VOA慢速英语2019 研究人员研究蜘蛛丝以制造新材料

Researchers Study Spiders’ Silks to Make New Materials

Cheryl Hayashi began examining the body of a silver garden spider under her microscope.

谢丽尔·林开始在显微镜下研究一只银色园蛛的身体。

Using two sets of tweezers¹, she soon found what she was looking for: hundreds of silk glands³, the organs spiders use to make their webs.

借助两套镊子的帮助，她很快发现了她寻找的东西：数百个丝腺体，这是蜘蛛用来织网的器官。

Each gland² lets a spider produce a different type of silk.

每个丝腺体会帮助蜘蛛产生一种不同的丝。

“They [spiders] make so many kinds of silk!” Hayashi said. “That’s just what boggles my mind.”

林表示：“蜘蛛能产生好多种丝！而这就是困惑我的问题。”

Hayashi’s lab at the American Museum of Natural History is studying the genes⁵ behind each kind of silk. She has collected spider silk glands of about 50 species.

林就职的实验室隶属于美国自然历史博物馆，该实验室正在研究每种丝背后的基因。她收集了约50个物种的蜘蛛丝腺。

The goal is to make a kind of “silk library,” she said. The library could become an important information resource for designing new products from space equipment to clothing.

她说，目标是建造一个“蜘蛛丝图书馆”。这一图书馆可能成为重要的信息来源，用于设计涵盖从太空设备到服装等各个领域的新产品。

However, the library’s work is far from complete. There are more than 48,000 spider species known worldwide.

然而，图书馆的工作远未完成。目前全球已知的蜘蛛物种超过4.8万种。

Spider silks all start out in the same way: as a wet and sticky substance. It is like rubber cement or thick honey, as Hayashi describes it. Spiders make the substance and store it in a gland until they want to make silk.

蜘蛛丝的起源都是一样的：一种又湿又黏的物质。根据林的描述，这种物质类似于橡胶胶水或黏稠的蜂蜜。蜘蛛在丝腺中产生并储存这种物质，直到其想制造蜘蛛丝。

Then, a short tube called a spigot opens. As the substance flows out, it changes into a solid silk strand⁶ that joins with other strands⁷ coming from other spigots.

之后，短短的吐丝管开启。随着黏性物质的流出，其会变成一条结实的丝线，并与其它吐丝管中流出的丝线交织在一起。

Nobody knows how many kinds of spider silks exist. But, some species can produce many kinds. Orb-weaving spiders, for example, make seven kinds.

没有人知道世上存在多少种蜘蛛丝。但是，有些蜘蛛物种可以产生许多种蜘蛛丝。比如，圆网蜘蛛能产生7种蜘蛛丝。

Hayashi has been studying spider silk for about 20 years. Only recently has improved technology let scientists quickly study the genetic⁸ material, or DNA⁹, of spiders and produce synthetic¹⁰ spider silk in large amounts.

林研究蜘蛛丝已有20年的时间。直到最近，改进的技术才让科学家得以迅速研究蜘蛛的遗传物质或DNA，并大量生产人造蜘蛛丝。

Until recently, scientists had to first cut the glands’ DNA into pieces. They then used a computer to try to put the DNA back in order, like a jigsaw¹¹ puzzle. The task is especially difficult for the DNA of spiders because their genes are very long and repetitive.

直到最近，科学家们还不得不先将丝腺的DNA切成碎片。然后用电脑像拼图一样将DNA重新按序排好。就蜘蛛的DNA而言，这项任务尤其困难，因为蜘蛛的基因非常长，而且具有重复性。

That is the problem Sarah Stellwagen from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County faced. She was studying genes, and DNA, related to spider silk. She thought she could do it quickly, but it took almost two years.

这是美国马里兰大学巴尔的摩分校的莎拉·施特尔瓦根面临的问题。她曾研究与蜘蛛丝有关的基因和DNA。她本以为她能很快完成研究，但实际上她花费了近两年的时间。

Scientists have to recover the full gene⁴ to truly copy natural silk, she said. If they try to produce silk from only part of a gene or something produced in a laboratory, “it’s not as good as what a spider makes,” Stellwagen said.

她说，科学家必须还原完整的基因才能真正地模仿天然蛛丝。施特尔瓦根表示，如果他们尝试仅用一个基因的一部分或实验室制造的某种不完全版本来制造人造蜘蛛丝，“那就无法像蜘蛛产的丝那样好”。

It was only last year that a research group was able to make a small amount of silk that perfectly¹² matched the kind of silk that an orb-weaving spider dangles¹⁴ from. But that was only one kind of silk from one species.

直到去年，一个研究小组才得以制造出少量与圆网蜘蛛吐出的丝完全吻合的人造蜘蛛丝。但这只是一种蜘蛛产生的一种蜘蛛丝。

Hayashi asked: “What about the other 48,000?”

林问道：“那其他4.8万种呢？”

As technology has improved, researchers can now map genes much better without first chopping them up. And companies have gotten closer to successfully recreating spider silks.

随着技术的进步，现在研究人员可以在不用先将基因切碎的情况下更好地了解基因。多家公司已经离成功重现蜘蛛丝越来越近。

Now, the task remains¹⁵ to discover the secrets of the thousands of other spider silks out there, which is not easy.

现在的任务依然是：探索其他数千种蜘蛛丝的秘密，而这项任务并不容易。

“But hey, you know, we all have goals,” Hayashi said.

林说：“但是，嘿，我们都有目标。”

Words in This Story

tweezer – n. a small tool that is made of two narrow pieces of metal which are joined at one end and that is used to hold, move, or pull very small objects

boggle – v. to make (the mind) unable to think clearly : to amaze or overwhelm (the mind)

species –n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can reproduce

synthetic – adj. made by combining different substances : not natural

repetitive – adj. happening again and again : repeated many times

dangle¹³ –v. to hang down loosely in a way that makes it possible to swing freely

1 tweezers   

n.镊子

参考例句：

• We simply removed from the cracked endocarp with sterile tweezers.我们简单地用消过毒的镊子从裂开的内果皮中取出种子。
• Bee stings should be removed with tweezers.蜜蜂的螫刺应该用小镊子拔出来。

2 gland   

n.腺体，(机)密封压盖，填料盖

参考例句：

• This is a snake's poison gland.这就是蛇的毒腺。
• Her mother has an underactive adrenal gland.她的母亲肾上腺机能不全。

3 glands   

n.腺( gland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a snake's poison glands 蛇的毒腺
• the sebaceous glands in the skin 皮脂腺

4 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。

5 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

6 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

7 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 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。

10 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

11 jigsaw   

n.缕花锯，竖锯，拼图游戏；vt.用竖锯锯，使互相交错搭接

参考例句：

• A jigsaw puzzle can keep me absorbed for hours.一副拼图就能让我沉醉几个小时。
• Tom likes to work on jigsaw puzzles,too.汤姆也喜欢玩拼图游戏。

12 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

13 dangle   

v.(使)悬荡，(使)悬垂

参考例句：

• At Christmas,we dangle colored lights around the room.圣诞节时，我们在房间里挂上彩灯。
• He sits on the edge of the table and dangles his legs.他坐在桌子边上，摆动著双腿。

14 dangles   

悬吊着( dangle的第三人称单数 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• A kite dangles from a telephone wire. 一只风筝悬挂在电话线上晃来晃去。
• Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. 她一只手耷拉在一边，闪耀着珠宝的寒光。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。