2023年经济学人 超级细菌的秘密(1)

 

    From caesarean sections to chemotherapy, antibiotics¹ make much of modern medicine possible by keeping bacterial² infections at bay.

    从剖腹产到化疗，抗生素通过防止细菌感染使现代医学的大部分疗法成为可能。

    That is why the growing bacterial resistance to those drugs is so worrying.

    这也是越来越多细菌对抗生素的耐药性令人愈发担忧的原因。

    The United Nations estimates that by 2050 infections with drug-proof bacteria could claim up to 10m lives a year, more than double the current toll³.

    联合国估计，到2050年，每年的耐药细菌感染将夺去多达1000万人的生命，是目前死亡人数的两倍多。

    A problem with tackling such resistance is that scientists have an incomplete sense of how it arises.

    对付这种抗药性还存在一个问题，科学家还没有完全了解它是如何产生的。

    One way is essentially⁴ random⁵: a chance mutation⁶ in a particular bacterium⁷ may make a certain drug less lethal⁸.

    有一种基本上可以说是随机的情况:一种特定细菌的偶然突变可能会降低某种药物的致命性。

    If that bacterium survives a dose of treatment, its descendants will inherit that same resistance.

    如果这种细菌在一定剂量的治疗中存活下来，它的后代将继承同样的抵抗力。

    But the speed at which bacterial drug resistance spreads means that cannot be the whole story.

    但是细菌耐药性传播的速度意味着这并不是全部的“故事”。

    “I always felt there were additional mechanisms¹⁰ of evolution.

    “我一直觉得还有其他的进化机制。

    And probably more powerful ones,” says John Chen at the National University of Singapore.

    而且可能更强大，”新加坡国立大学的约翰·陈说。

    In a paper in Cell, Dr Chen and his colleagues identify one such mechanism⁹.

    在《细胞》杂志的一篇论文中，陈博士和他的同事们发现了这样的一种机制。

    It centres not on the bacteria themselves, nor the viruses that are known to infect them, but on yet more rudimentary genetic¹¹ parasites¹² that exploit these viruses in turn.

    它的重点不是细菌本身，也不是已知的感染它们的病毒，而是更为基本的遗传寄生物，它们会依次利用这些病毒。

    The fact that bacteria can transfer genes¹³ horizontally, to other unrelated bugs¹⁴, as well as vertically¹⁵ to their offspring, is well known.

    众所周知，细菌可以将基因水平传递给其他不相关的细菌，也可以垂直传递给它们的后代。

    Some are exchanged via small loops of DNA¹⁶ called plasmids.

    一些基因会通过被称为质粒的DNA小环交换。

    Others are transmitted by bacteriophages, specialised viruses that infect bacteria.

    另一些则通过噬菌体传播，噬菌体是一种专门感染细菌的病毒。

    When a phage latches¹⁷ on to a bacterium, its DNA forces the bacterium to make more copies of the virus until it bursts.

    当噬菌体附着在细菌上时，它的DNA迫使细菌复制更多的病毒，直到它破裂。

    Sometimes, small fragments of bacterial DNA can be erroneously included with the new viruses.

    有时，细菌DNA的小片段可能被错误地包含在新病毒中。

    If they infect another bacterium, the hitchhiking DNA can end up integrated into the new host’s genome.

    如果它们感染了另一种细菌，搭便车的DNA最终会整合到新宿主的基因组中。

1 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。

2 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

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 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。

6 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

7 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。

8 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

9 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

10 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 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。

12 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。

13 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

14 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

16 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。

17 latches   

n.（门窗的）门闩( latch的名词复数 )；碰锁v.理解( latch的第三人称单数 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上）

参考例句：

• The virus latches onto the red blood cells. 这种病毒附着在红细胞上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The opposite end latches onto the pathogen. 相对的一端锁在病原体上。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器