新奇事件簿 英国允许三父母婴儿

Lawmakers in the U.K. have voted to allow doctors to create babies from the DNA¹ of three different people.It will be the first country in the world to do this. There was a vote in Britain's parliament, where 382 lawmakers voted for allowing three-person babies and 128 voted against the idea. The idea behind three-person babies is to stop diseases being passed from a mother to her newborn baby. Doctors say that as many as150 babies a year could be born using the new technique. The first baby to be born using the DNA from three people could be as early as next year. The technique will help families with mitochondrial diseases. These are incurable² and affect about one in 6,500 children worldwide.

英国允许了三父母婴儿，即通过三人的DNA来产生婴儿。英国是全球第一个允许三父母婴儿的国家。这项决议在英国国会进行了投票，有382名立法人都同意了这一做法，128人反对。三父母的这一想法的目的是要防止母婴遗传疾病。医生认为每年可以允许150名婴儿使用此项技术。首位三父母婴儿最早将会在明年产生。这项技术将帮助家庭预防线粒体疾病。这些疾病无法医治，并影响了全球6500名儿童。

The technique is quite simple. It combines the DNA of the two parents with the DNA of another woman. Doctors replace the unhealthy, disease-carrying DNA in the mother's egg with healthy DNA from the donor³. The result is that the baby receives about 0.1 per cent of its DNA from the donor woman. Lawmakers said the technique was "light at the end of a dark tunnel" for many families. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We're not playing God here. We're just making sure that two parents who want a healthy baby can have one." Critics say the technique could be dangerous. They say it would open the door to the genetic⁴ modification⁵ of children and "designer babies" in the future.

这项技术非常简单。它将两名父母的DNA与另一位女性的DNA相结合。医生将用捐献者的健康DNA代替母亲卵巢中的带病DNA。结果是婴儿的体内将拥有捐献者0.1%的DNA。这项技术让许多家庭重燃希望。英国首相大卫·卡梅伦认为：“我们没有违背天意，我们只想让那些想拥有健康婴儿的家庭得到他们想得到的。”批判家认为这项技术非常危险。他们说未来我们很有可能会面临儿童基因改造，以及人工婴儿。

1 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。

2 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

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 modification   

n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻

参考例句：

• The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。
• The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。