英国新闻听力 药物研制新工具——“基因剪刀”

Scientists have come up with a way of developing new drugs by using so-called "genetic² scissors".

近日，科学家们提出了研制新药的方法——使用所谓的“基因剪刀”。

These are molecules³ which literally⁴ snip⁵ out 40 disease genes⁶ in order to test new drugs on them.

“基因剪刀”实际上是一组分子，可以挑选出40种疾病基因，在上面试验新药。

They say that the technique know as crisper will enable them to test new drugs more quickly, cheaply and accurately⁷.

据科学家称，这种名为“crisper“的技术将使测试新药更加快捷、低廉和准确。

We have had a very precise technology to do exactly what we want to do.

有如此精准的技术在手，我们可以想做什么就做什么了。

It's hoped the technology will speed the development of medicines for a range of illnesses including diabetes⁸, heart disease and many cancers.

这项技术有望加速多种疾病的药物研发，包括糖尿病、心脏病和各种癌症。

Another doctor from the European Bioinformatics Institute explains how crisper works.

来自欧洲生物信息研究所的医生解释了“crisper”的工作原理。

In particular in cancer, what you can do is you can take a cancer cell which you know now has gone wrong.

尤其是在癌症这一块，你可以把产生病变和生长有问题的一个癌细胞取出来。

It's growing inappropriately.

细胞的增长比例不对。

And then you can test in a single experiment, you can test every single gene¹.

单独做实验，每个细胞都可以拿来做单独实验，成为独立的项目。

And so a single experiment will do that for all of them.

现在，一项试验就能够实现多有的目标。

Previously⁹ each one of those will be a project by itself.

之前，每一个试验仅仅对一个项目。

And you can not just do that on one cancer line,

而且，这样的实验不仅适用于一个癌细胞系，

you'll do it on maybe five hundred or thousand.

你可以在五百、甚至五千个癌细胞系上进行实验。

And this way you can start to say "Aha, this particular gene is the gene that we should try and build a drug to".

“啊哈，我们应该研制新药来对付这种基因”。

About ninety percent of drugs fail.

当前，90%的药物都不管用。

And there are many points where their failure happens.

失败的因素出现在各个环节。

And this technology allows people to do experiments that are just transformative cuz you can test all the genes at once.

而“crisper”技术可以使人们从事各种各样的实验，同时检测所有基因。

And you can find out more about that on the health pages of our website.

你可以登录网站健康版面，查询更多相关信息。

In 1977, a 27-year old woman Robyn Davidson decided¹⁰ to embark¹¹ on an epic¹² solo adventure.

1977年，27岁女子罗宾·戴维森决定开启一段伟大的单人冒险。

Her plan was to trek¹³ nearly three thousand kilometers across the Australian outback with only four camels and her dog for company.

她计划跋涉近三千千米，横穿澳大利亚大陆，随行的只有四只骆驼和她的宠物狗。

Rick Smolan photographed her trip for the National Geographic¹⁴ magazine.

瑞克·斯莫兰为《国家地理》杂志拍摄了她的旅程。

And his pictures are simply stunning¹⁵.

这些精彩的图片

They've been republished in his new book Inside Tracks.

在他的新书Inside Tracks中重新出现。

Rick Smolan spoke¹⁶ to Dan Damon about this extraordinary adventure and how it began.

瑞克·斯莫兰向丹·达蒙讲述了这次特别冒险的始末。

Robyn Davidson when she was 27 years old decided for reasons that she still never shared with anybody.

罗宾·戴维森27岁的时候决定开始冒险，原因无人知晓。

She set off on this sort of strange journey alone, 1,700 miles across the Australian outback out to the Indian Ocean.

她的这趟独自旅行有点奇怪——跋涉一千七百英里，穿越澳大利亚大陆，到达印度洋。

So she had four camels and her dog.

陪伴她的有四只骆驼和她的宠物狗。

And no one knew why she was doing it.

没人知道她这么做的原因。

And I was sent by National Geographic to find her five times during this nine-month journey and to photograph her.

在她九个月的旅程期间，《国家地理》曾五次派我找到她进行拍摄。

It was one of the most uncomfortable journeys anybody could plan for.

这大概是你能够想象到的最不舒适的旅行。

Here is an image of her covered in flies.

在这张照片中，她被一群苍蝇包围着。

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 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。

3 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 snip   

n.便宜货，廉价货，剪，剪断

参考例句：

• He has now begun to snip away at the piece of paper.现在他已经开始剪这张纸。
• The beautifully made briefcase is a snip at £74.25.这个做工精美的公文包售价才74.25英镑，可谓物美价廉。

6 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

7 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

8 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

12 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

13 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

14 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

15 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

16 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。