新闻周刊:对抗耐药菌(3)

Medical experts are pinning their hopes on entirely¹ new strategies for dealing² with infection. To find novel ways of killing³ bugs⁴, they're looking in exotic places—in viruses and fish slime and even on other planets. They're using insights gained in genomics and other fields to come up with new technologies to kill bugs and keep them from spreading. And they are re-examining practices in hospitals and other spreading-grounds for bacteria, putting in place more holistic⁵ strategies for managing the bacteria in our bodies and in our hospitals and doctors' offices.

医学专家把希望寄托在应对感染的全新策略上。为了找到杀死细菌的新方法，他们在奇异的地方寻找——病毒和鱼胶，甚至在其他星球上。他们利用从基因组学和其他领域获得的洞见，提出了杀死细菌并阻止它们传播的新技术。他们正在重新检查医院和其他细菌传播场所的做法，制定更全面的策略来管理我们体内、医院和医生办公室的细菌。

The alternatives sound promising⁶, but they are far off. It's not clear that we can invent new weapons before the superbugs, like a zombie army at the gates, overwhelm our defenses.

其他选择听起来很有希望，但它们还很遥远。目前还不清楚我们能否在超级细菌(如同门口的僵尸大军)击溃我们的防御系统之前发明出新的武器。

“We need to make a huge investment in other approaches,” says Margaret Riley, a drug-resistance researcher at the University of Massachusetts. “And we need to make it 15 years ago.”

“我们需要在其他方法上进行巨额投资，” 马萨诸塞大学的耐药性研究员玛格丽特·莱利表示。“我们需要在15年前做到这一点。”

The New Bug-Hunters

新的漏洞发现者

Part of the problem with drug resistance is that microbes evolve with alarming speed into new species. Whereas a human needs 15 or more years to mature enough to have offspring, microbes like E. coli reproduce every 20 minutes. In a few years, they can go through evolutionary⁷ change that would have taken humankind millions of years to accomplish—change that can include acquiring genetic⁸ attributes that allow them to withstand drugs. A human on antibiotics⁹ is the perfect lab for developing resistant¹¹ microbes. “Research shows that whenever a new antibiotic¹⁰ comes into use, we start to see the first resistant microbes emerge about a year later,” says Mass General's Shenoy.

耐药性的部分问题在于微生物以惊人的速度进化成新物种。人类需要15年或更长时间才能成熟到有后代，而像大肠杆菌这样的微生物每20分钟就繁殖一次。几年之内，它们就能完成人类需要数百万年才能完成的进化变化——包括获得能够抵抗药物的基因属性。服用抗生素的人是培养耐药微生物的完美实验室。“研究表明，每当一种新的抗生素开始使用，我们就会在大约一年后开始看到第一批耐药微生物出现，”马萨诸塞综合医院的谢诺伊如此表示。

There's little in the pharmaceutical¹² pipeline¹³ to replace the antibiotics to which bugs are becoming resistant. That's because development of a new antibiotic runs about $2 billion and takes about 10 years—with little hope of ending up with the sort of blockbuster drug that justifies¹⁴ such an investment. “The point of having a new antibiotic would be to use it as infrequently as possible, for as short a time as possible,” says Jonathan Zenilman, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. “Why would a pharma company want to develop a drug for a market like that?”

在药物研发过程中，几乎没有什么东西可以替代细菌变得具有耐药性的抗生素。这是因为一种新型抗生素的研发耗资约20亿美元，耗时约10年，几乎不可能研制出能够证明这种投资合理的畅销药物。“拥有一种新的抗生素的意义在于尽可能少地使用它，使用的时间尽可能短，”巴尔的摩约翰霍普金斯湾景医疗中心传染病科主任乔纳森泽尼曼说。“制药公司为什么要为这样的市场开发药物呢？”

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 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》

5 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

7 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。

8 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。

9 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。

10 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

11 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

12 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

13 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

14 justifies   

证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护）

参考例句：

• Their frequency of use both justifies and requires the memorization. 频繁的使用需要记忆，也促进了记忆。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In my judgement the present end justifies the means. 照我的意见，只要目的正当，手段是可以不计较的。