数千年来，人类一直在研究自身的解剖构造。直到今天，科学家们仍在不断揭示人体的新秘密。据美国全国广播公司3月28日报道，科研人员可能偶然发现了人体内一种前所未知的器官——间质（interstitium）。这一发现有望大大加深人们对包括癌症在内的各项疾病的认识。今天的常用英语口语资讯我们了解一下这项重大的发现！
一、新器官的发现意味着“解剖学的革命”
Ever heard of the interstitium? No? That's OK, you're not alone – scientists hadn't either. Until recently. And, hey, guess what – you've got one! The interstitium is your newest organ. Scientists identified it for the first time because they are better able to observe living tissues at a microscopic scale, according to a recent study published inScientific Reports.
听说过interstitium（间质）吗？没有？没关系，你不是一个人。科学家也是最近才发明的这个词。但你猜怎么着，你也有这玩意儿——根据最近发表的一项研究，它是科学家最新发现的人体器官。如今，科学家能够在微观尺度上更好地观察活体组织，所以首次发现了这个器官。
However, whether the interstitial substance is an independent organ remains to be further studied. One of the authors of the paper, Neil D Taize, professor of pathology at New York University, said that anyway, scholars’understanding of the interstitial means “an anatomical revolution that will affect every organ in the body.”
不过，间质到底是不是一个独立的器官，还有待进一步研究进行解答。但论文作者之一、纽约大学病理学教授Neil D 泰泽表示，无论如何，学者对间质的理解意味着“解剖学的革命，将影响人体的每一个器官。”
二、器官就在眼皮底下
Scientists had long believed that connective tissue surrounding our organs was a thick, compact layer. That's what they saw when they looked at it in the lab, outside the body, at least.
以前，科学家一直认为，包围人体器官的结缔组织是厚实的、紧密的。至少，当他们将结缔组织取出体外、在实验室里仔细观察时，看到的是上述现象。
But in a routine endoscopy (exploration of the gastrointestinal tract), a micro camera revealed something unexpected.
然而，在一次常规胃肠道内镜检查中，医生透过显微摄像头，发现了出乎意料的事情。
When observed in a living body, the connective tissue turned out to be "an open, fluid-filled space supported by a lattice made of thick collagen bundles," pathologist and study author Neil Theise told ResearchGate.
研究作者、病理学家Neil Theise表示：原来，直接观察活体时，结缔组织是“充满液体的开放空间，由厚胶原纤维束构成的格架所支撑”。这个通道网络遍布全身。作为柔软有弹性的缓冲物，它能够保护器官在身体活动时免遭外部冲击。
三、可能为癌症诊疗带来福音
But the interstitium isn't just the "space between cells". Theise and his collaborators think it should be reclassified as a proper organ because of its unique properties and structure which.
不过，interstitium不仅仅是“细胞间的空间”。研究人员认为，它应该被重新归类为一种独特器官，因为它具有独特的性能和结构。
Better understanding of how our bodies work is never a bad thing. But scientists speculate that these useful properties could also work against us, allowing cancerous cells to spread throughout the body. Theise's team found that in patients with some types of malignant cancers, cells could leave the tissues where they originated and leak into these channels, eventually contaminating the lymphatic system.
深入了解人体运行机制从来不是件坏事。科学家推测，这种器官也可以用来对付人类自身，帮助癌细胞扩散至全身。研究人员发现，在某些恶性肿瘤患者体内，细胞可以离开起源组织，渗透到这些通道内，最终感染淋巴系统。一旦进入通道，它们就仿佛坐上了水滑梯。
With further analysis of the fluid traveling across the interstitium, the researchers hope they may be able to detect cancer much earlier than they can today.
如今，我们加强了对肿瘤扩散机制的了解。研究人员希望通过进一步的分析，找到提早探测癌症的方法。
以上就是今天的英语口语学习内容，这一重大发现有望推动医学领域的巨大进步。
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