TED演讲:昭示长寿的实验(5)

 　　Thank you, Cynthia.  谢谢，辛西娅

　　Let me get this straight.  让我直说

　　Although you're looking for a drug  尽管你在找寻一种药

　　that can solve aging  它能解决

　　in old men like me,  像我一样老人的衰老问题

　　what you could do now pretty well in the lab,  几乎在实验室你能做什么

　　if you were allowed ethically,  如果你在道德上被准许

　　is start a human life from scratch  从人类生命开始

　　with altered genes¹ that would make it live for a lot longer?  改变基因就能使得人们生命更长久吗

　　Ah, so the kinds of drugs I was talking about  我刚在讲这些药

　　would not change the genes,  不是改变基因

　　they would just bind² to the protein itself  它们只会联系到蛋白质本身

　　and change its activity.  改变它的活性

　　So if you stop taking the drug, the protein would go back to normal.  所以如果你停止服药，蛋白质会返回到平常

　　You could change the genes in principle.  原则上你可以改变基因

　　There isn't the technology to do that.  还没有科技这样做

　　But I don't think that's a good idea.  但我也认为这不是个好主意

　　And the reason is  理由是

　　that these hormones³,  这些激素

　　like the insulin and the IGF hormones and the TOR pathway,  就像胰岛素和IGF-1激素和TOR传递

　　they're essential.  它们是最基本的

　　If you knock them out completely, then you're very sick.  假若你完全没有它们，随后你就病得很重

　　So it might be that you would just have to fine tune⁴ it very carefully  所以可能只会非常小心地调试它们

　　to get the benefits without getting any problems.  在没有什么意外情况下使它们起作用

　　And I think that's much better,  我想这会更好

　　that kind of control would be much better as a drug.  这种调试就像用药一样会更好

　　And also, there are other ways of activating⁵ FOXO  当然，也有其他方法激活FOXO

　　that don't even involve insulin or IGF-1  甚至不需要胰岛素和IGF-1激素

　　that might even be safer.  这甚至会更加安全

　　I wasn't suggesting that I was going to go and do it, but ...  我不是建议我要去试试，但是

　　There's a phenomenon which you have written about and spoken about,  你曾写过和讲过一种现象

　　which is a negligible senescence.  它是一种可忽略的衰老

　　There are some creatures on this planet already  在这星球上已经有些生物

　　that don't really do aging.  它们不会衰老

　　Just move to one side for us, if you would.  那让我们从另一面来说，假若可行的话

　　There are. There are some animals that don't seem to age.  是的，有些动物好像不会衰老

　　For example, there are some tortoises called Blanding's turtles.  例如，有种叫布兰丁的龟

　　And they grow to be about this size.  它们生长到约这种尺寸

　　And they've been tagged, and they've been found to be 70 years old.  它们被标记，我们发现它们是70岁

　　And when you look at these 70 year-old turtles,  当看着这些70岁龟

　　you can't tell the difference, just by looking,  你不能只从相貌看出区别

　　between those turtles and 20 year-old turtles.  在这些70岁龟和20岁龟之间

　　And the 70 year-old ones,  70岁龟

　　actually they're better at scouting⁶ out the good nesting places,  事实上能更好地探出安巢的好地方

　　and they also have more progeny⁷ every year.  它们每年也有更多的后代

　　And there are other examples of these kinds of animals,  还有其它这种动物

　　like turns, certain kinds of birds are like this.  像是某种鸟类就好比这个

　　And nobody knows if they really can live forever,  没人知道它们真的能永世活着

　　or what keeps them from aging.  或者是什么使得它们不衰老

　　It's not clear.  这都不清楚

　　If you look at birds, which live a long time,  如果你看看鸟类，那些活很长的

　　cells from the birds tend to be more resistant⁸  这些鸟的细胞趋于更能抵制

　　to a lot of different environmental stresses  许多不同种的环境压力

　　like high temperature  比如高温

　　or hydrogen peroxide, things like that.  或过氧化氢，像这类似的

　　And our long-lived mutants are too.  我们长寿变异体也是如此

　　They're more resistant to these kinds of stresses.  它们更能抵制这些压力

　　So it could be that the pathways that I've been talking about,  所以这可能是我所说的传递

　　which are set to run really quickly in the worm,  它在线虫身上设定和运转得非常快

　　have a different normal set point  有一个不同标准设定点

　　in something like a bird, so that a bird can live a lot longer.  如同鸟身上的那种，以至于鸟类能活很久

　　And maybe they're even set really differently  或许它们甚至在动物中设定得非常不同

　　in animals with no senescence at all -- but we don't know.  一点都没有衰老--但我们不得而知

　　But what you're talking about here  但你这儿所谈到的

　　is not extending human lifespan  不是通过预防死亡

　　by preventing death,  来延长人类寿命

　　so much as extending human youthspan.  如同延长人类青春期一样

　　Yes, that's right.  是的，是这样

　　It's more like, say, if you were a dog.  这更像是，如果比作狗

　　You notice that you're getting old, and you look at your human  你发觉你在变老，你看看人类

　　and you think, "Why isn't this human getting old?"  你想，“为什么这人不变老？”

　　They're not getting old in the dog's lifespan.  在狗的一生，人们没有变老

　　It's more like that.  这更像这种情况

　　But now we're the human looking out and imagining a different human.  但现在我们是人类看着和想象着一个不同的人

　　Thank you very much indeed, Cynthia Kenyon.  的确十分感谢，辛西娅·肯尼娅

1 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

2 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

3 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 activating   

活动的，活性的

参考例句：

• "I didn't say we'd got to stop activating the masses! “我并没说就此不发动！ 来自子夜部分
• Presumably both the very small size and activating influence of fluorine atoms contribute to this exception. 这大概是由于氟原子半径小和活性高这两个原因的影响，氟原子对这种例外做出了贡献。

6 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

7 progeny   

n.后代，子孙；结果

参考例句：

• His numerous progeny are scattered all over the country.他为数众多的后代散布在全国各地。
• He was surrounded by his numerous progeny.众多的子孙簇拥着他。

8 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。