时差N小时 抑郁可能有利于进化(上)

Feeling down? You're not alone.

你有感到很失落吗?不只你这样。

If depression seems pretty common, it is.

抑郁看起来很普遍，事实上也是如此。

One in every ten adults suffers from depression.

每十个成年人里就有一个会患有抑郁症。

And that's what has scientists puzzled.

这让科学家们感到不解。

If depression is a detrimental¹ condition, why is it so rampant² in the population?

如果抑郁对身体有害，那么为什么人群中抑郁症患者如此之多呢?

Some scientists think they may have the answer.

一些科学家认为他们已经找到了答案。

Depression may have an evolutionary³ benefit.

抑郁也许对进化有好处。

It may improve one's chances of fighting off infection.

它能提高人体免疫力。

Scientists have known that depressed⁴ people display an immunoactive condition known as inflammation,

一些科学家发现抑郁症人群体内会产生免疫活性，也就是炎症，

even when they are not infected.

即便他们未受到感染时也会如此。

For several years they have been finding that genes⁵ linked to depression also affect the function of the immune system.

几年来，科学家们逐渐发现与抑郁有关的基因也会影响免疫系统的功能。

Stress, which can lead to depression, also modifies the immune system.

同样会导致抑郁的压力因素也会改变免疫系统。

These findings suggested that depression was somehow linked to the body's ability to fight disease.

从某种程度上讲，这些调查结果表明抑郁与人体免疫力有关。

Some scientists now propose that depression might have had an evolutionary advantage in the days before modern medicine and antibiotics⁶.

一些科学家提出早在现代药物和抗生素出现之前，抑郁就可能能够给进化带来好处。

1 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

2 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

3 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

4 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

5 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

6 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。