时差N小时 蝙蝠的唾液

Anyone who reads gothic fiction will tell you that vampires² arebad news.

读过哥特小说的人都会说吸血蝙蝠是个讨厌的东西。

People who read modern medical journals, however,might disagree-in fact, they think vampires just might help savelives.

而那些读现代医学杂志的人也许不同意这样的观点，他们认为吸血蝠能帮助拯救生命。

The kind of vampire¹ I'm talking about is Desmodus rotundus, commonly known as the “vampirebat.”

我说的是圆形叶口蝠，俗称“吸血蝙蝠”。

Yep, these little creatures are real; and even though they almost never turn into suave³ Romanian counts to drool over, they do drool a lot themselves.

是的，这些小家伙是真实的，尽管它们几乎没有垂涎于温雅的罗马利亚人，但它们却经常流口水，

That's because their saliva⁴ is anessential part of their dining habits.

因为唾液是它们饮食习惯中的必不可少的一部分。

When a vampire bat latches⁵ onto, say, a steer⁶, it needs to keep the blood flowing from the puncture⁷ made by its teeth.

当吸血蝙蝠缠在，比如一直公牛身上时，必须保持血液从牙齿咬开的孔流过。

That's achieved by a natural anti-coagulant in the vampire bat'ssaliva.

这是通过蝙蝠唾液里一种天然的抗凝血剂来实现的。

Despite what you see in the movies, vampire bats almost never drink human blood.

尽管你会在电影里看到，吸血蝙蝠几乎从来不吸人的血。

But people do suffer from other blood problems-a leading one being stroke.

但人类患有其它血液疾病—最重要的就是中风。

Stroke is caused by a clotting⁸ in the blood which stops the flow and can starve areas of the brain of oxygen.

中风是由于血液凝结成块阻碍其流动，从而导致大脑部分缺氧。

Doctors have generally broken up clots⁹ with a compound called tPA.

医生们已经找到了分解血液凝块的化合物，就是tPA。

TPA works okay,but it has dangerous side effects, and can even hurt brain cells.

TPA很有效，但具有危险的副作用，甚至会损伤脑细胞。

A better idea?

有更好的主意吗？

Bring in the bats, says researcher Robert Medcalf, a biochemist from Australia.

澳大利亚生物化学家，Robert Medcalf对蝙蝠进行研究。

Vampire bat spit contains a different compound, DSPA, which does the good things tPA does withfar fewer side-effects.

吸血蝙蝠的唾液中含有一种不同的化合物，DSPA，它能够帮助减少tPA引起的副作用，

DSPA is now being tried on patients who have suffered a stroke; the datashould be in within a year.

DSPA现在正在患有中风病人身上测试，结果将于一年内揭晓。

If it works, doctors might have found an unlikely friend–the vampire bat.

如果有效的话，医生们也许多一位意想不到的朋友—吸血蝙蝠。

1 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

2 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

3 suave   

adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的

参考例句：

• He is a suave,cool and cultured man.他是个世故、冷静、有教养的人。
• I had difficulty answering his suave questions.我难以回答他的一些彬彬有礼的提问。

4 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

5 latches   

n.（门窗的）门闩( latch的名词复数 )；碰锁v.理解( latch的第三人称单数 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上）

参考例句：

• The virus latches onto the red blood cells. 这种病毒附着在红细胞上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The opposite end latches onto the pathogen. 相对的一端锁在病原体上。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器

6 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

7 puncture   

n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破

参考例句：

• Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
• My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞，需要修补。

8 clotting   

v.凝固( clot的现在分词 )；烧结

参考例句：

• The study was also based only on the one anti-clotting drug. 所用抗血栓药物也仅限于一种。 来自互联网
• A plasma protein that is converted into thrombin during blood clotting. 凝血原酶一种血浆蛋白质，在血液凝聚时转化成凝血''。'酵'。''''。'素'。''。 来自互联网

9 clots   

n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• When you cut yourself, blood clots and forms a scab. 你割破了，血会凝固、结痂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Milk clots when it turns sour. 奶变酸就凝块。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》