2021双语新闻 人类为什么不冬眠？

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Is human hibernation¹ possible?

人类为什么不冬眠？

With low temperatures and a lack of food, winter is a harsh season for animals.

冬天温度较低、食物短缺，对于动物来说是一个严酷的季节。

Many animals enter hibernation to get through it.

许多动物靠冬眠来过冬。

Hibernation is when an animal goes into a state of extended inactivity.

冬眠指动物进入长时间的生命活动极低的状态。

Animals hide away from predators².

冬眠时，动物会避开捕食者，

Their metabolism³ will slow to less than a quarter of its normal rate.

将新陈代谢速度减慢至正常速度的四分之一以下。

This cools the creature’s body and slows its heartbeat to just a few times per minute, for up to months at a time.

这会让动物的体温降低，心跳减慢至每分钟几次，而这种状态每次会持续至数月。

But why don’t humans hibernate⁴?

但是人类为什么不冬眠呢？

Human hibernation doesn’t exist for many reasons.

人类不冬眠有很多原因。

Our body is not designed for hibernation.

人类的身体不适合冬眠。

Our evolutionary⁵ ancestors were tropical animals with no history of hibernating⁶:

我们进化学上的祖先是没有冬眠历史的热带动物：

Humans have only migrated into temperate⁷ and subarctic latitudes⁸ in the last hundred thousand years or so.

人类在过去大约10万年里，才迁移到温带和靠近北极地区。

That’s not quite long enough to evolve all the metabolic⁹ adaptations we would need to be able to hibernate,

这段时间还不够长，人类无法进化出冬眠所需的所有代谢适应能力。

according to the BBC Science Focus Magazine.

据英国广播公司《科学焦点》杂志报道，

For example, waste management is a huge challenge for human hibernation.

例如，处理代谢废物就是人类冬眠会面临的巨大挑战，

Animals that hibernate are able to essentially¹⁰ stop their urination and defecation during hibernation,

冬眠的动物基本上能够在冬眠期间停止排尿、排便，

sometimes through a process of reabsorption to preserve nutrients¹¹.

有时它们还会重新吸收废物来保存营养。

Unfortunately, humans can’t do this.

不幸的是，人类做不到这一点。

There are other challenges.

人类冬眠还面临其他挑战。

Body temperatures below 2.8 C tend to disrupt the human digestive tract¹² and may cause pain.

人体温度如果低于2.8摄氏度，往往会损害人体的消化道，而且可能引发疼痛。

Cold temperatures can also suppress the immune system, making people more vulnerable to infections, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

据《史密森尼杂志》报道，低温还会降低免疫系统活跃性，人们会更容易受到感染。

In fact, humans don’t need to sleep through winter.

实际上，人类不需要靠睡觉过冬。

We have discovered fire, clothes, shelter, hunting and agriculture, all of which are much more effective ways of surviving the cold.

我们发现通过生火、穿衣、躲进房屋中能够避寒，依靠狩猎和农耕可以果腹，所有这些手段帮助人类更有效地度过严寒。

Could humans hibernate in the future?

在未来，人类会冬眠吗?

For long-distance space travel, it’s likely.

如果踏上长途太空旅行，人类很可能会冬眠。

A journey to Mars would take around months using current technology.

凭借目前的技术，人类去往火星需要几个月的时间。

If we hope to visit another star system, even if we could travel at the speed of light, the journey would take years.

如果我们希望去到另一个星系，即使能以光速旅行，这段旅程也需要数年。

Being able to hibernate would make such distances considerably¹³ less boring for the astronauts and conserve¹⁴ vital resources,

如果能够令宇航员进入冬眠，将大幅减少其在漫长航程中的无聊感，并节约重要的资源。

according to University of Oxford¹⁵ in the UK.

英国牛津大学研究表明，

NASA is treating this question seriously.

美国航空航天局（NASA）正在认真对待人类冬眠的问题。

Beginning in 2014, the agency funded research on long-term hibernation as a way to facilitate long-term space travel,

NASA从2014年起资助了一项有关长期冬眠的研究，希望以这种方式推动长期太空旅行发展。

according to The Atlantic magazine.

据《大西洋月刊》报道

1 hibernation   

n.冬眠

参考例句：

• Bears wake up in the spring after a winter of hibernation.熊经过一个冬天的冬眠后在春季苏醒。
• The tortoise spends the winter months in hibernation.乌龟在冬眠中度过寒冬季节。

2 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 metabolism   

n.新陈代谢

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• All living matter undergoes a process of metabolism.生物都有新陈代谢。

4 hibernate   

v.冬眠，蛰伏

参考例句：

• Bears often hibernate in caves.熊常在山洞里冬眠。
• Some warm-blooded animals do not need to hibernate.一些温血动物不需要冬眠。

5 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。

6 hibernating   

（某些动物）冬眠，蛰伏( hibernate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The hibernating animals reduce movement to far below the ordinary level. 冬眠的动物把活动量大大减少到低于一般的水平。
• People find hibernating animals asleep. 人们发现冬眠动物处于休眠状态。

7 temperate   

adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的

参考例句：

• Asia extends across the frigid,temperate and tropical zones.亚洲地跨寒、温、热三带。
• Great Britain has a temperate climate.英国气候温和。

8 latitudes   

纬度

参考例句：

• Latitudes are the lines that go from east to west. 纬线是从东到西的线。
• It was the brief Indian Summer of the high latitudes. 这是高纬度地方的那种短暂的晚秋。

9 metabolic   

adj.新陈代谢的

参考例句：

• Impressive metabolic alternations have been undergone during embryogenesis.在胚胎发生期间经历了深刻的代谢变化。
• A number of intoxicants are associated with metabolic acidosis.许多毒性物质可引起代谢性酸中毒。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

13 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

14 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

15 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。