听力文摘：对付艾滋有新招!

Glow In The Dark Cats, Monkeys, And HIV

荧光猫、猴子和艾滋

Have you heard the one about the jellyfish, the monkey, and the glow in the dark cat?

你听说过关于水母、猴子和在荧光猫的事情吗？

Actually, it's no joke: scientists are experimenting with ways to combat HIV and AIDS by injecting cats with genes² taken from macaque monkeys and jellyfish the latter of which makes the felines⁴ glow green or red.

事实上，这不是一个玩笑：科学家们正在试验研究防御艾滋病的方法。他们向猫体内注入从恒河猴和水母体内获得的基因，水母的基因能使猫发出绿色或红色的光。

What, you may wonder, do glow in the dark cats and monkey genes have to do with treating HIV?

你可能会好奇，荧光猫、猴子的基因和治疗艾滋有什么关系？

Like humans and many types of monkeys, cats are susceptible⁵ to being infected by an HIV like virus called feline³ immunodeficiency virus, or FIV. Like HIV, FIV makes cats sick by destroying their infection fighting T cells. Millions of cats die each year from FIV related diseases.

正如人类和很多种类的猴子一样，猫也容易被一种名为猫类免疫缺陷病毒的类艾滋病毒的感染。同艾滋病毒一样，猫类免疫缺陷病毒通过破坏猫的T细胞使它们患病。每年都有数百万的猫死于FIV相关的疾病。

The good news for cats, though, is that rhesus macaque monkeys have a gene¹ known to block infection by FIV.

尽管如此，对猫而言，好消息是恒河猴体内有可以抵抗FIV感染的基因。

So scientists have experimented with inserting the macaque genes into cats with FIV, to study both how well it protects them against the virus and how well the genes are passed on to the cats'offspring.

因此，科学家们把恒河猴的基因注入猫体内，来研究这种基因是是否能很好地保护它们抵抗病毒并且是否能够传递给下一代的。

Which is where the jellyfish gene comes in. The cats are also injected with a glow in the dark gene from jellyfish to allow scientists to track how well the genes are passed on. If the cats'offspring glow, then they’ve gotten both genes.

这就是注入水母基因的作用之处。科学家们在猫体内注射水母能发光的基因来追踪基因的传递。如果猫的后代同样能够发光，那么它们就获得了这两种基因。

So far, cats and their kittens who've received the monkey gene are doing well the monkey gene seems to be doing its job to protect them from FIV.

迄今为止，拥有恒河猴基因的猫和它们的后代能和恒河猴一样，能够很好地抵抗FIV。

This type of gene therapy isn't ready for use in clinics to treat people with HIV or cats with FIV. But the research will help scientists better understand how genes can be used to fight AIDS and other viral diseases.

这种疗法目前还不够成熟，还不能临床应用来治疗艾滋病毒携带者或携带FIV的猫。但是，这项研究将会帮助科学家更好的了解基因在治疗艾滋病和其他病毒性疾病中的作用。

1 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

2 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

3 feline   

adj.猫科的

参考例句：

• As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.结果是人们已经学会尊重猫的独立性。
• The awakening was almost feline in its stealthiness.这种醒觉，简直和猫的脚步一样地轻悄。

4 felines   

n.猫科动物( feline的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Any of several felines, such as the cheetah or the snow leopard. 这片地区是濒临灭绝的雪豹的栖息地。 来自互联网
• Search in the basket of life, you will find it, answered Felines. 它在生命的篮子里＂巴思特女神回答道。 来自互联网

5 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。