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The aliens among us
Viruses cause pandemics. They also shape the world
【1】Humans think of themselves as the world’s apex predators. Hence the silence of sabre-tooth tigers, the absence of moas from New Zealand and the long list of endangered megafauna. But SARS-COV-2 shows how people can also end up as prey. Viruses have caused a litany of modern pandemics, from covid-19, to HIV/AIDS to the influenza outbreak in 1918-20, which killed many more people than the first world war. Before that, the colonisation of the Americas by Europeans was abetted—and perhaps made possible—by epidemics of smallpox, measles and influenza brought unwittingly by the invaders, which annihilated many of the original inhabitants.
人類並非像自己以為的一樣是高級掠奪者，非典、流感、天花等疾病就帶來了大規模的死亡。
❀apex /'eɪpeks/
n. 頂點；尖端
近義詞：zenith, acme, vertex
【apex angle 頂角；尖角
apex impulse 心尖搏動】
例句：Are they all mammals, endangered species, apex predators or omnivores.
它們是哺乳動物、瀕危物種、頂端食肉動物還是雜食動物?
❀sabre-tooth tigers
劍齒虎
sabre
(彎刃)軍刀，馬刀;(擊劍運動用的)佩劍
❀moas→moa
恐鳥(曾發現於紐西蘭，不能飛行，已滅絕)
❀megafauna /ˈmeɡəˌfɔ:nə/
巨型動物
例句：Eventually, the megafauna suffered a mass extinction around ten to thirteen thousand years ago.
巨型動物最終在一萬三千至一萬年前遭遇大規模滅絕。
❀litany
n. 冗長而枯燥的陳述；連禱
❀abet
v. 煽動，教唆；支持
【aid and abet 幫助; 同謀】
例句：He disappeared shortly before the supreme court could rule on his seven-year jail sentence for aiding and abetting mobsters.
在最高法院判決他幫助和教唆黑手黨之罪入獄七年之前，他失蹤了一小段時間。
❀smallpox 天花
❀measles 麻疹，風疹
❀unwittingly
adv. 不知不覺地；不知情地；不經意地
例句：He was unwittingly caught up in the confrontation.
他無意中陷入了這場衝突。
❀annihilate
v. 殲滅；戰勝；廢止；湮滅
例句：A miscalculation, many feared, could annihilate mankind.
許多人擔心，對形勢的估計如果稍有差池，就會毀滅全人類。
【2】The influence of viruses on life on Earth, though, goes far beyond the past and present tragedies of a single species, however pressing they seem. Though the study of viruses began as an investigation into what appeared to be a strange subset of pathogens, recent research puts them at the heart of an explanation of the strategies of genes, both selfish and otherwise.
病毒現在對生命的影響已經超越了過去，一開始對病毒的研究是病原研究，現在則是置於基因研究的中心。
❀subset
n. [數] 子集；子設備；小團體
【proper subset 真子集】
❀pathogens
n. [基醫] 病原體；病原菌；[基醫] 致病菌
例句：In theory, yes, experts say. But the meat must be cooked, which will kill any noxious pathogens before you eat it.
專家說，理論上是安全的。但是這些肉必須煮熟，在你吃前必須殺死所有有害病原體。
【3】Viruses are unimaginably varied and ubiquitous. And it is becoming clear just how much they have shaped the evolution of all organisms since the very beginnings of life. In this, they demonstrate the blind, pitiless power of natural selection at its most dramatic. And—for one group of brainy bipedal mammals that viruses helped create—they also present a heady mix of threat and opportunity.
病毒種類多，並且對生物的影響越來越大。它展示了自然的力量，還給人類帶來了威脅與機遇。
❀bipedal
adj. 兩足動物的；二足的
n. 兩足動物
例句：It's a bipedal carnivore.
它是一種兩足肉食動物。
【4】As our essay in this week’s issue explains, viruses are best thought of as packages of genetic material that exploit another organism’s metabolism in order to reproduce. They are parasites of the purest kind: they borrow everything from the host except the genetic code that makes them what they are. They strip down life itself to the bare essentials of information and its replication. If the abundance of viruses is anything to go by, that is a very successful strategy indeed.
病毒通過其他生物的新陳代謝來實現自身的繁殖，他們剝離生命遺傳信息來完成複製，病毒大量存在證明這是一個成功的策略。
❀metabolism
新陳代謝
【aerobic metabolism 需[有]氧代謝
amino acid metabolism 胺基酸代謝
anaerobic metabolism 無[不需]氧代謝
basal metabolism 基礎代謝】
例句：If you skip breakfast, your metabolism slows down.
你如果不吃早飯，新陳代謝速度會減慢。
❀parasite
寄生蟲，寄生生物
例句：Kangaroos harbour a vast range of parasites.
袋鼠身上有各種各樣的寄生蟲。
❀strip down
拆開（引擎或設備），脫去，拆卸，除去
例句：International banking regulators are preparing to strip down their recommendations on how to ensure the industry's financial strength, following months of wrangling.
在爭論了數月後，國際銀行業監管者正準備縮減有關如何確保該行業財力的建議。
【5】The world is teeming with them. One analysis of seawater found 200,000 different viral species, and it was not setting out to be comprehensive. Other research suggests that a single litre of seawater may contain more than 100bn virus particles, and a kilo of dried soil ten times that number. Altogether, according to calculations on the back of a very big envelope, the world might contain 1031 of the things—that is ten followed by 31 zeros, far outnumbering all other forms of life on the planet.
病毒數量極其多，遠超其他生命形式。
❀teeming with
富於，充滿，大量出現
例句：Our night sky is literally teeming with exoplanets.
我們的夜空的確遍布著系外行星。
【6】As far as anyone can tell, viruses—often of many different sorts—have adapted to attack every organism that exists. One reason they are powerhouses of evolution is that they oversee a relentless and prodigious slaughter, mutating as they do so. This is particularly clear in the oceans, where a fifth of single-celled plankton are killed by viruses every day. Ecologically, this promotes diversity by scything down abundant species, thus making room for rarer ones. The more common an organism, the more likely it is that a local plague of viruses specialised to attack it will develop, and so keep it in check.
許多病毒回攻擊所有生命形式。他們在進行一場大屠殺，督促生命變異，減少生物多樣性，為更稀有的生物騰出空間。一種生命體越是常見越容易被病毒攻擊，患上瘟疫。
❀prodigious
adj. 驚人的，異常的，奇妙的；巨大的
例句：Laser discs can store prodigious amounts of information.
雷射磁碟能夠貯存大量信息。
❀single-celled plankton 單細胞浮遊生物
❀scything down
砍倒，割斷
scythe
v. 用長柄大鐮刀割
【7】This propensity to cause plagues is also a powerful evolutionary stimulus for prey to develop defences, and these defences sometimes have wider consequences. For example, one explanation for why a cell may deliberately destroy itself is if its sacrifice lowers the viral load on closely related cells nearby. That way, its genes, copied in neighbouring cells, are more likely to survive. It so happens that such altruistic suicide is a prerequisite for cells to come together and form complex organisms, such as pea plants, mushrooms and human beings.
引發的瘟疫也會刺激生命體增強防禦機制。所以一些細胞會進行自我毀滅，降低病毒載量，這樣臨近的細胞更容易存活。
❀altruistic
adj. 利他的；無私心的
【altruistic behavior 利他行為】
例句：If people possess altruistic motives, then they sometimes act to benefit others without the prospect of gain to themselves.
如果人們具有利他的動機，則他們有時會做有利他人的事，而不期望自己獲得利益。
❀pea
豌豆
【mashed pea soup 豌豆泥湯
pea green 青豆色，淡綠色】
例句：We was like peas and carrots again.
我們又形影不離了。
【8】The other reason viruses are engines of evolution is that they are transport mechanisms for genetic information. Some viral genomes end up integrated into the cells of their hosts, where they can be passed down to those organisms』 descendants. Between 8% and 25% of the human genome seems to have such viral origins. But the viruses themselves can in turn be hijacked, and their genes turned to new uses. For example, the ability of mammals to bear live young is a consequence of a viral gene being modified to permit the formation of placentas. And even human brains may owe their development in part to the movement within them of virus-like elements that create genetic differences between neurons within a single organism.
病毒促進進化的另一個原因是基因信息的傳輸機制。病毒基因融入宿主基因中，遺傳給後代。病毒基因也有一定用途，例如幼崽的胎盤，人類大腦一部分也歸功於病毒的運動，在生物神經元之間產生了遺傳差異。
❀placentas
胎盤，胎座
【accessory placenta 副胎盤；附胎盤
human placenta 人體胎盤素；紫河車
placenta previa 前置胎盤；胎盤前置
placenta accreta 胎盤增生】
例句：It can also reach the placenta. So, even in the womb, a fetus is not safe from air pollution.
PM2.5還可以到達胎盤。因此，就連在子宮裡的胎兒都不能避開空氣汙染。
【9】Evolution’s most enthralling insight is that breathtaking complexity can emerge from the sustained, implacable and nihilistic competition within and between organisms. The fact that the blind watchmaker has equipped you with the capacity to read and understand these words is in part a response to the actions of swarms of tiny, attacking replicators that have been going on, probably, since life first emerged on Earth around 4bn years ago. It is a startling example of that principle in action and viruses have not finished yet.
生物體內和生物體之間的競爭非常複雜。我們能夠閱讀理解這些文字一部分就要歸功於這些病毒。他們首次出現於40億年前。
❀enthrall
v. 迷住，使著迷
例句：The sculptures enthrall tourists with their ingenious construction.
這些雕塑以其精妙的設計使很多遊客著迷。
❀implacable /ɪm'plækəb(ə)l/
adj. 不能安撫的；難和解的；不能緩和的
【implacable crises 無法緩和的危機
implacable enemy/foe 死敵，難以和解的仇敵】
例句：But in the face of implacable opposition, it also has made some adjustments.
但在面對無法調和的反對聲浪時，它也做了一些調整。
❀nihilistic /ˌni'lɪstɪk/
adj. 虛無主義的；無政府主義的
【nihilistic delusion 虛無妄想】
例句：She exhibited none of the narcissistic and nihilistic tendencies of her peers.
她一點也沒有表現出同齡人那種自戀和虛無主義傾向。
【10】Humanity’s unique, virus-chiselled consciousness opens up new avenues to deal with the viral threat and to exploit it. This starts with the miracle of vaccination, which defends against a pathogenic attack before it is launched. Thanks to vaccines, smallpox is no more, having taken some 300m lives in the 20th century. Polio will one day surely follow. New research prompted by the covid-19 pandemic will enhance the power to examine the viral realm and the best responses to it that bodies can muster—taking the defence against viruses to a new level.
人類的警覺意識為應對病毒威脅開闢了新的途徑，如疫苗的研究，將病毒防禦提高到了一個新水平。
❀chiselled
adj. 鑿過的；形如鑿刀的；輪廓鮮明的
例句：Rather than challenging Roe directly they chiselled away, introducing state-level regulations so burdensome that clinics were forced to close.
他們並沒有直接挑戰羅伊案件的判決結果，而是引入了州一級的法規，這些法規過於繁瑣，以至於診所被迫關閉。
例句：He chiselled the body in and became a member of it.
他鑽進了這個團體，並成了它的成員。
❀Polio 脊髓灰質炎，小兒麻痺症
❀realm
n. 領域，範圍；王國
【realm name 域名;區名
the realm of myth 神話王國
in the realm of the superstructure 在上層建築領域內】
【11】Another avenue for progress lies in the tools for manipulating organisms that will come from an understanding of viruses and the defences against them. Early versions of genetic engineering relied on restriction enzymes—molecular scissors with which bacteria cut up viral genes and which biotechnologists employ to move genes around. The latest iteration of biotechnology, gene editing letter by letter, which is known as CRISPR, makes use of a more precise antiviral mechanism.
另一個途徑就是生物工程研究，主要來自於人類對於病毒的研究與理解，利用抗病毒機制進行基因編輯。
❀enzyme /'enzaim/
n. [生化] 酶；酶類，酵素
例句：They inhibit an enzyme called lipase.
這些藥物會抑制一種叫作脂肪酶的酶類物質。
❀molecular /mə'lekjʊlə/
adj. 分子的；由分子組成的
【molecular formula 分子式
molecular spectrum 分子光譜】
例句：In molecular orbital theory, we named orbits based on their symmetry.
在分子軌道理論中，我們基於軌道的對稱性給它們命名。
From the smallest beginnings
【12】The natural world is not kind. A virus-free existence is an impossibility so deeply unachievable that its desirability is meaningless. In any case, the marvellous diversity of life rests on viruses which, as much as they are a source of death, are also a source of richness and of change. Marvellous, too, is the prospect of a world where viruses become a source of new understanding for humans—and kill fewer of them than ever before.
病毒是不可能消除的，它是死亡殺手，也是變化的源泉。現在還為人類提供了新的認識，人類因病毒而死的數量也在減少。
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