英语听力文摘 English Digest 356、基因也疯狂

DNA¹ Wrath² of Khan
成吉思汗疯狂的基因

Today, Afghanistan is a war-torn region, battled over by military forces and world-spanning empires. Eight hundred years ago things were much the same. Only then, there was only one ruler: Genghis Khan.

Khan is one of the greatest conquerors⁴ who ever lived. Before he was finished, he had created an empire that ran all the way from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Japan.

That’s the history  portion of our show. Now, on to the science. What is it that powerful males of the human species are after when they overrun other males? From an evolutionary point of view, the major objective is to spread their genes⁵ more effectively. And surprising, new data suggest Khan may have done that more successfully than anyone imagined.

Researcher Tatiana Zerjal, from the University of Oxford⁶ in England, and a team of geneticists took genetic⁷ samples of over twenty-one thousand men from all over Asia. They were looking for variations in certain genetic “markers,” or sequences of genes that tell you something about where people came from. To their astonishment⁸, they found that one out of every twelve Asian men in regions once part of the Mongol empire carry a form of the Y chromosome that can be traced to Mongolia a thousand years ago. How did this genetic tag become so widespread?

Khan, they suggest. There is reason to believe that Khan himself, and thus his long-ruling descendants, had this particular form of Y chromosome. And though his power is long faded, the genetic empire of the conqueror³ is going strong–in roughly one out of every two hundred men alive today.

军队武力战争和帝国扩张疆土让如今的阿富汗饱受战乱之苦。早在800年前，阿富汗时局依旧，唯一不同的是只有一个统治者：成吉思汗。

成吉思汗是史上最伟大的征服者之一。成吉思汗生前征服的疆域从里海到日本海。

说完历史故事，让我们来说说科学吧。为什么强大的民族想要征服其它民族？从进化的角度说，其主要目的是开枝散叶。令人惊讶的是，新数据显示成吉思汗出人意外地成功做到了这一点。

牛津大学研究人员Tatiana Zerjal和一组基因学者采集了亚洲21000份基因样本，从中寻找某种基因“记号”或基因序列变化。基因序列可以识别出身。令人惊讶的是，他们发现曾是蒙古帝国疆域，每12个人中就有一人携带追溯到千年前的蒙古基因的Y染色体。为何这种基因“标签”流传如此之广？

研究人员猜测，有理由相信成吉思汗及长期统治的后裔都有这种特殊的Y染色体。虽然时至今日，成吉思汗的政权早已衰败，但是成吉思汗的基因却留在人们的血液中。今天，大概每200人中可能就有一人有这种基因。

Caspian Sea ：里海

Genghis Khan： 成吉思汗或Chinggis Khan，庙号元太祖，孛儿只斤氏，名铁木真，蒙古族。世界历史上最伟大和杰出的政治家、军事家。1206年，被推举为蒙古帝国的大汗，统一蒙古各部。在位期间多次发动对外征服战争，征服地域西达西亚、中欧的黑海海滨。

 

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 wrath   

n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒

参考例句：

• His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
• The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。

3 conqueror   

n.征服者，胜利者

参考例句：

• We shall never yield to a conqueror.我们永远不会向征服者低头。
• They abandoned the city to the conqueror.他们把那个城市丢弃给征服者。

4 conquerors   

征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Danes had selfconfidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. 这些丹麦人具有征服者的自信，而且他们的安全防卫也是漫不经心的。
• The conquerors believed in crushing the defeated people into submission, knowing that they could not win their loyalty by the victory. 征服者们知道他们的胜利并不能赢得失败者的忠心，于是就认为只有通过武力才能将他们压服。

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 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

7 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。

8 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。