纽约时报 同性恋取向是多种因素共同作用的结果(2)

Another fear is that evidence that genes¹ play only a partial role could embolden² people

另一个担忧是，基因只起到了部分作用的证据可能会助长

who insist being gay is a choice and who advocate tactics like conversion³ therapy.

那些坚称同性恋取向是选择的结果的人群和提倡开展性取向转变治疗等策略的人群的气焰。

Steven Reilly, a geneticist and postdoctoral researcher who is on the steering⁴ committee of the institute’s L.G.B.T.Q. affinity⁵ group, Out@Broad said,

遗传学家、博士后研究员史蒂文·赖利是与哈佛-麻省理工学院布洛德研究所志同道合的L.G.B.T.Q.组织 Out@Broad 指导委员会的委员，

“I deeply disagree about publishing this. It seems like something that could easily be misconstrued.”

他表示，“我很不赞成发表这一结果，因为这样的研究结果很容易被大家误解。”

He added, “In a world without any discrimination, understanding human behavior is a noble goal, but we don’t live in that world.”

他还说道，“在没有任何歧视的世界里，理解人类的行为是很崇高的目标，问题是我们并没有生活在那样的世界。”

Discussions between Dr. Neale’s team and colleagues who questioned the research continued for months.

尼尔博士带领的团队和质疑该研究的同事讨论这一问题一连讨论了数月。

Dr. Neale said the team, which included psychologists and sociologists,

尼尔博士表示，该团队——成员除了遗传学家，还有心理学家和社会学家——

used suggestions from those colleagues and outside L.G.B.T.Q. groups to clarify wording and highlight caveats⁶.

为了澄清措辞，强调告诫的内容，还征求了那些同事以及L.G.B.T.Q.圈外人士的建议。

Dr. Neale, who is gay said,

尼尔博士本人就是同性恋，他表示，

“I definitely heard from people who were kind of ‘why do this at all,’ and so there was some resistance there.

“我确实听到了‘完全想不明白为什么来这一出’这样的回应，所以，还是有一些抵触情绪的。

Personally, I’m still concerned that it’s going to be deliberately⁷ misused⁸ to advance agendas of hate,

就我个人而言，我还是比较担心，这个结果会被恶意利用，被用来加深仇恨，

but I do believe that the sort of proactive way we’ve approached this

但我仍然相信，我们采取的积极主动的应对方式，

and a lot of the community engagement aspects that we’ve tried were important.”

以及我们尝试过的各种社区活动都是非常重要的。”

The moment the study was published online Thursday afternoon,

周四下午，布洛德研究所在线发表研究结果时，

the Broad Institute took the unusual step of posting essays by Dr. Reilly

一反常态地同时发表了赖利博士的论文

and others who raised questions about the ethics⁹, science and social implications of the project.

和对这一研究结果可能带来的伦理、科学和社会影响提出了质疑的人士的论文。

Joe Vitti, a postdoctoral researcher at the Broad Institute, said in one essay, “As a queer person and a geneticist,

该研究所博士后研究员乔·维特在一篇论文中写道，“身为一名同性恋者兼遗传学家，

I struggle to understand the motivations behind a genome-wide association study for non-heterosexual behavior.

我很难理解开展针对非异性恋行为的全基因组关联研究背后的动机。

I have yet to see a compelling argument that the potential benefits of this study outweigh¹⁰ its potential harms.”

目前，我还没有看到能够令人信服地证明这项研究的潜在益处大于潜在危害的论点。”

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 embolden   

v.给…壮胆，鼓励

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine,he went over to introduce himself to her.他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• The Prime Minister was steadily emboldened by the discovery that he faced no opposition.发现自己并未遭到反对，首相渐渐有了信心。

3 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

4 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

5 affinity   

n.亲和力，密切关系

参考例句：

• I felt a great affinity with the people of the Highlands.我被苏格兰高地人民深深地吸引。
• It's important that you share an affinity with your husband.和丈夫有共同的爱好是十分重要的。

6 caveats   

警告

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling. 为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。 来自辞典例句
• As I have written before, that's quite a caveat. 正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。 来自互联网

7 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

8 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

10 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。