科学美国人60秒 SSS 纽约市老鼠被病原体包围
时间：2019-01-20 作者：英语课 分类：2018年科学美国人4月
NYC Mice Are Packed with Pathogens
Rats. They're a defining feature of life in New York City, rustling 1 in trash bags, scurrying 2 along the subway tracks—and becoming famous for occasionally eating pizza. But these urban vermin may be less of a threat to human health than their smaller, cuter cousins—the city's mice.
大鼠。是纽约市生活的一个重要特征，在垃圾袋里发出沙沙声，在地铁轨道上奔驰，并因偶尔吃披萨而闻名。但是，这些城市害虫对人类健康的威胁，可能不如其较小的可爱表兄弟——城市的老鼠。
"They're in your buildings, and they get into your kitchen cupboards, and they get behind refrigerators. So they have a real potential to contaminate the environment that you actually live in."
“它们存在于建筑物里，进入你的厨房橱柜，并且藏在冰箱后面，所以它们很可能会污染你居住的环境。”
Simon Williams is a microbiologist at Columbia University and the University of Western Australia. He and his colleagues trapped more than 400 mice in apartment building basements in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. They took swabs of the mice's rear ends, gathered feces from the traps, and subjected both to a battery of genetic 3 tests.
Simon Williams是哥伦比亚大学和西澳大利亚大学的微生物学家。他和同事在曼哈顿、皇后区、布鲁克林和布朗克斯的公寓楼地下室中捕获了400多只老鼠。他们收集了陷阱中的粪便，并做抽样检查、进行了一系列基因测试。
The mice harbored an array of disease-causing bacteria, like shigella, Clostridium difficile, salmonella. They also carried a suite 4 of antibiotic-resistance genes 5, and viruses associated with insects, dogs, chickens and pigs. Mice from a Chelsea apartment building had the most pig virus—perhaps, the scientists say, because they live near the Meatpacking District, which used to have pork processing facilities before fashionable nightclubs took over.
小鼠含有一系列致病细菌，如志贺氏菌、艰难梭菌、沙门氏菌。它们还携带了一套抗生素抗性基因，以及与昆虫、狗、鸡和猪有关的病毒。科学家表示，来自切尔西公寓楼里老鼠携带有数量最多的猪的病毒，因为切尔西公寓楼在Meatpacking区附近，这个地区曾经在时尚夜总会之前，是猪肉加工设施。
The details are in the journal mBio.
详情请见《微生物学》杂志。
The mere 6 fact that these microbes can be found in poop, though, isn't cause for immediate 7 alarm. "You know we're not saying these bugs 8 are all out to get us. We're just finding the genetic footprint. They're indicators 9, but we're not saying they're necessarily out there and there's a huge problem. So keep calm, in terms of the public health response."
尽管这些微生物可以在粪便中找到，但这并不是立即引起警报的原因。“你知道我们并不是说这些虫子都是都与我们人类有关，我们只是找到遗传足迹，它们是指标，但我们并不是说它们必然存在，并且存在很大的问题。 我们就公共卫生应对措施应保持冷静。“
Further work might tease out whether there's transmission of bacteria between mice feces and humans. Until then, there are plenty of other New Yorkers to investigate.
进一步的工作可能会弄清楚老鼠粪便和人类之间是否存在细菌传播。 在此之前，还有很多其他纽约“人”需要调查。
"Cockroach 10 would be an amazing one to go onto next. I think they have real potential."
“蟑螂将是一个惊人的发现，我认为他们拥有真正的潜力。
- We could hear the mice scurrying about in the walls. 我们能听见老鼠在墙里乱跑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- We were scurrying about until the last minute before the party. 聚会开始前我们一直不停地忙忙碌碌。 来自辞典例句
- It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
- Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
- She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
- That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。
- You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪
- That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
- It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
- His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
- We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
- All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
- It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。