2022年经济学人 鼠狐猴可能比小白鼠更适合“当小白鼠”(1)

Science and Technology

科技版块

Animal Research

动物研究

New model army

新模型大军

Might lemurs be better than mice when it comes to medical research

在医学研究方面，狐猴可能比小白鼠更好

Tree 2B, ranomafana, is not an address recognised by Madagascar's postal¹ service.

拉努马法纳的Tree 2B，是一个不被马达加斯加邮政部门承认的地址。

It is, though, someone's home.

不过，这是某个人的家。

The someone in question is a mouse lemur called Judah, the 349th participant to be enrolled² into a project run by Mark Krasnow, a biochemist at Stanford University, in California.

是一只叫做犹大的鼠狐猴，是加州斯坦福大学生物化学家马克·克拉斯诺主持的一个项目的第349名参与者。

Judah's involuntary membership of the project began when he found himself trapped inside a metal box.

当犹大发现自己被困在一个金属盒子里时，他开始了对该项目的非自愿加入。

He had been lured³ there by a bait of banana put there by Dr Krasnow's collaborators, Haja Ravelonjanahary and Mahery Razafindrakoto of the ValBio research centre on the edge of Ranomafana National Park, 260km south of Antananarivo.

他是被克拉斯诺博士的合作者哈贾·拉维隆贾纳哈里和马赫里·拉扎芬德拉科托放在那里的香蕉诱饵引诱过去的。他们是瓦尔比奥研究中心的成员，该研究中心位于塔那利佛以南260公里的拉诺马法纳国家公园边缘。

Judah's captivity⁴ was temporary, for he was released back into his home at 2b about six hours later.

犹大被囚禁是暂时的，因为大约六个小时后，他就会被释放回自己的家——Tree 2B。

But in the interim⁵ he was subjected to various indignities⁶.

但在此期间，他受到了各种各样的“侮辱”。

He had his testes measured, a blood sample taken and he was made to do exercises to see how strong he was.

检测了睾丸，抽取了血样，并让他做运动，看看他有多强壮。

He also had a tiny transponder inserted under his skin so that he could be identified next time he was caught.

还在他皮肤下植入了一个微型应答器，这样下次被抓到时就可以辨认出他的身份。

Judah, and his 348 predecessors⁷ similarly trapped and released by biologists at ValBio, are among the first recruits to what is, on the face of it, an extraordinarily⁸ ambitious undertaking⁹.

从表面上看，Judah和他的348位前辈都是这项雄心勃勃的事业的首批成员。

For Dr Krasnow's plan is to add mouse lemurs to the short and rather random¹⁰ list of so-called model organisms.

克拉斯诺博士的计划是将鼠狐猴添加到所谓模式生物的简短而随机的名单中。

These are species which, for various reasons, biologists know a lot about.

由于各种原因，生物学家对这些物种了解甚多。

And, since knowledge breeds knowledge, they tend to be the ones about which further knowledge accumulates.

而且，因为知识孕育知识，所以往往会积累更多的知识。

Model organisms assist all sorts of biological research, but a lot of it is medical.

“模型生物”有助于各种生物学研究，其中很多都是医学研究。

And here there is a problem.

这里有一个问题。

Ideally, medical research would be done on species that resemble Homo sapiens.

理想情况下，医学研究应该在类似智人的物种上进行。

But working on human beings' closest relatives—apes and monkeys—is increasingly hard to do.

但是，研究人类的近亲——猿和猴子，越来越难做到。

First, such large animals are expensive to keep.

首先，这样的大型动物饲养成本很高。

Second, that expense means they are often unavailable in the numbers needed for statistically¹¹ significant work.

其次，费用高昂意味着他们往往无法获得统计意义重大的工作所需的数据。

Third, public opinion, at least in the West, is swinging against their use.

第三，公众舆论，至少在西方，正在反对它们的使用。

Mice, one common alternative to primates¹³, are cheap, abundant and less prone¹⁴ to stir consciences.

老鼠是灵长类动物的一种常见替代品，价格低廉，数量众多，不太容易引起人们良知上的不安。

But they can only take you so far.

但他们也只能帮你这么多了。

Though mammals, they are not close relatives of people.

虽然是哺乳动物，但它们并不是人类的近亲。

Sometimes that lack of relatedness can be finessed¹⁵ by inserting human genes¹⁶ that are relevant to the matter under investigation¹⁷.

有时，通过插入与被调查物质相关的人类基因，可以巧妙地解决这种缺乏关联性的问题。

But even then, the underlying¹⁸ platform is still a rodent¹⁹, not a primate¹².

但即便如此，优先选择仍然是啮齿类动物，而不是灵长类动物。

By contrast, a mouse lemur, though it looks and behaves a bit like a mouse, and is not much bigger, is indeed a primate, and so is much more similar to a human being than a rodent is.

相比之下，尽管鼠狐猴的外表和行为有点像老鼠，个头也不大，但它确实是灵长类动物，因此比啮齿类动物更像人类。

Mice, moreover, have short lives, and thus high turnover²⁰.

此外，老鼠寿命短，因此流动率高。

But mouse lemurs can live for 14 years in captivity and maybe ten in the wild.

但是鼠狐猴在圈养环境中可以存活14年，在野外也可以活10年。

That is a nice compromise between a period brief enough to arrive at conclusions that are useful (and will result in career-enhancing research papers), and long enough to be more similar to a human being's life-history.

这是一个很好的折衷方案，既可以在足够短的时间内得出有用的结论（并将产生促进职业发展的研究论文），又可以在足够长的时间内更接近人类的生活史。 

1 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

2 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

4 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

5 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

6 indignities   

n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers who were captured suffered many indignities at the hands of the enemy. 被俘的士兵在敌人手中受尽侮辱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What sort of indignities would he be forced to endure? 他会被迫忍受什么样的侮辱呢？ 来自辞典例句

7 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

9 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

10 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

11 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。

12 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

13 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

14 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

15 finessed   

v.手腕，手段，技巧( finesse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He finessed his way through the exam. 他用巧计通过考试。 来自辞典例句

16 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

17 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

18 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

19 rodent   

n.啮齿动物；adj.啮齿目的

参考例句：

• When there is a full moon,this nocturnal rodent is careful to stay in its burrow.月圆之夜，这种夜间活动的啮齿类动物会小心地呆在地洞里不出来。
• This small rodent can scoop out a long,narrow tunnel in a very short time.这种小啮齿动物能在很短的时间里挖出一条又长又窄的地道来。

20 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。