时差N小时 人类接近长寿的又一步

You know, when I watch futuristic sci-fi movies, I noticeeveryone has a normal aging pattern.

我看未来派科幻电影的时候，发觉里面的人物年龄都是很正常的，就像我们普通人一样，活不了特别长。

You don't encounter¹ people who just having been 107 years old.

在这种电影里，你根本就不可能会看到一个活到一百多岁的人。

That's probably amistake.

我个人觉得这有问题。

A mistake? Why?

有问题？你又有何凭证？

Because science is giving us longer lifespans all the time.

因为科学一直以来都致力于延长人们寿命的研究。

Now, that sounds like science fiction！

这样听来倒真的像是科幻小说了！

It's true.

这可是真的。

A study conducted by James Carey and his colleagues² at the University of California,for example, found a link between how long a mouse lives and its ovaries.

比如说吧，加利佛利亚大学的James Carey和他的同事们进行了一项研究，他们发现老鼠的寿命和它的卵巢有很大关联。

Its ovaries? What do they have to do with the aging?

卵巢？卵巢和寿命会有什么关系啊？

The researchers removed the ovaries of one set of mice when they were a few weeks old.

研究人员准备了三组老鼠。在老鼠几星期大的时候，他们将一组老鼠的卵巢切除。

Those mice didn’t live as long as mice who still had their ovaries.

结果表明，被切除卵巢的一组老鼠没有未被切除卵巢的一组老鼠长寿。

Another group of mice had theirovaries removed but got young ones later.

另外还有一组老鼠被切除了卵巢，但后来又被植入了年轻的卵巢。

The mice with the young ovaries implanted into them lived forty percent longer than the ones whokept their original ovaries, and sixty percent longer than the ones with no ovaries at all!

被植入年轻卵巢的一组老鼠比未被切除卵巢的一组老鼠寿命长40%，比被切除卵巢的一组老鼠寿命整整长了60%！

Yalza! Sixty percent longer?

啊！60%！？

Some chemical message is being sent from the ovaries to the rest of the body, telling it whatstage of life it is in.

卵巢可以将某些化学信息传送至身体的其他部分，生命究竟处于哪个阶段。

By renewing³ their ovaries, the scientists were essentially⁴ able to set the clockback.

科学家们再将卵巢植入老鼠体内，可以说是让时光倒流了。

So who wants mice to live longer?

谁那么无聊，想要让老鼠长寿啊？

Mice are just test.

老鼠只是试验品。

If we could understand how the body tells itself to age, maybe we couldmake other species⁵ live longer…like people.

如果说我们能搞清楚老鼠的身体是怎样来发送有关年龄的信息的，有可能，我们就能使其他物种长寿些…比如，人类！

1 encounter   

v.遇到，偶然碰到；遭遇；n.遭遇；意外的相见

参考例句：

• It was a bloody encounter between the two armies. 这是那两军之间的一次激烈的遭遇战。
• A fortunate encounter brought the two friends together after a long separation.两位老朋友长期分离这次才有幸相遇。

2 colleagues   

n.同事，同僚( colleague的名词复数 )；同人

参考例句：

• He wanted to confer with his colleagues before reaching a decision. 他想与他的同事先商议一下再作出决定。
• She is held in high esteem by her colleagues. 她深受同事的敬重。

3 renewing   

（使）复原， （使）更新，赋予新的生命和活力( renew的现在分词 )； 重新开始； 继续； 补充

参考例句：

• He feels his youth renewing. 他觉得越活越年轻了。
• A lot of the cost of maintenance went into renewing brakes. 很多的维修费用都花在了更换刹车方面。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。