catti一级笔译材料练习：病毒塑造世界

1、HUMANS THINK of themselves as the world7 sapex predators. Hence the silence of sabre-tooth tigers, the absence of moas from New Zealand and the long list of endangered megafauna. But SARS-CoV-2 shows how people can also end up as prey. Viruses have caused a litany of modern pandemics, from covid-19,

2、 to HIV/AIDS to the influenza outbreak in 1918-20, which killed many more people than the first world war. Before that, the colonisation of the Americas by Europeans was abetted一and perhaps made possible-by epidemics of smallpox, measles and influenza brought unwittingly by the invaders, which annih

3、ilated many of the original inhabitants.A 类认为自己站在食物链的顶端，于是剑齿虎灭绝了，新西兰 恐鸟消失了，濒危的巨型动物数之不尽。但是，新冠病毒告 诉人类，他们自己有一天也会成为猎物。现代的很多传染病 都是由病毒引起的，包括新冠肺炎和艾滋病，以及1918年Humanity, s unique, virus-chiselledconsciousness opens up new avenues to deal with the viral threat and to exploit it. This starts with the miracle of

4、 vaccination, which defends against a pathogenic attack before it is launched. Thanks to vaccines, smallpox is no more, having taken some 300m lives in the 20th century. Polio will one day surely follow. New research prompted by the covid-19 pandemic will enhance the power to examine the viral realm

5、 and the best responses to it that bodies can muster一taking the defence against viruses to a new level.在应对和利用 病毒带来的威胁时，人类独特的，由病毒塑造的意识开辟 了新的途径。这要从疫苗这一奇迹说起，疫苗能在病原体发 动攻击之前展开防御。天花在20世纪夺走了 3亿人的生命, 多亏了疫苗才终结了这场瘟疫。小儿麻痹症也有望被消灭。 新冠肺炎疫情引发的新研究将增强对病毒的检测能力，提升各机构团体的应对能力，将对病毒的防御提升到一个新的水 平。Another avenue for progres

6、s lies in the tools for manipulating organisms that will come from an understanding of viruses and the defences against them. Early versions of genetic engineering relied on restriction enzymes-molecular scissors with which bacteria cut up viral genes and which biotechnologists employ to move genes

7、around. The latest iteration of biotechnology, gene editing letter by letter, which is known as CRIS PR, makes use of a more precise antiviral mechanism.人类在应对病毒方面取得的另一个进展是依靠操控生特的工具，而这源于人们了解了病毒及防御手段。早期的生物工程依靠的是限制性内切酶一种分子剪刀，细菌用这种分子剪刀切断病毒基因序列，而生物技术 人员用它们来移动基因。最新的生物技术利用更为精准的 抗病毒机制，可以逐个对基因序列进行编辑，即CRISPR。

8、到1920年间爆发的流感，那次流感导致的死亡人数比一战 的死亡人数还要多。欧洲人入侵美国时，在不知情的情况下 带去了天花、麻疹和流感病毒，导致大量原住民死亡，这可 能是欧洲能殖民美洲的一个原因。The influence of viruses on life on Earth, though, goes far beyond the past and present tragedies of a single species, however pressing they seem. Though the study of viruses began as an investigation in

9、to what appeared to be a strange subset of pathogens, recent research puts them at the heart of an explanation of the strategies of genes, both selfish and otherwise.从古至今，病毒对地球上的生命的影响绝不仅仅只是给单单一个物种带来悲剧。虽然对病毒的研究始于对一 组奇怪的病原体所展开的调查，最新的研究将其置于解释 基因策略的核 心位置，这既自私又是不自私的方法。Viruses are unimaginably varied and

10、ubiquitous.And it is becoming clear just how much they have shaped the evolution of all organisms since the very beginnings of life. In this, they demonstrate the blind, pitiless power of natural selection at its most dramatic. And一for one group of brainy bipedal mammals that viruses helped create-t

11、hey also present a heady mix of threat and opportunity.病毒的种类多到难以想象，而 且无处不在。很明了的是，从生命诞生之初起，病毒越来越 多地影响所有微生物的进化。病毒最为显著的方式证明了自 然选择盲目性和残酷性。病毒创造了一群聪明的两足哺乳动 物人类，既是威胁，也是机遇,令人捉摸不透。As our essay in this week7 s issue explains, viruses are best thought of as packages of genetic material that exploit another org

12、anism s metabolism in order to reproduce. They are parasites of the purest kind: they borrow everything from the host except the genetic code that makes them what they are. They strip down life itself to the bare essentials ofinformation and its replication. If the abundance of viruses is anything t

13、o go by, that is a very successful strategy indeed.正如我们本周刊登的文章所言，对病 毒最好的解释就是利用另一种生物的新陈代谢来进行 繁殖的遗传物质组合。它们是一种最纯粹的寄生虫：除了 遗传密码外，它们的一切都来自宿主。它们将生命剥离到只 剩下赤裸裸的信息及其复制品。如果说种类丰富的病毒们有 什么值得学习的地方，那就是它们的生存策略真地非常成 功。The world is teeming with them. One analysis of seawater found 200,000 different viral species, and

14、it was not setting out to be comprehensive. Other research suggests that a single litre of seawater may contain more than lOObn virus particles, and a kilo of dried soil ten times that number. Altogether, according to calculations on the back of a very big envelope, the world might contain 1031 of t

15、hethings一that is one followed by 31 zeros, far outnumbering all other forms of life on the planet.世界 上到处都是病毒。一项针对海水的分析发现，海水里有20万 种病毒，而这还不是全部。有一些研究发现,一升海水中可 能含有1000亿病毒颗粒，而一千克干燥土壤中的病毒数量 可能是这个数字的10倍。据计算,世界上可能有10的31 次方个病毒（即1后面有31个零），远远超过了地球上所有其 他生物的总和。As far as anyone can tell, virusesoften of many diff

16、erent sortshave adapted to attack every organism that exists. One reason they are powerhouses of evolution is that they oversee a relentless and prodigious slaughter, mutating as they do so. This is particularly clear in the oceans, where a fifth of single-celled plankton are killed by viruses every

17、 day. Ecologically, this promotes diversity by scything down abundant species, thus making roomfor rarer ones. The more common an organism, the more likely it is that a local plague of viruses specialised to attack it will develop, and so keep it in check.众所周知，病毒通常有许多不同的种类,已适应了 攻击每一个既有的有机体。病毒之所以是进化的

18、动力源，其 中一个原因是它们进行着一场无情的大屠杀，并在屠杀过程 中变异一这在海洋中尤其明显。在海洋中，病毒每天危 殆五分之一的单细胞浮游生物。从生态学的角度来说，病毒 通过削减物种数量为更稀有的生物腾出空间，促进了物种多 样性。一种生物越常见，专门攻击它的病毒就越有可能开展 成一场瘟疫，从而控制这种生物。This propensity to cause plagues is also a powerful evolutionary stimulus for prey to develop defences, and these defences sometimes have wider co

19、nsequences. For example, one explanation for why a cell may deliberately destroy itself is if its sacrificelowers the viral load on closely related cells nearby.That way, its genes, copied in neighbouring cells, are more likely to survive. It so happens that such altruistic suicide is a prerequisite

20、 for cells to come together and form complex organisms, such as pea plants, mushrooms and human beings.病毒弓|发瘟疫这一倾向 促进了生物进化，因为这会促使病毒的猎物作出防御，并时 常带来更为广泛的后果。例如，有一种说法，称细胞故意毁 灭自己的原因是它的牺牲降低了附近紧密相关细胞的病毒 载量。这样，它的基因才得以在邻近细胞中复制，更有可能 存活下来。这种无私的自我毁灭是细胞聚集在一起形成复杂 生物体（如豌豆植物、蘑菇和人类）的先决条件。The other reason viruses are

21、engines of evolution is that they are transport mechanisms for genetic information. Some viral genomes end up integrated into the cells of their hosts, where they can be passed down to those organisms7 descendants. Between 8% and 25% of the human genome seems to have suchviral origins. But the virus

22、es themselves can in turn be hijacked, and their genes turned to new uses. For example, the ability of mammals to bear live young is a consequence of a viral gene being modified to permit the formation of placentas. And even human brains may owe their development in part to the movement within them of virus-like elements that create genetic differences between neurons within a single organism. 病毒成为生物进化动力的另一个原因是，它们有基因信息的 传输机制。一些病毒的基因组最终融入宿主的细胞之中，然 后遗传给宿主的后代。人类基因组里应该有8%-25%来源于 病毒。但是，这些病毒基因自身也可能反过来遭宿主劫持， 它们的基因也有了新作用。比方，哺乳动物能拥有生育后代 的能力，是因为它们体