新闻周刊:对抗耐药菌(4)

Medical researchers are now searching for other approaches. One involves recruiting biologists with a flair¹ for evolutionary² theory into the war on bugs³. In the 1990s, Riley started out at Harvard and Yale studying the ways viruses kill bacteria and bacteria kill one another. In 2000, a colleague casually⁴ asked her if the work had any application to human health. “I had never thought about that,” she says. “But suddenly everything clicked for me, and I became consumed by that question.”

医学研究人员正在寻找其他方法。其中一项是招募具有进化论天赋的生物学家加入到对细菌的战争中来。20世纪90年代，赖利开始在哈佛和耶鲁大学研究病毒杀死细菌和细菌相互杀死的方式。2000年，一位同事偶然问她，这项工作是否适用于人类健康。“我从来没有想过这个，”她说。“但突然间，我的一切都豁然开朗，我被这个问题吸引住了。”

Riley has since spent the past two decades looking into applying the warfare⁵ strategy of viruses to the problem of resistant⁶ infections in humans. Viruses called “phages,” which are basically chunks⁷ of genetic⁸ material wrapped in a protective protein, will pierce the cell wall of a bacterium⁹ and hijack¹⁰ its genetic machinery¹¹, turning the bacterium into a factory for making more viruses. Riley also studies how bacteria sometimes also kill other bacteria in the competition for food. A colony of bacteria will sometimes elbow out a competitor by producing poisonous proteins called “bacteriocins.”

莱利在过去20年里一直在研究将病毒的作战策略应用于人类的耐药感染问题。被称为“噬菌体”的病毒，基本上是包裹在保护性蛋白质中的大块遗传物质，它将穿透细菌的细胞壁，劫持其遗传机制，把细菌变成制造更多病毒的工厂。莱利还研究了细菌有时是如何在争夺食物的过程中杀死其他细菌的。一群细菌有时会通过产生一种叫做“细菌素”的有毒蛋白质来对付其他细菌。

Riley's goal isn't just to kill dangerous bacteria—it's also to protect the beneficial ones. Of the roughly 400 trillion bacteria living in or on each of our bodies, the vast majority are helpful or benign—only one 10-thousandth of a percent of them are potentially harmful, she says. Commonly prescribed “broad spectrum” antibiotics¹³ like penicillin¹⁴, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline don't discriminate¹⁵ between good and bad bacteria—they wipe out them all. That not only helps lead to the emergence¹⁶ of resistant bacteria but also causes problems for patients.

莱利的目标不仅仅是杀死危险的细菌，也是保护有益的细菌。她说，生活在我们每个人体内或体内的大约400万亿细菌中，绝大多数是有益或有益的，只有千分之一的细菌是潜在有害的。常用的广谱抗生素如青霉素、环丙沙星和四环素不能区分好细菌和坏细菌——它们会将细菌全部消灭。这不仅有助于导致耐药细菌的出现，还会给病人带来问题。

“An antibiotic¹² is like throwing an H-bomb at an infection,” Riley says. “You kill 50 percent or more of all the bacteria in the body, and a lack of healthy bacteria has been linked to obesity¹⁷, depression, allergies¹⁸ and other problems.” Phages and bacteriocins, on the other hand, can in theory be tuned¹⁹ to take out a colony of infection-causing bacteria in a patient, all without harming the normal flora²⁰ or creating a fertile breeding ground for resistant bugs.

“抗生素就像在感染上扔氢弹，”莱利说。“你杀死了身体中50%或更多的细菌，缺乏健康的细菌与肥胖、抑郁、过敏和其他问题有关。”另一方面，从理论上讲，噬菌体和细菌素可以在不损害正常菌群或为耐药细菌创造肥沃繁殖地的前提下，清除病人体内的一群引起感染的细菌。

1 flair   

n.天赋，本领，才华；洞察力

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design.他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• He had a natural flair for business.他有做生意的天分。

2 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

3 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

5 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

6 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

7 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

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 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

10 hijack   

v.劫持，劫机，拦路抢劫

参考例句：

• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。
• The hijack take place just after the plane take off.劫持是飞机刚起飞后发生的。

11 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

12 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

13 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

14 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。

15 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

16 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

17 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

18 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

19 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 flora   

n.(某一地区的)植物群

参考例句：

• The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
• All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。