探究长寿基因

93 探究长寿基因

SCIENCE REPORT - September 12, 2001: Search for Long Life GeneBy Nancy Steinbach

（Start at 1'01"） This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Science Report.
In the year Nineteen-Hundred, a baby born in the United States could expect to live to be about forty-nine years old. Today, the life (1)expectancy for a baby in the United States is seventy-seven years. The main reasons for this change are better food, improved medical care and cleaner water and waste (2)removal systems.
Some scientists say this may explain why people live to be seventy or eighty. But only an extremely small number of Americans live to be one-hundred years old. Many of these people have brothers or sisters older than ninety. Some scientists believe these people have (3)genes² that help protect them from diseases⁴ or (4)permit them to age more slowly than other people.
A group of researchers from Boston, Massachusetts wanted to find out more about such family groups. They studied one-hundred-thirty-seven groups of very old brothers and sisters. One person in each group was at least ninety-eight years old. The brother or sister was at least ninety-one. There were three-hundred-eight people in the study. The oldest was one-hundred-nine years old.
The researchers say they made (5)progress is finding⁵ the gene¹ that may permit some people to live extremely long lives. The scientists took blood samples and tested the genes of all the sisters and brothers in the study. They (6)compared genetic⁶ (7)structures to find genes that might be linked to aging. They found an area in one (8)chromosome⁷ that appears to contain a gene or genes that may be linked to extreme old age. This one part of the chromosome has between one-hundred and five-hundred genes. The scientists say it is not clear which one or how many of the genes may affect long life.
The researchers believe the gene or genes may somehow provide (9)resistance to disease³. This may explain why many people older than one-hundred remain healthy and active.
The researchers reported the (10)results of their study in the (11)Proceedings of the National (12)Academy of Sciences. Scientists say more work needs to be done to find the gene or genes involved in living to be very old. They say such work could result in drugs that could help people without those genes to live longer.
This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

 

(1) expectancy[Ik5spektEnsI]n.期待, 期望
(2) removal[ ri5mu:vEl ]n.移动, 免职, 切除
(3) gene[ dVi:n ]n.[遗传]因子, [遗传]基因
(4) permit[ pE(:)5mit ]n.通行证, 许可证, 执照v.许可, 允许, 准许
(5) progress[ 5prEu^res ]n.前进, 进步, 发展vi.前进, 进步, 进行
(6) compare[ kEm5pZE ]v.比较, 相比, 比喻  n.比较
(7) structure[ 5strQktFE ]n.结构, 构造, 建筑物vt.建筑, 构成, 组织
(8) chromosome[ 5krEumEsEum ]n.[生物]染色体
(9) resistance[ ri5zistEns ]n.反抗, 抵抗, 抵抗力, 阻力, 电阻, 阻抗
(10) result[ ri5zQlt ]n.结果, 成效, 计算结果vi.起因, 由于, 以...为结果, 导致
(11) proceeding[ prE5si:diN ]n.行动, 进行,会议录, 学报
(12) academy[ E5kAdEmi ]n.(高等)专科院校, 研究院, 学会, 学术团体, 学院

 

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 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

4 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。

5 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

6 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。

7 chromosome   

n.染色体

参考例句：

• Chromosome material with exhibits of such behaviour is called heterochromatin.表现这种现象的染色体物质叫做异染色质。
• A segment of the chromosome may become lost,resulting in a deletion.染色体的一个片段可能会丢失，结果产生染色体的缺失。