经济学人298:海洋生物 跳蚤市场

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　Marine¹ biology

　　海洋生物

　　Flea² market

　　跳蚤市场

　　A newly discovered virus may be the most abundant organism on the planet

　　一种新发现的病毒可能是地球上最丰富的物种。

　　WHAT is the commonest living thing on Earth?

　　地球上最常见的生物是什么？

　　Until now, those in the know would probably have answered Pelagibacter ubique, the most successful member of a group of bacteria, called SAR11, that jointly³ constitute about a third of the single-celled organisms in the ocean.

　　直到现在，那些很专业的人可能会说是遍在远洋杆菌—细菌群中最成功的细菌，称为大洋微小细菌,占了海洋单细胞有机体的三分之一。

　　But this is not P. ubique's only claim to fame, for unlike almost every other known cellular⁴ creature, it and its relatives have seemed to be untroubled by viruses.

　　但是，这不是它成名的原因，因为它和它的亲戚不像其它大部分已知的细胞生物，它们似乎是些不会给你造成麻烦的一族。

　　As Jonathan Swift put it in a much-misquoted poem, So, naturalists⁵ observe, a flea/Hath smaller fleas⁶ that on him prey⁷.

　　就像乔纳森-斯威福特的一首诗表达的一样—虽然这里引用很不贴切，所以，博物学家们观察，正在捕食的跳蚤/小跳蚤们。

　　Parasites⁸, in other words, are everywhere.

　　换句话说，寄生虫无所不在。

　　They are also, usually, more abundant than their hosts.

　　通常，它们的数量也远远多于它们的寄主。

　　An astute⁹ observer might therefore have suspected that the actual most-common species on Earth would be a flea that parasitised P. ubique, rather than the bacterium¹⁰ itself.

　　精明的观察者可能因此会猜测，地球上真正最常见的特种是一种跳蚤—寄生的遍生远洋杆菌，而不是细菌本身。

　　The absence of such fleas has puzzled virologists since 1990, when the SAR11 group was identified.

　　自从1990年研究SAR11组群以来，病毒学家对没有发现这种跳蚤—即以所谓攻击细菌的噬菌体的形式存在—而感到很困惑。

　　Some thought the advantage this absence conferred explained the group's abundance. But no.

　　一些人认为没有发现这种组群的好处解释了它们之所以大量存在的原因。但是，事实不是这样的。

　　As they report in this week's Nature, Stephen Giovannoni of Oregon State University and his colleagues have discovered the elusive¹¹ phages.

　　正如本周自然杂志上刊登的一样，俄勒冈州立大学的斯蒂芬尼-乔凡诺尼和他的同事们发现了这种难以发现的噬菌体。

　　Swift's wisdom, it seems, still holds good.

　　看起来，斯威福特的智慧仍旧闪闪发光。

　　Tracking down a particular virus in the ocean makes finding a needle in a haystack look a trivial task.

　　与在海洋中跟踪一种特定的细菌相比，大海捞针简直是小菜一碟了。

　　A litre of seawater has billions of viruses in it.

　　一公升的海水中有数十亿的细菌。

　　Modern genetic¹² techniques can obtain DNA¹³ sequences from these viruses, but that cannot tie a particular virus to a particular host.

　　现代基因技术可以猎取这些细菌的DAN序列，但是却不能把一种特定的细菌固定在一个特定的寄主身上。

　　To do so, Dr Giovannoni borrowed a technique from homeopathy: he diluted¹⁴ some seawater to such an extent that, statistically¹⁵ speaking, he expected a 100-microlitre-sized aliquot to contain only one or two viruses.

　　为了实现这个目标，乔凡诺尼博士借用了顺势医疗论的一项技术：他把一些海水的浓度稀释到，从统计学角度上讲，即稀释后的100微升海水中只含有一种或两种病毒。

　　The difference between his approach and a homeopath's was that what homeopathy dilutes¹⁶ almost to nothing are chemicals, and thus cannot breed. A virus can, given a suitable host.

　　他的方法和顺势疗法的区别是，后者将药液稀释后几乎没有什么合成物了，因此也无法培育繁殖。而提供一个合适的寄主的话，病菌就可以继续繁殖。

　　So he mixed each of several hundred aliquots into tubes of water containing P. ubique.

　　因此，他把稀释后的海水分成几百份，再把每一份混合到含有遍在海洋杆菌的水里。

　　Then he waited.

　　然后他就等待着。

　　After 60 hours, he looked to see what had happened.

　　六十小时后，他看到了结果。

　　In most cases the bacteria had thrived.

　　在大部分试验品中，病菌都繁殖得很好。

　　In a few, though, they had been killed by what looked like viral infection.

　　但是，在少数的试验品中，病菌似乎由于某种病毒感染而消失了。

　　It was these samples that he ran through the DNA-sequencing machine, in the knowledge that the only viral DNA present would be from whatever it was had killed the bacteria.

　　这些少数试验品就是他用DNA测序仪检测，想知道仅有的病毒DNA，无论是不是它杀了病菌，为什么会出现的原因。

　　His reward was to find not one, but four viruses that parasitise P. ubique.

　　他最终发现了不只一种病菌，而是四种寄生的遍海洋杆菌。

　　He then compared their DNA with databases of DNA found in seawater from around the world, to find out how abundant each is.

　　后来，他把发现病菌的DNA与世界海洋的DNA数据库相对比，发现：

　　The upshot was that a virus dubbed¹⁷ HTVC010P was the commonest.

　　四种中的每一个的存在数量都非常多。

　　It thus displaces its host as the likely winner of the most-common-living-thing prize.

　　结果是，一种称为HTVC010P人病菌是最常见的。因此，它便取代了它的寄主，成为可能最常见的生物。

　　That does depend, of course, on your definition of living thing.

　　当然，这不是你们所定义的那种生物。

　　Some biologists count viruses as organisms.

　　一些生物学家认为病菌是微生物。

　　Some do not.

　　一些则不这么认为。

　　The reason is that a virus relies for its growth and reproduction on the metabolic¹⁸ processes of the cell it infects.

　　原因是，病菌依靠它所感染细胞的新陈代谢来生长和繁殖。

　　This means viruses themselves are hard to parasitise, since they do no work on which another organism can free-ride.

　　这就意味着病毒本身很难寄生，因为在其它可以免费寄生的微生物上它们无法正常生存。

　　Which is why the next two lines of Swift's poem, And these have smaller fleas to bite 'em/And so proceed ad infinitum, are wrong—and why, because HTVC010P itself can have no parasites, it probably really is the commonest organism on the planet.

　　这也解释了为什么斯威失特接下来的两句这些更小的跳蚤在咬它们，因此这些进程循环往复着是错误的，也是HTVC010P为什么是地球上最常见的微生物，因为它本身没有寄生虫。

　　1.claim to 声称

　　Both political parties in america claim to love entrepreneurs.

　　美国两大党派都声称喜欢创业者。

　　America can claim to be tackling its troubled assets.

　　美国也终于可以宣称正在处理有毒资产了。

　　2.rather than 而不…，与其…倒不如

　　His film is propaganda rather than documentary.

　　说他的影片是政治宣传而不是纪录片。

　　He is an explorer rather than a sailor.

　　与其说他是一个海员，不如说他是一个探险者。

　　3.tie to 拴于…；使被…束缚

　　She bought a tie to go with his suit.

　　她买了一条领带和他的一套衣服搭配。

　　Tie to the post of unconcern the goats of vice¹⁹ and virtue²⁰.

　　把恶习与美德两头山羊绑在漫不经心的柱子上。

　　4.mix into 把…混入…

　　Those who practice should conform to the tao of nature and should not mix much emotion into their deeds.

　　对修行的人言，不顺应自然之道，过度地渗入人的情感，都不是修练者应有的作为。

　　Divide the melted white chocolate into two equal parts. Mix the green tea powder into one part.

　　把融化的白巧克力分成均等的两份，其中一份加入绿茶粉。

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 flea   

n.跳蚤

参考例句：

• I'll put a flea in his ear if he bothers me once more.如果他再来打扰的话，我就要对他不客气了。
• Hunter has an interest in prowling around a flea market.亨特对逛跳蚤市场很感兴趣。

3 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

4 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

5 naturalists   

n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者

参考例句：

• Naturalists differ much in determining what characters are of generic value. 自然学者对于不同性状决定生物的属的含义上，各有各的见解。 来自辞典例句
• This fact has led naturalists to believe that the Isthmus was formerly open. 使许多自然学者相信这个地蛱在以前原是开通的。 来自辞典例句

6 fleas   

n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求）

参考例句：

• The dog has fleas. 这条狗有跳蚤。
• Nothing must be done hastily but killing of fleas. 除非要捉跳蚤，做事不可匆忙。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

8 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

9 astute   

adj.机敏的，精明的

参考例句：

• A good leader must be an astute judge of ability.一个优秀的领导人必须善于识别人的能力。
• The criminal was very astute and well matched the detective in intelligence.这个罪犯非常狡猾，足以对付侦探的机智。

10 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

11 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

12 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。

13 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。

14 diluted   

无力的，冲淡的

参考例句：

• The paint can be diluted with water to make a lighter shade. 这颜料可用水稀释以使色度淡一些。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields. 这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

15 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

16 dilutes   

稀释，冲淡( dilute的第三人称单数 )； 削弱，使降低效果

参考例句：

• On the plus side, wind dilutes and scatters air pollutants, and carries pollen. 从好处来说，风能稀释和驱散空气中的污染物质，传播花粉。
• Ubiquity might not be toxic to authenticity, but it certainly dilutes it. 普遍性或许不至于毒害原真性，但确实会削弱它。

17 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 metabolic   

adj.新陈代谢的

参考例句：

• Impressive metabolic alternations have been undergone during embryogenesis.在胚胎发生期间经历了深刻的代谢变化。
• A number of intoxicants are associated with metabolic acidosis.许多毒性物质可引起代谢性酸中毒。

19 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

20 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。