如蛋白质，这是细菌，病毒和其他致病原的特征。

　　Small molecules, such as drugs, go unnoticed.

　　小分子，如毒品，就不被识别了。

　　But not for much longer, if Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego has his way.

　　如果位于圣迭戈斯克里普斯研究所的金-简达有解决办法的话，这种情况就能结束了。

　　In a paper just published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society,

　　在刚出版的一期《美国化学会会志》中，

　　Dr Janda and his colleagues suggest how a vaccine against methamphetamine, a popular street drug, might be made.

　　简达博士在一篇论文中指出了一种对抗街上常见药-甲基苯丙胺的疫苗可以被合成的方法。

　　If their method works, it would open the possibility of vaccinating people against other drugs, too.

　　如果他们的方法凑效的话，那将使给人们注射疫苗来对抗其他药物成瘾成为可能。

　　The idea of a methamphetamine vaccine is not new.

　　甲基苯丙胺疫苗的想法并非什么新鲜事。

　　The problem is getting the immune system to pay attention to a molecule that is such a small target.

　　问题在于要使免疫系统对如此小的目标做出反应。

　　The way that has been tried in the past is to build the vaccine from several components¹³.

　　之前曾尝试过的方法是利用几种物质共同构建疫苗。

　　First, there is a large carrier protein that forms a platform for the target.

　　首先，要有一个大的载体蛋白来构成给靶物质的平台。

　　Then there is the target itself, a set of smaller molecules called haptens that are attached to the carrier.

　　然后是与载体结合的靶物质本身，他们是一组叫做半抗原的较小的分子。

　　These may either be the drug in question or some analogue¹⁴ of it that,

　　这些小分子可以是目标药物或其它一些类似物，

　　for one reason or another, is reckoned to have a better chance of training the immune system.

　　他们有这样或那样的理由被认为能够更好地锻炼免疫系统。

　　Finally, there is a chemical cocktail¹⁵ called an adjuvant that helps get the immune system to pay attention to the carrier protein and the haptens.

　　最后，有一种叫做佐药的鸡尾酒帮助免疫系统对载体蛋白和半抗原做出反应。

　　Dr Janda noticed that past experiments on methamphetamine vaccines had all revolved¹⁶ around tweaking either the carrier protein or the adjuvant,

　　简达博士意识到过去对甲基苯丙胺的实验中，疫苗一直在周旋，使载体蛋白或佐药发生扭曲，

　　rather than tinkering with the haptens.

　　而非与半抗原互补。

　　He thought he might be able to change that, on the basis of work he had carried out previously¹⁷, trying to design a vaccine against nicotine¹⁸.

　　他觉得基于之前所展开的工作，他有能力改善那种情况，并尝试设计出一种对抗尼古丁的疫苗。

　　In particular, nicotine is a highly flexible molecule.

　　尼古丁是一种尤其高活性的分子。

　　That makes it hard for the immune system to recognise.

　　这使得免疫系统难以识别它。

　　To overcome this, his team on the nicotine project had to work out how to fix their haptens to the carrier protein in a way that rendered them less capable of twisting and turning, and thus made them easier for the immune system to identify.

　　为了克服这个问题，他的尼古丁项目的团队必须使他们的半抗原以一种特定方式与载体蛋白结合，从而使得这些蛋白不易扭曲反转，从而让免疫系统更容易识别。

　　In the new study, Dr Janda and his colleagues report that they have performed a similar trick with methamphetamine haptens.

　　在一篇新的研究中，简达博士和他的同事指出他们用类似的方法处理甲基苯丙胺半抗原。

　　They used computer models to visualise the haptens in three dimensions and thus work out how the molecules could be rearranged such that they could not spring,

　　他们利用电脑模型来展现三维半抗原并解决了分子重新排布的问题，

　　twist or turn when being examined by the immune system.

　　使他们在免疫系统检查时无法弹出，扭曲，旋转。

　　In light of this information they designed six new methamphetamine-like haptens.

　　在该办法的启发下，他们设计出6种新的甲基苯丙胺样的半抗原。

　　Once built, they attached the new hapten molecules to carrier proteins, mixed them with adjuvant, injected the results into mice and waited.

　　一旦构建完成，他们把这些新的半抗原分子结合到载体蛋白上，并与佐药混合，注射进小鼠体内，等待结果。

　　After several weeks they tested the mice to see if the animals’ blood contained antibodies to methamphetamine.

　　数周后他们检测小鼠血液内是否含有甲基苯丙胺的抗体。

　　Of the six new haptens, three successfully provoked the mice to make such antibodies.

　　在6种新的半抗原中，其中3种成功刺激小鼠产生这些抗体。

　　As a bonus, one of those three also stimulated¹⁹ the production of antibodies against another widely used drug, amphetamine.

　　另外有一个意外收获，在那3种当中有一种可刺激产生另一种广泛使用的药物--苯丙安的抗体。

　　That is still a long way from providing a working vaccine,

　　虽然距离能够供应疫苗的日子还有很长一段路要走，

　　but it is an important step forward.

　　但这是前进中重要的一步。

　　And if human immune systems react in the same way to the new vaccines as murine ones do,

　　如果人类免疫系统对新疫苗的反应机制就像鼠科动物那样的话，

　　the day when a drug addict¹ might be offered vaccination²⁰ rather than opprobrium²¹ will have come a little closer.

　　药物成瘾的人获得的是疫苗而非外界辱骂的这一天的来临就更近了。

　　1.vaccine n.疫苗

　　The vaccine was used to protect the whole population against infection.

　　这种疫苗用以为全体居民预防传染病。

　　2.addictive a.使人上瘾的

　　Coke is a powerfully addictive drug.

　　可卡因是极易使人上瘾的毒品。

　　3.affliction n.痛苦；痛苦的原因

　　I have great sympathy for people in affliction.

　　我对那些受苦受难的人们充满同情。

　　4.antibody n.抗体

　　Our end product is an anti-cancer antibody.

　　我们的最终产品是一种抗癌抗体。

　　5.molecule n.分子；微粒

　　A molecule is made up of atoms.

　　分子由原子组成。

1 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

2 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

5 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

6 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

7 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

8 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

10 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

11 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

12 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

13 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

14 analogue   

n.类似物；同源语

参考例句：

• The gill of a fish is the analogue of the lung of a cat.鱼的鳃和猫的肺是类似物。
• But aside from that analogue standby,the phone, videoconferencing is their favorite means of communication.除了备用的相似物电话，可视对话是他们最喜欢的沟通手段。

15 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

16 revolved   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
• The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

18 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

19 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

20 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

21 opprobrium   

n.耻辱，责难

参考例句：

• The opprobrium and enmity he incurred were caused by his outspoken brashness.他招致的轻蔑和敌意是由于他出言过于粗率而造成的。
• That drunkard was the opprobrium of our community.那个酒鬼是我们社区里可耻的人物。