2020年经济学人 免疫学—初绿萌芽(1)

The best hope for ending the covid-19 pandemic is a vaccine¹. There is no shortage of candidates.

结束新冠疫情最大的希望就是疫苗。有不少候选疫苗。

The World Health Organisation² is tracking 34 in various stages of development.

WHO正在追踪34种处于不同研发阶段的疫苗。

How well they will work, though, is another matter.

不过，它们的效果如何则是另一回事。

On September 9th AstraZeneca, a drug firm, announced it was pausing its trials after a participant fell ill.

9月9日，制药公司阿斯利康宣布，由于一名参与者患病，他们将暂停试验。

Such pauses are common in vaccine development, a discipline in which effort does not always bring reward.

在疫苗研发阶段，这种暂停很普遍，在这一学科中，努力不一定总能得到回报。

Despite much research, only an imperfect vaccine is available for dengue fever (it has limited efficacy and can cause nasty side-effects).

尽管进行了大量研究，但目前只有一种不完美的登革热疫苗可用（它的效力有限，并可能引发严重的副作用）。

In 1987 the first trial of an HIV vaccine began in Maryland. Three decades later, the cupboard remains³ bare.

1987年，第一次HIV疫苗试验在马里兰州开始。三十年过去了，这一领域的成果仍然贫瘠。

The news about covid-19 in two new papers is more encouraging.

两篇新论文中关于新冠的消息更令人鼓舞。

The first, written by a team of scientists at decode⁴ genetics, an Icelandic company, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine,

第一篇文章由冰岛一家基因解码公司的一组科学家撰写，发表在《新英格兰医学期刊》上，

reports antibody levels in 1,200 Icelanders who had been infected with the sars-cov-2 virus and recovered.

论文报告了1200名感染新冠病毒并已康复的冰岛人的抗体水平。

More than 90% tested positive for antibodies twice—once immediately post-infection and again four months later.

超过90%的人抗体测试两次均呈阳性——一次是在感染后立即进行的测试，另一次是在四个月后。

People who had suffered more serious disease, such as those who had been hospitalised, developed higher levels of antibodies.

那些状况更严重的人，比如那些已经住院的患者，产生了更高水平的抗体。

So did men and older people, both of whom are at greater risk of more severe illness.

男性和老年人也一样，他们病情严重的风险更大。

The four-month lifespan is cheering for two reasons. Antibodies that hang around are more likely to offer immunity⁵.

四个月的生命期令人振奋的原因有两个。有抗体在就更可能提供免疫力。

That means a vaccine that provokes their production should provide reasonably long-lasting protection.

这意味着一种能够刺激它们产生的疫苗应该可以提供适当的长期保护。

They are also easier to find. That suggests that results from population-wide antibody screening programmes,

它们也更容易找到。这表明，旨在绘制病毒传播图表的

which aim to chart the spread of the virus, should be fairly accurate.

全人口抗体筛查项目的结果应该相当准确。

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

3 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。

4 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

5 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。