胚胎技术重大突破 未来也可人工制造？

 　　近日，《科学》杂志在线报道称，剑桥大学的科学家们通过使用两种干细胞以及一个三维支架，成功地创造出了一个能够自行组装的结构，其发育和构造非常接近自然的小鼠胚胎。科学家的研究目的并非制造怪胎，而是为了探究人类的早期发育、妊娠失败和遗传缺陷。

　　Artificial human life could soon be grown from scratch in the lab, after scientists successfully created a mammal embryo¹ using only stem cells.

　　在科学家成功利用干细胞培育出哺乳动物胚胎后，人工制造的人类胚胎很快也将能够被培育出来。

　　Cambridge University mixed two kinds of mouse stem cells and placed them on a 3D scaffold. After four days of growth in a tank of chemicals designed to mimic² conditions inside the womb, the cells formed the structure of a living mouse embryo.

　　剑桥大学研究人员将两种小鼠干细胞混合并放置在一个三维支架上，在模仿子宫内条件的有化学物质的容器内长了四天，细胞形成了存活的小鼠胚胎结构。

　　胚胎技术重大突破 未来也可人工制造？

　　The breakthrough has been described as a ‘masterpiece’ in bioengineering, which could eventually allow scientists to grow artificial human embryos³ in the lab without the need for a sperm⁴ or an egg.

　　这一突破被称为生物工程中的“杰作”，科学家们最终将可以在不需要精子或卵子的前提下，在实验室里培育出人工胚胎。

　　Growing embryos would help researchers to study the very early stages of human life so they could understand why so many pregnancies⁵ fail, but is likely to prove controversial and raise ethical⁶ questions about what constitutes human life.

　　培育人工胚胎将有助于研究人员研究人类活动最早的阶段，去探索很多人怀孕失败的原因，但此举有可能引发争议，并提出什么构成了人类生命的伦理问题。

　　Currently scientists can carry out experiments on leftover⁷ embryos from IVF treatments, but they are in short supply and must be destroyed after 14 days. Scientists say that being able to create unlimited⁸ numbers of artificial embryos in the lab could speed up research while potentially removing some of the ethical boundaries.

　　目前科学家能使用试管受精中的剩余胚胎继续实验，但供不应求，并在14天后就必须被摧毁。科学家们说，在实验室中创造无限数量的人工胚胎可加快研究，但与此同时可能跨越了一些伦理界限。

　　“We think that it will be possible to mimic a lot of the developmental events occurring before 14 days using human stem cells," said Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz from the Department of Physiology⁹, Development and Neuroscience at Cambridge, who led the research.

　　“我们认为，可以使用人类干细胞来模仿14天内的发展变化。”研究带头人、剑桥大学生理发展和神经科学系的Magdalena Zernicka Goetz教授说。

　　"We are very optimistic that this will allow us to study key events of this critical stage of human development without actually having to work on (IVF) embryos. Knowing how development normally occurs will allow us to understand why it so often goes wrong."

　　“这个研究将使我们不需要研究（人工授精）胚胎，就能研究人类发展重要阶段的关键事件。知道如何正常发育才会让我们明白，它经常出错的原因所在。我们对此很乐观。”

　　Britain is currently leading the world in fertility research, and last year a group at the Francis Crick Institute was granted permission to genetically¹⁰ modify human embryos, the first time in the world such a procedure had been approved by regulators.

　　英国目前的生育研究世界领先。2016年，弗兰西斯克里克学院一个研究小组被批准进行基因改造的人类胚胎繁殖实验，这是世界上首次获得监管机构批准的实验。

　　However such work raises important ethical questions about the sanctity of human life and whether it should be manipulated or created in the lab at all.

　　然而这样的研究引发了关于人类生命的尊严和人类生命是否应该被操纵或在实验室里创造的重要伦理问题。

　　Critics warn that allowing embryos to be grown for science opens the door to designer babies and genetically modified humans.

　　批评人士警告说，允许胚胎生长用于科学研究打开了订制婴儿和人类基因改造的大门。

1 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。

2 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

3 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

4 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

5 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

6 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

7 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

8 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

9 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

10 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物