经济学人168:抵抗毒瘾

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　Combating addiction²

　　抵抗毒瘾

　　Can a vaccine³ stop drug abuse?

　　有抗毒品的疫苗么？

　　It may be possible to vaccinate⁴ people against addictive⁵ drugs

　　也许通过接种疫苗帮助人们摆脱毒瘾将成为可能

　　THE idea of vaccinating⁶ drug addicts⁷ against their affliction is an intriguing⁸ one.

　　给瘾君子注射疫苗以帮助他们摆脱痛苦是一个非常有趣得想法。

　　In principle, it should not be too hard.

　　原则上，这并不难。

　　The immune system works, in part, by making antibodies that are specific to particular sorts of hostile molecule⁹.

　　在某种程度上，免疫系统针对某些有害分子产生抗体来实现运作。

　　Such antibodies recognise and attach themselves to these molecules¹⁰, rendering¹¹ them harmless.

　　抗体可以识别这些分子并将自己与它们粘附在一起使得它们无害化。

　　Vaccines¹² work by presenting the immune system with novel targets, so that it can learn to react to them if it comes across them again.

　　接种疫苗就是通过向免疫系统提供新的目标，这样当免疫系统下次遇到这些目标时就会知道如何应对。

　　The problem is that the molecules antibodies recognise and react to are the big ones,

　　问题在于抗体能够识别并作出反应的分子都是像蛋白质这样的大分子，

　　such as proteins, that are characteristic of bacteria, viruses and other infectious agents.

　　这些分子是细菌，病毒以及其他传染介质的特性。

　　Small molecules, such as drugs, go unnoticed.

　　而像药品这样的小分子却不会被注意到。

　　But not for much longer, if Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego has his way.

　　但是如果来自圣地亚哥，斯克里布斯研究所的吉姆·简达的研究工作一帆风顺的话，这种情况将不会持续太久。

　　In a paper just published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Dr Janda and his colleagues suggest how a vaccine against methamphetamine, a popular street drug, might be made.

　　在刚刚发表在《美国化学协会期刊》上的论文中，简达博士指出一种针对甲基苯丙胺的疫苗将出现。

　　If their method works, it would open the possibility of vaccinating people against other drugs, too.

　　如果他们的方法可行，开发针对其他毒品的疫苗将成为可能。

　　The idea of a methamphetamine vaccine is not new.

　　甲基苯丙胺疫苗不算出新。

　　The problem is getting the immune system to pay attention to a molecule that is such a small target.

　　问题是让免疫系统注意到这么小的一个目标。

　　The way that has been tried in the past is to build the vaccine from several components¹³.

　　过去所尝试过的方法是让疫苗的组成成分多样化。

　　First, there is a large carrier protein that forms a platform for the target.

　　首先，需要建立一个大型蛋白质载体以作为目标平台。

　　Then there is the target itself, a set of smaller molecules called haptens that are attached to the carrier.

　　在有了目标之后，再将一系列叫做半抗原的小分子附属在载体上。

　　These may either be the drug in question or some analogue¹⁴ of it that, for one reason or another, is reckoned to have a better chance of training the immune system.

　　这些半抗原既可以是毒品本身也可以是毒品的类似物质从而更好地引起免疫系统的注意。

　　Finally, there is a chemical cocktail¹⁵ called an adjuvant that helps get the immune system to pay attention to the carrier protein and the haptens.

　　最后，一个叫做辅助剂的化学品混合体可以帮助免疫系统注意到蛋白质载体和这些半抗原。

　　Dr Janda noticed that past experiments on methamphetamine vaccines had all revolved¹⁶ around tweaking either the carrier protein or the adjuvant,

　　简达博士注意到过去对于甲基苯丙胺疫苗的试验总是围绕着蛋白质载体或者辅助剂在进行，

　　rather than tinkering with the haptens.

　　而忽略了半抗原。

　　He thought he might be able to change that, on the basis of work he had carried out previously¹⁷, trying to design a vaccine against nicotine¹⁸.

　　他认为基于之前为设计一种尼古丁疫苗而开展的研究，他将改变这一状况。

　　In particular, nicotine is a highly flexible molecule.

　　特别是尼古丁的分子存在很高的变化性。

　　That makes it hard for the immune system to recognise.

　　这使得免疫系统难以识别他们。

　　To overcome this, his team on the nicotine project had to work out how to fix their haptens to the carrier protein in a way that rendered them less capable of twisting and turning, and thus made them easier for the immune system to identify.

　　为了克服这一问题，其尼古丁疫苗项目团队必须找到如何将半抗原固定在蛋白质载体上的方法，使得这些分子不那么容易扭曲转动，从而更容易被免疫系统识别。

　　In the new study, Dr Janda and his colleagues report that they have performed a similar trick with methamphetamine haptens.

　　在新的研究中，简达博士和他的同事们报告称他们针对甲基苯丙胺采取了相同的处理方法。

　　They used computer models to visualise the haptens in three dimensions and thus work out how the molecules could be rearranged such that they could not spring, twist or turn when being examined by the immune system.

　　他们使用电脑模型来呈现半抗原的3D图像并且解决了如何重新安排分子位置以使得其在被免疫系统检查时不会突然活动，扭曲或者转动。

　　In light of this information they designed six new methamphetamine-like haptens.

　　鉴于这些信息，他们设计了6种新的类似于甲基苯丙胺的半抗原。

　　Once built, they attached the new hapten molecules to carrier proteins, mixed them with adjuvant, injected the results into mice and waited.

　　在半抗原成形后，他们将这些新的半抗原分子附到蛋白质载体上并与辅助剂混合再注射到小鼠身上等待结果。

　　After several weeks they tested the mice to see if the animals'blood contained antibodies to methamphetamine.

　　几周后，他们对小鼠进行检查看这些动物的血液中是否含有甲基苯丙胺的抗体。

　　Of the six new haptens, three successfully provoked the mice to make such antibodies.

　　在这6种新的半抗原中有3种成功在小鼠体内产生了抗体。

　　As a bonus, one of those three also stimulated¹⁹ the production of antibodies against another widely used drug, amphetamine.

　　作为额外收获，其中1种还产生了另一种被广泛使用的毒品—安非他命（苯丙胺）的抗体。

　　That is still a long way from providing a working vaccine, but it is an important step forward.

　　虽然离获得一种真正奏效的疫苗还有很长一段路要走，但是这也算是向前迈出的重要一步。

　　And if human immune systems react in the same way to the new vaccines as murine ones do,

　　如果人类的免疫系统可以像鼠科动物那样对于新疫苗产生同样的反应，

　　the day when a drug addict¹ might be offered vaccination²⁰ rather than opprobrium²¹ will have come a little closer.

　　那么离瘾君子们获得疫苗而不是羞辱的那一天又近了一步。

　　1.addiction n.沉溺；上瘾

　　You just let everything else go by the wayside as you pursue your addiction.

　　在你沉溺于某事时，你只对其他所有的事情听之任之。

　　2.vaccinate v.接种疫苗；预防接种

　　She was vaccinate against smallpox²² as a child.

　　她小时候就接种了天花疫苗。

　　3.affliction n.痛苦；痛苦的原因

　　I have great sympathy for people in affliction.

　　我对那些受苦受难的人们充满同情。

　　4.immune a.免疫的；免除的

　　This patient's immune system has been destroyed.

　　这位病人的免疫系统受到了破坏。

　　5.antibody n.抗体

　　Our end product is an anti-cancer antibody.

　　我们的最终产品是一种抗癌抗体。

1 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

2 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

5 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

6 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

7 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

8 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

10 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。

11 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

12 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

13 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

14 analogue   

n.类似物；同源语

参考例句：

• The gill of a fish is the analogue of the lung of a cat.鱼的鳃和猫的肺是类似物。
• But aside from that analogue standby,the phone, videoconferencing is their favorite means of communication.除了备用的相似物电话，可视对话是他们最喜欢的沟通手段。

15 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

16 revolved   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
• The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 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。

18 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

19 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

20 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

21 opprobrium   

n.耻辱，责难

参考例句：

• The opprobrium and enmity he incurred were caused by his outspoken brashness.他招致的轻蔑和敌意是由于他出言过于粗率而造成的。
• That drunkard was the opprobrium of our community.那个酒鬼是我们社区里可耻的人物。

22 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？