经济学人220:人类繁衍 45岁也能生娃

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　Human reproduction

　　人类繁衍

　　Life begins at 45

　　45岁也能生娃

　　Hope for older mothers

　　高龄母亲的福音

　　WHEN it comes to reproduction, men have it easy.

　　讲到繁衍，男人表示压力很小。

　　Almost to the end of their lives most have an ample supply of sperm¹.

　　大多数人直到去世前都拥有充足的精子。

　　Women are not so lucky.

　　女人可就没这么幸运了。

　　They are born with a supply of eggs that typically runs out when they reach middle age.

　　人到中年，她们就会耗尽出生时携带的卵子。

　　That could be about to change, however.

　　不过，这一情形很快就能得到改变。

　　Researchers have confirmed that women harbour ovarian stem cells, and that these can give rise to new eggs.

　　研究者们证实，女人拥有卵巢干细胞，而这种细胞能成为新的卵细胞的来源。

　　Stem cells have the ability to divide continuously and to change into different types of cells.

　　干细胞具有不断分裂的潜力，可以分化成许多种类的细胞。

　　Stem cells from adults can produce a variety of cell types, in addition to those that make up the tissue in which they are found.

　　成人干细胞不仅可以分化成其来源组织的细胞，还能分化成其它细胞。

　　In 2004 Jonathan Tilly of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues discovered stem cells in mouse ovaries.

　　2004年，哈弗医学院的Jonathan Tilly及其同事在老鼠卵巢里发现了干细胞。

　　Since then it has been shown that these ovarian stem cells can develop into eggs, be fertilised and produce perfectly² healthy mouse pups.

　　迄今已经证实，此类卵巢干细胞能够分化成为卵细胞，卵细胞在受精后还能发育成健康的鼠宝宝。

　　But researchers have been reluctant to believe that something similar might be possible in humans.

　　但是研究者尚不能确信人类也存在类似机能。

　　Proving that this was indeed the case was tricky³.

　　想要弄清真相有些困难。

　　Human ovarian tissue—especially from young, healthy donors—is not easy to come by.

　　人类卵巢组织很难找到，健康的年轻捐献者的组织更难寻觅。

　　Dr Tilly’s breakthrough came when he discovered that a former colleague, Yasushi Takai of Saitama Medical University in Japan, had in his freezer healthy ovarian tissue from 30 patients who had changed sex.

　　幸而Tilly博士发现他的前同事—日本埼玉医科大学的Yasushi Takai在冰箱里存放了30个变性人不再需要的健康卵巢组织，取得了突破。

　　Using a sophisticated cell-sorting technique, the researchers developed a way to identify ovarian stem cells that works for both mice and humans.

　　研究人员运用尖端的细胞分选技术，找出方法，证实人类和老鼠身上都存在卵巢干细胞。

　　Then they took the human ovarian stem cells, labelled them with a green fluorescent⁴ protein and put them back into a slice of human ovary.

　　随后，他们分离出人类卵巢干细胞，用荧光蛋白做上标记再把它植入一片人类卵巢组织。

　　The glowing green cells soon produced a brand new crop of human eggs, according to their findings published this week in Nature Medicine.

　　这片组织被移植到了活鼠体内，使其保持正常卵巢的机能。他们本周发表在《自然医学》上的结果称，这些绿芒闪烁的细胞很快制造出了一批人类卵细胞。

　　Offshoring fertilisation

　　国外受精

　　Fertilising these eggs for experimentation⁵ is forbidden in America.

　　美国禁止为实验用的卵细胞受精，

　　Britain’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, however, will allow it in certain cases.

　　不过英国的人类受精和胚胎学管理局将在某些研究中允许给卵细胞授精。

　　So next month Dr Tilly will take some of his stem cell booty to Edinburgh to collaborate⁶ with Evelyn Telfer, who has developed a technique for growing human eggs from an early stage.

　　所以，下个月Tilly博士将带着卵细胞去爱丁堡与Evelyn Telfer合作。Evelyn Telfer掌握了用卵母细胞培育卵细胞的技术，

　　She holds a licence to fertilise them experimentally.

　　持有给试验用细胞授精的许可。

　　The discovery could revolutionise infertility⁷ treatment for women in several ways.

　　这项发现会是女性不育症治疗的一场革命。

　　For one thing, research has shown that in mice, even aged⁸ ovaries contain ovarian stem cells.

　　一方面，老鼠体内衰老的卵巢里也有卵巢干细胞；

　　And when those stem cells are placed into a young ovary, they will develop healthy eggs.

　　将这些细胞移植到年轻的卵巢中后，它们能制造健康的卵子。

　　This raises the possibility that, one day, women of advanced age could have their own biologically related children.

　　这意味着将来的某天，年龄较大的妇女也能拥有生物学意义上的自己的孩子。

　　Currently, many women over 45 have to make do with in-vitro fertilisation using the egg of a younger woman.

　　目前，许多45岁以上的妇女只能凑合着用年轻女人的卵细胞进行体外受精。

　　Other treatments will become available sooner.

　　另一种疗法也将很快得到应用。

　　OvaScience, a fertility company based in Boston which has exclusive rights to exploit Dr Tilly’s research on mammalian ovarian stem cells, will begin offering a novel treatment in July.

　　波士顿的OvaScience公司独家开发Tilly博士的哺乳动物卵巢干细胞细胞研究。

　　This uses a woman’s own stem cells to provide her eggs with extra energy by creating fresh mitochondria—sub-units that exist within cells and supply them with energy.

　　今年7月，该公司将开始提供一种全新的疗法：使用卵巢干细胞制造线粒体，给妇女的卵细胞增添活力。

　　They too can become scarcer and less productive with age.

　　线粒体的数量和活力也会随着年龄增长而递减。

　　Previous studies have shown that boosting mitochondria can dramatically increase the success rates of IVF.

　　此前的研究表明，增加线粒体数量能极大提高体外受精的成功率。

　　When it comes to reproduction, men will still have it easier for some time.

　　谈起繁衍来，男人还能优哉游哉一阵子。

　　But women are catching⁹ up.

　　不过，女人即将迎头赶上。

　　1.reproduction n.再现；复制；生殖

　　Her description of the meeting is an exact reproduction of the reunion.

　　她对会面的描述是这次团聚的真实再现。

　　2.supply v.供应；提供；补充

　　They wrote off for a fresh supply of penicillin¹⁰.

　　他们发信要求再供应一批青霉素。

　　3.ovarian a.卵巢的

　　Ovarian cancer is a malignant¹¹ tumour¹² in the ovary.

　　卵巢癌是生长在卵巢的恶性肿瘤。

　　4.fertilise v.施肥于；使肥沃；使受精

　　Flowers are often fertilized¹³ by bees as they gather nectar.

　　蜜蜂采蜜时常使花受粉。

　　5.reluctant a.不情愿的；勉强的

　　I was reluctant to do over the stitching in the dress.

　　我不愿意把衣服上的线脚拆了重缝。

1 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

5 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

6 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

7 infertility   

n.不肥沃，不毛；不育

参考例句：

• It is the Geneva, Switzerland-based Biotech Company's second recombinant infertility drug. 它是瑞士生物技术公司在日内瓦的公司生产的第二种重组治疗不孕症的药。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术制药疫苗
• Endometritis is a cause of infertility. 子宫内膜炎是不育的原子。 来自辞典例句

8 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

9 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

10 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。

11 malignant   

adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Alexander got a malignant slander.亚历山大受到恶意的诽谤。
• He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston.他爬了起来，不高兴地看了温斯顿一眼。

12 tumour   

n.(tumor)(肿)瘤，肿块

参考例句：

• The surgeons operated on her for a tumour.外科医生为她施行了肿瘤切除手术。
• The tumour constricts the nerves.肿瘤压迫神经。

13 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。