【英语时差8,16】进步探索长寿之谜

Lot's of people want to live longer, and in this Moment of Science Don and Yael discuss some research that gives new insights¹ into longevity².   D: You know, when I watch sci-fi movies I notice everyone has a normal aging pattern. You don't encounter³ people who just happen to be a hundred and seven years old. That's probably a mistake.

Y: A mistake? Why?

D: Because science is giving us longer lifespans all the time. Researchers these days are even starting to understand how the body sends signals to itself, determining how it ages.

Y: Now that sounds like science fiction.

D: It's true. A recent study conducted by James Carey and his colleagues at the University of California, for example, found a link between how long a mouse lives and its ovaries.

Y: Its ovaries? What do they have to do with aging?

D: The researchers removed the ovaries of one set of mice when they were a few weeks old. Those mice didn't live as long as mice who still had their ovaries. Another group of mice had their ovaries removed but got young ones later. The mice with the young ovaries implanted into them lived forty percent longer than the ones who kept their original ovaries, and sixty percent longer than the ones with no ovaries at all!

Y: Yowza--sixty percent longer!

D: Some chemical message is being sent from the ovaries to the rest of the body, telling it what stage of life it is in. By renewing⁴ their ovaries, the scientists were essentially⁵ able to set the clock back.

Y: So who wants mice to live longer?

D: Mice are just a test. If we could understand how the body tells itself to age, maybe we could make other species⁶ live longer...like people.  

1 insights   

洞察力( insight的名词复数 )； 洞悉； 领悟； 顿悟

参考例句：

• This is a book full of profound, original and challenging insights. 这本书充满了深刻、新颖、令人深思的见解。
• Because his judgement was prudent, his insights were central to any consultation. 因为他考虑问题很慎重，所以他的意见在每次磋商时都最受重视。

2 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

3 encounter   

v.遇到，偶然碰到；遭遇；n.遭遇；意外的相见

参考例句：

• It was a bloody encounter between the two armies. 这是那两军之间的一次激烈的遭遇战。
• A fortunate encounter brought the two friends together after a long separation.两位老朋友长期分离这次才有幸相遇。

4 renewing   

（使）复原， （使）更新，赋予新的生命和活力( renew的现在分词 )； 重新开始； 继续； 补充

参考例句：

• He feels his youth renewing. 他觉得越活越年轻了。
• A lot of the cost of maintenance went into renewing brakes. 很多的维修费用都花在了更换刹车方面。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。