科学美国人60秒 SSS 用古代DNA重写《死海古卷》历史

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗·因塔格里塔。

The Dead Sea Scrolls² are religious manuscripts that were written from the third century B.C.E. to the first century C.E.

《死海古卷》是从公元前3世纪到公元前1世纪写成的宗教手稿。

They were discovered in the 1940s and '50s in caves along the shore of the Dead Sea.

这些手稿于上世纪40年代和50年代在死海沿岸的洞穴中被发现。

The parchments have been the topic of intense religious, literary and historical debate.

这些羊皮纸手稿一直是宗教、文学和历史领域激烈争论的话题。

They also continue to be the subject of scientific analysis—including DNA³.

它们也继续成为包括DNA在内的科学分析的对象。

"The idea was to try to match and piece apart fragments based on their genetic⁴ identity—namely based on the animals from which they were made."

“我们的想法是根据碎片的基因身份，即根据其是什么动物做的，来将其匹配和拼凑起来。”

Oded Rechavi is a molecular⁵ biologist Tel Aviv University.

特拉维夫大学的分子生物学家奥德·雷查维说到。

His team sequenced the DNA from bits of scroll¹ dust.

他的团队对卷轴上的尘埃微粒进行了DNA测序。

"Almost all the scrolls we sampled were perhaps surprisingly found to be made out of sheep skin.

“令人惊讶的是，我们抽样的几乎所有卷轴都由羊皮制成。

We found two that were made out of cow skin, that is a big story."

我们发现了两件牛皮卷轴，这相当重要。”

Here Rechavi's colleague Noam Mizrahi from the university's department of biblical studies picked up the story.

与雷查维同校的圣经研究院的诺姆·米兹莱希从这里接手这个项目。

The scrolls, he says, came from a place called Qumran, a three day's walk from the cultural center of Jerusalem.

他表示，这些卷轴来自昆兰，这个地方离耶路撒冷文化中心有三天的步行距离。

Mizrahi explains that the people of Qumran were an extremist group, with apocalyptic⁶ predictions, who harshly criticized the views of others.

米兹莱希解释说，昆兰人是相信末日预言的极端组织，他们会严厉批评其他人的观点。

Therefore, he says, there's been long-standing debate

因此，他认为存在一种长期的争论，

about how much the scrolls—unearthed from this sect⁷ in Qumran—represented just this faction's views or more general Jewish thought at the time.

即从昆兰这一教派地区出土的卷轴在多大程度上只代表这个教派的观点或当时更普遍的犹太人思想？

The presence of cow skins in a desert region, inhospitable to cattle, is provocative⁸ because it suggests this...

在对牛不友好的沙漠地区出现牛皮是种挑衅，因为它表明……

"Cow-made scrolls do not reflect the sectarian community of Qumran but were rather brought from the outside, written at the outside—

“牛皮卷轴并不反映昆兰教派群体，而是在外地书写并带入该地区，

and hence reflect broader Jewish society of the period."

因此反映的是当时更广泛的犹太社会。”

That finding is in the journal Cell.

这项研究发表在《细胞》期刊上。

Several other lines of evidence point to the ancient Qumran library containing a broad diversity of texts.

其他几项证据表明，古昆兰图书馆包含了广泛多样的文本。

Mizrahi says genetics have added a new dimension to his studies, complementing⁹ his analysis of the content and language of the parchments.

米兹莱希表示，遗传学为他的研究增加了新维度，补充了他对羊皮纸文稿内容和语言的分析。

"Here I discovered that the material of the scrolls, the very biological material from which the scrolls are made, is as informative¹⁰ and as telling in terms of the very question that was trying to clarify for myself and for other scholars."

“我发现，就努力为自已和其他学者解释卷轴这件事而言，卷轴的材料，也就是制作卷轴所用的生物材料，既具有信息价值，又具有说服力。”

In other words, sometimes you need the subtext—in this case, literally¹¹ the material under the writing.

换句话说，有时你需要潜台词——就此案例而言，指的就是文字下面的材料。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

1 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

2 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 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。

5 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

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。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

6 apocalyptic   

adj.预示灾祸的，启示的

参考例句：

• The air is chill and stagnant,the language apocalyptic.空气寒冷而污浊，语言则是《启示录》式的。
• Parts of the ocean there look just absolutely apocalyptic.海洋的很多区域看上去完全像是世界末日。

7 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

8 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

9 complementing   

补足，补充( complement的现在分词 )； 求反

参考例句：

• Maligrant segregants may, therefore, arise when complementing chromosomes are lost. 因此当互补染色体丢失时，就会产生恶性分离子。
• A complementing circuIt'selects either the subtracter output or the output of the complementing circuit. 取补线路可任意选通减法器的输出或补取线路的输出。

10 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。