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基因编辑婴儿引发争议

基因编辑婴儿引发争议

作者: 外刊译言 | 来源:发表于2018-11-27 19:09 被阅读7次

    11月26日,来自中国的科学家贺建奎宣布,一对名为露露和娜娜的基因编辑婴儿于11月在中国健康诞生。这对双胞胎的一个基因经过修改,使她们出生后即能天然抵抗艾滋病。

    消息一出,很快便引发了众怒。


    看纽约时报报道的标题:

    Gene-Edited Baby Claim by Chinese Scientist Sparks Outrage

    spark:~ sth (off)to cause sth to start or develop, especially suddenly 引发;触发

    outrage:a strong feeling of shock and anger 愤怒;义愤;愤慨

    More than 100 scientists have signed a petition calling for greater oversight on gene editing experiments after a researcher in China claimed he altered the DNA of twin girls born earlier this month.

    petition: ~ (against/for sth)a written document signed by a large number of people that asks sb in a position of authority to do or change sth 请愿书

    句子大意:100多名科学家在请愿书上签名,呼吁加强对基因编辑实验的监督。此前,中国一名研究人员声称,他改变了本月早些时候出生的双胞胎女孩的DNA。


    对此事件相关各方的回应:

    南方科技大学(Southern University of Science and Technology of China):聘请专家进行调查,称此项工作严重违反了学术道德和标准。

    He's school says it would hire experts to investigate, saying the work "seriously violated academic ethics and standards."

    academic ethics and standards学术道德和标准

    A spokesman for He confirmed that he has been on leave from teaching since early this year, but he remains on the faculty and has a lab at the university.

    深圳市政府也启动了一项医疗和伦理调查。

    Shenzhen city authorities where He's lab is located has also launched a medical and ethics investigation.


    BBC也对此进行了报道

    Significant doubts have emerged about claims from a Chinese scientist that he has helped make the world's first genetically edited babies.

    significant doubts have emerged about…(人们)对……产生重大质疑

    the world's first genetically edited babies世界首例基因编辑婴儿

    Prof He Jiankui says the twin girls, born a few weeks ago, had their DNA altered as embryos to prevent them from contracting HIV.

    embryo:胚;胚胎;(尤指受孕后八周内的)人类胚胎

    短语:human embryos 人类胚胎;the embryo of an idea 一种想法的雏形

    了解一下contract作为动词时的一个重要含义:to get an illness 感染(疾病);得(病)

    to contract AIDS/a virus/a disease 感染艾滋病╱病毒╱疾病

    prevent them from contracting HIV 也可以换一种说法: give them immunity to HIV

    His claims, filmed by Associated Press, are unverified and have sparked outrage from other scientists, who have called the idea monstrous.Such work is banned in most countries.

    Associated Press(美国)联合通讯社;美联社

    monstrous:very wrong, immoral, or unfair极端错误的;道德败坏的;极不公正的

    a monstrous lie/injustice 弥天大谎;骇人听闻的不公

    同义词:outrageous

    但专家担心的是,对胚胎基因组的干预不仅会对个体造成伤害,还会对继承这些变化的后代有影响。

    Gene editing could potentially help avoid heritable diseases by deleting or changing troublesome coding in embryos.But experts worry meddling with the genome of an embryo could cause harm not only to the individual but also future generations that inherit these same changes.

    heritable diseases 遗传病,也可说 inherited diseases

    meddle:干预,干涉;管闲事

    genome:all the genes in one type of living thing基因组

    the mapping of the human genome. 人类基因图谱。



    再看国际上还提出了哪些担忧。

    A 'monstrous' experiment or a huge leap for science?

    所以,这到底是是“可怕的”实验还是科学的巨大飞跃?

    Researchers from across the world have labelled the experiment 'irresponsible', with many calling into question the perverse moral and ethical implications.

    label:把……称为

    call into question对……表示怀疑、产生疑问

    句子大意:来自世界各地的研究人员都认为这个实验“不负责任”,许多人质疑这个实验在道德和伦理方面的反常影响。

    One British scientist, who described the experiment as 'monstrous', said the researchers involved were playing 'genetic Russian Roulette' with healthy babies.

    句子大意:一位英国科学家称这个实验“太可怕了”,他说参与实验的研究人员是在用健康的婴儿玩“基因俄罗斯轮盘赌”。

    Russian Roulette:If you say that someone is playing Russian roulette, or that what they are doing is like playing Russian roulette, you mean that what they are doing is very dangerous because it involves unpredictable risks. 冒不可预料的风险 

    If someone plays Russian roulette, they fire a gun with only one bullet at their head without knowing whether it will shoot them. 俄罗斯轮盘

    举个例子:"Our thirst for fossil fuel means we've been playing Russian roulette with our environment."

    Gene editing is banned in Britain, the US and many other parts of the world, largely because its long-term effects on mental and physical health are poorly understood.

    句子大意:基因编辑在英国、美国和世界其他许多地方被禁止,主要是因为人们对其对身心健康的长期影响知之甚少。

    mental and physical health身心健康

    are poorly understood.……鲜为人知,对……知之甚少

    warp:使反常;使有偏见;(使)扭曲;(使)变形

    举个例子:You mustn’t allow your dislike of her to warp your judgement. 你不能因为不喜欢她而使自己的判断受到影响。

    The technique carries the risk that altered DNA will warp other genes - potentially dangerous mutations that may then be passed down to future generations.

    mu·ta·tion:(生物物种的)变异,突变; genetic mutations 基因变异

    句子大意:这项技术的风险在于,编辑后的DNA会使其他基因失常 - 这些潜在的危险突变可能会传递给后代。


    译文仅供参考,若有不准确之处,还请温柔提点。

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