新奇事件簿 昆虫也能感受到疼痛

New research shows that insects feel pain. The researchers say it isn't the same kind of pain that humans feel. The pain that insects feel is a sensation¹ that is like pain. The research was conducted at the University of Sydney in Australia. Professor Greg Neely, co-author of the research report, said: "People don't really think of insects as feeling any kind of pain, but it's already been shown in lots of different invertebrate² animals that they can sense and avoid dangerous things that we think of as painful." He added: "We knew that insects could sense 'pain' but what we didn't know is that an injury could lead to long-lasting hyper-sensitivity...in a similar way to human patients' experiences."

新研究表明昆虫能感觉到疼痛。研究人员表示这种疼痛和人类感受到的疼痛不同。昆虫感受到的是一种类似于疼痛的感觉。该研究由澳大利亚悉尼大学进行。该研究报告的联合作者Greg Neely教授表示：“人们并不认为昆虫能感受到任何痛，但事实已经证明很多不同的无脊椎动物可以感受到痛并且还能避免人类认为痛苦的危险事物。”他还说道：“我们知道昆虫可以感受到痛，但我们并不知道受伤是否会造成持久的超敏性，就类似于人类病人所经历的那样。”

The researchers looked at how fruit flies reacted to injuries. The scientists damaged one leg on the flies and allowed the leg to heal. They found that after the leg fully³ healed, the flies became more sensitive and tried harder to protect their legs. Professor Neely said the pain the flies felt stayed in their memory and this changed their behaviour. He said: "After the insect is hurt once badly, they are hypersensitive and try to protect themselves for the rest of their lives." Neely says he hopes to carry out more research to better understand how humans feel pain. He said: "We are focused on making new stem⁴ cell therapies or drugs that target the underlying⁵ cause and stop pain for good."

研究人员观察了果蝇对受伤的反应。科学家弄伤了果蝇的一条腿并让这条腿进行愈合。他们发现这条腿完全愈合后，果蝇变得更加敏感并会更努力的保护自己的腿。Neely教授表示果蝇感受到的痛留存在了记忆中，还改变了它们的行为。他称：“昆虫受过一次重伤后，它们变得超级敏感，以后也都会努力保护它们自己。”Neely说他希望进行更多研究以更好地了解人类如何感受疼痛。他表示：“我们致力于制造新的干细胞疗法或药物，针对潜在的原因并永久停止疼痛。”

1 sensation   

n.感觉，感知力，激动，轰动

参考例句：

• He lost all sensation in his legs through cramp.他的腿部因抽筋而失去知觉。
• Seeing him again after so many years was a strange sensation.那么多年以后又见到他，是一种不可思议的感觉。

2 invertebrate   

n.无脊椎动物

参考例句：

• Half of all invertebrate species live in tropical rain forests.一半的无脊椎动物物种生活在热带雨林中。
• Worms are an example of invertebrate animals.蠕虫是无脊椎动物的一个例子。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 stem   

n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生

参考例句：

• Cut the stem cleanly,just beneath a leaf joint.把茎切整齐点，正好切在叶根下。
• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。

5 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。