高等学校英语拓展系列教程-科技英语阅读课文翻译

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Unit2 The Future of Alternative Energy替代能源的前景

Residential energy use in the United States will increase 25 percent by the year 2025, according to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) forecasts. A small but increasing share of that extra power will trickle in from renewable sources like wind, sunlight, water and heat in the ground.

美国能源部(DOE)预测，美国居民所使用的能源将在2025 年前增加25%。增加的电能中将有一小部分来源于再生能源(如风、阳光、水、地热)，而且这部分还会不断增大。

Last year alternative e nergy sources provided 6 percent of the nation’s energy supply, according to the DOE.

美国能源部称，去年全国能源供应总量中有6%来自于替代能源。

“The future belongs to renewable energy,” said Brad Collins, the executive director of the American Solar Energy Society, a Boulder, Colorado-based nonprofit organization. “Scientist and industry experts may disagree over how long the world’s supply of oil and natural gas will last, but it will end,” Collin said.

“未来属于再生能源，”美国太阳能协会执行主席布拉德·柯林斯说。该协会是一个非赢利性质的组织，总部设在科罗拉多州的博尔德。柯林斯还说：“虽然科学家和行业专家对于世界石油和天然气究竟还能供应多久这一问题仍有争议，但可以确定的是这些能源的供应终究要枯竭的。”

While renewable energy is generally more expensive than conventionally produced supplies, alternative power helps to reduce pollution and to conserve fossil fuels.

较之传统方法生产的能源，再生能源虽然普遍昂贵一些，但是，这些替代能源有利于减少污染，节省矿物燃料。

“People sometimes get caught up in cost-effectiveness,” said Paul Torcellini, a senior engineer at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) in Golden, Colorado. “But it can be a question of values and what we spend our money on.”

位于科罗拉多戈尔登市的美国能源部国家再生能源实验室(NREL)的高级工程师保罗·托斯理尼说：“有时人们考虑的只是节省成本的问题。但它也是一个价值观的问题和我们应当把钱花在哪的问题。”

Below, a look at some recent developments in renewable-energy technology:

下面让我们看看再生能源技术的最新开发成果。

Solar Power太阳能

Photovoltaic, or solar-electric, systems capture light energy from the sun’s rays and convert it into electricity. Today these solar units power everything from small homes to large office buildings.

光电（或太阳能发电）系统的原理是将从太阳辐射中获得的光能转变成电力。现在，小到家用电器，大到办公楼的电气设备，都可以利用太阳能发电。

Technological improvements have made solar-electric modules more cost-effective. In the 1980s the average price of energy captured with photovoltaic was 95 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Today that price has dropped to around 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Collins, of the American Solar Energy Society.

科技的进步降低了太阳能发电设备的成本。美国太阳能协会执行主席柯林斯说，20 世

纪80 年代，通过光电器件获取的能源其平均价格为每千瓦时95 美分，而现在这个价格已降低到约20 美分。

The cheaper rate is still more expensive than the average national price of electricity, which in 2003 was a little over 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Annual Energy Review.

据美国能源部《能源年刊》报道，既使是这一比较低廉的价格仍然大大高于全国平均电价，2003 年的电价平均仅为每千瓦时8 美分多一点。

Other recent advances include “thin film” photovoltaic technology, a high-tech coating that converts any surface covered with the film into a solar-electric power source. Boats and RVs that use the film are now on the market.

其他的先进技术还包括“薄膜”光电技术，这是一种高科技涂层，它可以将任何表层贴有这种薄膜的物体转变太阳能电源。使用这种薄膜的船只和娱乐用车现在已经上市。

Engineers have also developed a roofing material coated with electricity-producing film. “The guy who puts on the roof (on a house now) puts on the solar panels at the same time,” Torcellini said. The roofing material withstands inclement weather and, on bright days, taps sunshine for electricity.

工程师还将这种可以发电的薄膜覆盖在屋顶材料上。托斯理尼说：“人们在安装屋顶的同时也安装了太阳能板。”这种材料能抵抗恶劣天气，在晴天吸收太阳光发电。

NREL researchers, meanwhile, are working to devise more efficient and cheaper solar-electric systems. Most traditional photovoltaic solar units on the market today convert between 11 and 13 percent of the sun’s light into energy. Engineers think they can improve on that.

同时，国家再生能源实验室正在研制开发更加廉价高效的太阳能发电系统。现在市面上许多传统光电太阳能器件仅能将11%到13%的太阳光转变成能量，而工程师认为这个比率还能提高。

Jeff Mazer, a Washington, D.C.-area photovoltaic engineer, notes that most thin-film photovoltaic systems today have a 7 to 11 percent efficiency rating. But he estimates that thin films could surpass that rating within three years. He also notes that some new traditional solar modules achieve 15 percent efficiency and believes that figure can climb to 17 percent in the near future.

华盛顿哥伦比亚特区的光电工程师杰弗·梅泽说，现在的薄膜光电系统具有7%到11%的效率额定值，但他预测三年之内薄膜效率额定值会超过这个数值。他还透露，某些传统太阳能组件新产品的效率额定值已经达到15%，并且在不久的将来还能提高到17%。

In the last two decades solar-thermal panels (units used to warm household hot water, pools and spas) have become highly efficient. “Energy costs have decreased from 60 cents to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour since the 1980s,” Collins said.

在过去的20 年里，太阳能加热板（用来加热家庭用水、游泳池和矿泉浴场的设备）的效率已经达到很高水平。柯林斯说：“自80 年代以来能源成本已经从每千瓦时60 美分降到8 美分。”

Solar-powered water heaters are typically more expensive than conventional ones, but, as with other products that harness alternative energy, consumers benefit by knowing their energy costs up-front Torcellini said. “Otherwise, you’re hedging your bets about the future cost of traditional energy sources by using standard appliances,” he said.

托斯理尼说，利用太阳能热水器明显比传统普通热水器要贵。但是，和其他使用替代能

源的产品一样，应当让消费者预先知道它们的能源成本。他说：“否则，是仍然使用普通热水器，还是致力于降低未来传统能源的成本，难于做出抉择。”

Wind Power风能

Compare to other renewable energy sources, wind power competes with conventional energy at a price less than 4 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Collins.

柯林斯说，与其他可再生能源比起来，风能以每千瓦时不到 4 美分的优势价格跟传统能源抗衡。

Wind energy projects around the world now generate enough energy to power nine million typical U.S. homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.

总部设在华盛顿哥伦比亚特区的美国风能协会报道说，全球的风能工程足够供应900 万美国一般家庭的用电量。

One of the newest trends in wind power is the construction of offshore wind farms, cluster of electricity-generating turbines erected in open-water areas with strong winds.

最近，风能的发展趋势是建立近海风力发电厂，即在风力强劲的开放水域建立一系列发电汽轮机。

Europe now has 17 wind farms spinning offshore. The Arklow Bank Offshore Wind Park, 8 miles (13 kilometers) off the eastern coast of Ireland, is one such project. Its seven turbines generate enough electricity to power 16,000 homes. While few homes generate their own wind power in the U.S., many power companies allow consumers to opt for power generated at a wind plant or other renewable source.

欧洲现有17 个近海风力发电厂在运转。位于爱尔兰东海岸线8 英里（13 公里）的阿克罗浅滩近海风力发电厂（Arklow Bank Offshore Wind Park）就是其中之一，该发电厂的七台汽轮机可以供应1.6 万个家庭的用电量。在美国，虽然靠自己风力发电的家庭很少，但很多能源公司允许消费者随意选择使用风能电还是来自其他可再生能源电。

On Tuesday, Colorado voters will consider a ballot initiative that would requires power companies to provide 10 percent of their electricity from wind and other renewable sources by 2015.

科罗拉多州的选民考虑在周二通过投票方式，要求能源公司在2015 年前做到利用风力和其他可再生资源发的电占到其总供电量的10%。

“If that passes, power companies will offer more rebates to homeowners to encourage renewable energy production,” said Sheila Hayter, an NREL senior engineer.

国家再生能源实验室的高级工程师希拉·海特说：“如果这个提议获得通过，能源公司将为居民提供更优惠的价格以鼓励可再生能源的生产。”

Ground Heat地热

Tapping into the ground offers another option to regulate household heating and cooling.

开发地下资源为人们调节家用热冷设备提供了另一种选择。

In most areas of the United States, the ground below the frost line maintains an average temperature between 50 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 12 degrees Celsius).

在美国的大部分地区，冰冻线以下的地面平均温度为华氏50-54 度（10-12摄氏度）。

Ground-source heat pumps, also called geo-exchange systems, use this relatively constant temperature to keep homes at comfortable temperatures. The devices employ a series of

underground, liquid-filled tubes or wells. Liquid flows through the pipes into the home, where a heat exchanger either adds or subtracts heat from indoor air, depending on the season. In winter, that means added warmth captured from the ground. “If you can (do that), your furnace doesn’t have to work so hard,” Hayter said.

地下能源热泵（亦称地热交换系统）正是利用这个相对稳定的温度来保证家里舒适的气温。这套设备的基本构成是一系列装有液体的地下管道或竖井。液体通过管道流过室内安装的热交换器，然后根据季节的不同对室内空气进行加温或冷却这些液，从而调节室内温度。也就是说，在冬天人们可以通过获取地热提高室内的温度。海特说：“如果你能做到这一点，炉子就不必烧得那么热了”。

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study found that geo-exchange systems can save up to 70 percent of home-heating costs.

美国环保局的一项研究发现，地热交换系统可以节约70%的室内加热成本。

Unit5 The Disappearing Computer正在消失的计算机

“Will we be surrounded by computers by 2010? Yes, but we don’t know it,” says Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect.

到2010 年，我们将被计算机包围吗？是的，但我们却觉察不出来。—比尔?盖茨（微软公司总裁和首席软件设计师）

A few years from now, the average home entertainment system might not look much different than it does today. But it will probably have an Internet connection that enables it to download and play digital music and video, display album artwork and song title on the television, and even interrupt your listening if an important message arrives. It will have a central processor, disk storage, graphic hardware and some kind of intuitive user interface. Will people buy and use these systems in large numbers? Absolutely. Will they think of them as computers? Probably not.

几年后，普通家庭娱乐系统可能与现在并没有太大的区别，但它很可能具有网络连接功能，用来下载和播放数字音乐和视频，在电视上显示艺术作品集和歌曲的名字，甚至收到重要邮件时打断正在播放的内容来提示你。它将拥有一个中央处理器、磁盘存储器、制图硬件和某种直观的计算机用户界面。如果再在加上一个无线鼠标和键盘，这个家庭娱乐系统看起来便很像是一台个人电脑。人们会大量购买和使用这些系统吗？当然会。他们会认为这种系统就是电脑吗？也许不会。

According to the Gartner Dataquest, an American research firm, the world computer industry shipped its one billionth PC in 2002, and another billion more are expected to be built in the next six years. Almost all of the first billion were traditional desktop and laptop PCs, but the second billion will be very different. They will be optimized for the things that people actually want to do with them—we will have tablet-sized PCs for taking notes at meetings or reading e-mail on the couch, entertainment PCs that play music and movies on the living-room television, and pocket-sized PCs that keep people connected and informed wherever they are.

根据格特纳信息咨询公司（一家美国研究公司）的统计，世界计算机业在2002年销售了第10 亿台个人电脑，而还有10 亿台电脑预计在此后的6 年中生产出来。第一批的10 亿台电脑几乎都是传统的台式机和笔记本电脑，但第二批的10 亿台电脑将会明显不同，人们对它们进行了尽可能的完善，使它们能更好的按照人们的期望运作，例如微型电脑，开会时我们可以用它来做笔记，或是躺在床上阅读电子邮件；娱乐型电脑，用来在客厅电视上播放音乐和电影；袖珍型电脑，用来与他人保持联系，无论你身处何处。

Add to this the exploding number of embedded computers—the kind found in mobile phones, gas pumps and retail point-of-sale systems—which are fast approaching the power and complexity of desktop PCs. On one estimate, people in the United States already interact with about 150 embedded systems every day, whether they know it or not. These systems—which use up to 90% of the microprocessors produced today—will inevitably take on more PC-like characteristic, and will be able to communicate seamlessly with their traditional PC counterparts. They will also become amazingly ubiquitous. In 2001, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the world microchip industry produced around 60m transistors for every man, woman and child on earth. That number will rise to one billion by 2010.

除此之外，还有各种数量庞大的嵌入式计算机（如在手机、加油站和零售终端设备中使用的计算机），在功能和复杂性方面正迅速赶上台式电脑。据估计，在有意无意之中，美国人每天会接触到大约150 个嵌入式计算机系统。这些系统使用了现在生产的90% 的微处理器，它们将不可避免地呈现出更多个人电脑的特点，而且能够与传统PC 机进行无缝对接。

这一系统将无处不在。根据半导体工业协会的调查，在2001 年，世界芯片业为地球上的每位男士，女士和儿童生产了大约6 千万个晶体管，这一数字到2010 年将上升为10 亿。

At the same time, the general-purpose PC as we know it today will continue to play an important—and increasingly central—role in most people’s lives, but it will be at the Centre of a wide range of intelligent devices that most people wouldn’t think of as “computers” today.

与此同时，今天的多功能PC 机将继续在大多数人的生活中发挥重要（而且是越来越重要）的作用，但其中心地位将体现在今天大部分人不认为是“电脑”的各类智能设备中。

This scenario is in sharp contrast to the computers of just a few years ago—back in the pre-Internet age—which were still mostly passive appliance that sat in the corner of the den or living room. Back then, people used their PCs for little more than writing letters and documents, playing games of managing their family finances. As a communications tool, they were largely ineffective, except for a few primitive e-mail networks and bulletin-board systems. The PC had not yet become essential to most people’s lives—not in the sense that the television, telephone or automobile now are.

这种情景与仅仅几年前的计算机形成了鲜明的对比（回溯到网络时代之前），那时的计算机多是被动的设备，被安置在书房或客厅的角落里。那时，计算机的使用仅限于书写信函、文件，玩游戏或处理家庭财务。作为通讯工具，其效率很低，仅能应用于少数简单的电子邮件网络和电子布告栏系统。个人电脑尚未成为大多数人生活的必需品（不像现在的电视、电话或汽车那样）。

But today we are in the early years of a truly digital decade, in which the intelligence of the PC is finding its way into all kinds of devices, transforming them from passive appliance into far more significant and indispensable tools for everyday life. Many of the core technologies of computing—processing power, storage capacity, graphics capabilities and network connectivity—are all continuing to advance at a pace that matches or even exceeds Moore’s Law (which famously, and correctly, predicted that the number of transistor on a computer chip would double every two years).

但是我们今天已经处在真正数字化时代的初期，在这一时期，个人计算机的智能化正应用于各种设备，使它们从被动的设备转化为日常生活中重要得多的不可或缺的工具。许多计算机的核心技术（如处理能力、存储量、制图能力和网络连接）将继续以莫尔法则（该法则因正确预测了用于计算机芯片上的半导体将以每两年增加一倍的速度增长而闻名）、甚至超过莫尔法则的速度发展。

Computers are becoming smaller, more powerful, less power-hungry and far less expensive, making it easier to build computing power and connectivity into everyday devices. And user interfaces—including speech and handwriting recognition—are growing more efficient and easier to use.

计算机体积正变得越来越小，功能越来越强大，能耗更低，价格也越来越便宜，因而使其更容易与日常设备连接，并发挥其计算功能。此外，计算机用户界面（包括语音和文字识别）正变得越来越有效，越来越易于应用。

Then It Gets Interesting有趣的未来

As people find more ways to incorporate these inexpensive, flexible and infinitely customizable devices into their lives, the computers themselves will gradually "disappear" into the fabric of our lives. We are still a long way from a world full of disembodied intelligent machines, but the computing experience of the coming decade will be so seamless and intuitive

that--increasingly--we will barely notice it. At the same time, computing will become widespread enough that we will take it for granted--just as most people in the developed world today trust the telephone service.

正当人们寻找更多的方式把这些价廉、灵活、可以各种各样的方式满足用户需要的设备引入自己的生活时，计算机本身却逐步在我们的生活中“消失”。虽然我们距离那个充满虚拟智能机器的世界还很遥远，但正在发展的计算机技术将变得如此完善、自然，我们将越来越注意不到它的存在。与此同时，计算机技术的普及程度将会达到我们视而不见的地步，正如当今发达国家中大多数人信赖的电话服务。

The pervasiveness and near--invisibility of computing will be helped along by new technologies such as cheap, flexible displays, fingernail-sized MEMs (microelectro-mechanical systems) chips capable of storing terabytes of data, or inductively powered computers that rely on heat and motion from their environment to run without batteries.

众多新技术（如价格低廉、柔性灵活的显示器，指甲盖大小的、能够存储兆兆字节数据的微电子机械系统芯片，以及依靠周围热能和机械运动来运转的大功率感应式无电池计算机）使计算机技术一方面无处不在，而另一方面又几乎淡出了人们的视线。

The economics of computing will also bring change. Decreasing costs will make it easy for electronics manufacturers to include PC-like intelligence and connectivity in even the most mundane devices. Eventually, computing power itself could become almost too cheap to meter.

计算机技术也将从经济学的角度给人们带来变化。通过降低成本，电子产品制造商能更容易地在即使是最普通的设备中装入类似于个人电脑的智能和装置，最后，计算机技术本身也会变得十分经济实惠。

All this will lead to a fundamental change in the way we perceive computers. Using one will become like using electricity when you turn on a light. Computers, like electricity, will play a role in almost everything you do, but computing itself will no longer be a discrete experience. We will be focused on what we can do with computers, not on the devices themselves. They will be all around us, essential to almost every part of our lives, but they will effectively have "disappeared"

所有这一切都将从根本上改变了我们对计算机的看法。使用计算机将会变得像开灯时使用电源一样简单。计算机将会像电力一样，在几乎你所做的一切事情中发挥作用，但计算机技术的使用本身将不再是孤立的。我们将集中精力研究用计算机能做些什么，而不是研究这一设备本身。计算机无处不在，几乎成为我们生活中每一个部分的必需品，但它们最终将真正地从我们的生活中“消失”。

Unit6 For Simpler Robots, a Step Forward简单——机器人的进步

The moment of truth had come for the knee-high robot standing on its improvised runway at a hotel news conference.

在酒店新闻发布会上，一个只有人们膝盖高的机器人站在为它临时准备的通

道上。揭开秘密的时刻到了。

Reporters circled it, their microphones and cameras trained on the machine as it tried to start up. Then a curious 13-year-old boy who had joined the throng reached out, poked his fingers between the robot’s metal legs and gave them an exploratory push.

当这台机器启动时，众多记者围了上来，把麦克风和摄像机都对准了它。人群中一个13 岁的男孩好奇的用手指在机器人的金属腿上戳戳这儿，戳戳那儿，又试着推了推。

With that, the robot, built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, live up to its nickname, the Toddler. It rocked gently until the poking stopped, steadied itself and marched firmly across the level surface, a tabletop propped up on cinderblocks.

这时人们可以看到，这台由麻省理工学院制造的机器人的确像它的昵称：“学步的小孩”(Toddler)。它轻轻地晃动了一会儿，直到那个小孩不再动它，接着它平稳地迈着步子从台子（一个由煤砖支起的桌面）的一端走到另一端。

If two-legged robots are ever going to walk among people, they may look a lot like this sturdy machine and two others, introduced Feb. 17 on the makeshift catwalk at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

如果未来装有双腿的机器人真的行走于人群中，它们也许看起来和这个敦实的机器人以及另外两个机器人没有什么不同。在2 月17 日美国科学促进会召开的年会上，这三个机器人都出现在了那个临时通道上，与公众见面。

The robots—the others were built at Cornell and at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands—are designed in a way that differs significantly from standard creations. One of the robots moves so efficiently that in the future it may be able to amble along for a day, not the 20 or 30 minutes most robots now manage without recharging or refueling.

这些机器人（其它两个由康奈尔大学和荷兰的代尔夫特理工大学制造）在设计方式上明显不同于常规。其中一个机器人的移动效率如此之高，也许将来它可以连续行走一天，而不像大多数的机器人每隔二、三十分钟就得充电或添加燃料。

“And our robots walk far more naturally,” said Andy Ruina, a professor at Cornell who took one of the robots to the meeting and whose nephew Josh Bennett, of Chevy Chase, Md., did the unscripted poking.

康奈尔大学教授安迪?瑞纳说：“我们的机器人行走起来更为自然。”他将其中的一个机器人带到了那天的会议上，他的侄子乔希?贝内特（来自马里兰州的查维蔡斯市）就是当时用手指戳机器人的那个男孩。

The design may be important not only for future energy-saving robots, but also for intelligent prostheses—leg and foot replacements for amputees.

这种设计不仅对将来节能型机器人很重要，同时对智能修复（即为截肢者置换腿或脚）也十分重要。

Dr. Ruina’s robot and its companions from Delft and M.I.T. are descendants of some early ramp-walking machines, mechanical devices that have been around for a century. These contraptions—toys like wadding penguins and later two-legged robots—were not powered in any way. Instead, they relied on gravity and the mechanics of objects in motion to walk stably down sloping surfaces.

瑞纳博士的机器人和另外那几个机器人的前生是某些早期开发的能够在斜坡上行走的机器人，这些机械设备已有近一个世纪历史了。这些奇妙的装置（像步履蹒跚的企鹅玩具，后来发展为两足机器人）没有任何动力，而是依靠重力和物体机械学运动原理，可平稳的走下斜坡。

Modern versions of the machines, called passive-dynamic walkers, have been built for decades and have long been thought useful models of human locomotion, Dr. Ruina said. But in the past the machines were not able to walk on level ground.

瑞纳博士说，现代模式的机器人（即被动动力式两足机器人）已有几十年的历史，长期以来一直被认为是反映人类运动方式的可以利用的模式。但在过去，这种机器人无法在水平面上行走。

Now the researchers from the three universities have shown that the classic passive-dynamic walking machines need not depend on gravitational power. Instead, they have put small motor on their robots and shown that they can walk on level ground. The robots’ workings are described in detail in the journal Science.

现在，来自这三所大学的研究人员指出，传统的被动动力式两足机器人不需要依赖重力。他们把小型马达安装在机器人身上，这样机器人就可以在水平面上行走了。这种机器人的运转原理在《科学》杂志中有详细的描述。

“Our machines show that there is nothing special abou t gravity,” said Russ Tedrake, a postdoctoral researcher at M.I.T.’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and one of the Toddler’s creators.

麻省理工学院大脑与认知科学部的博士后研究员、Toddler 的设计者之一鲁斯?泰德雷克说：“我们的机器人表明重力并不是什么特殊现象”。

Unlike famous state-of-the-art walking r obots like Honda’s Asimo, which typically have complex control algorithms that demand extensive, real-time computation, the Cornell biped, as well as the Delft one, walk with simple control algorithms, Dr. Ruina said. “Our sensors detect ground contacts, and our only motor commands are on-off signals issued once per step,” he said.

瑞纳博士说，康奈尔大学的两足机器人和荷兰代尔夫特的机器人不同于那些闻名于世的、最先进的步行机器人（如本田公司制造的名叫“阿西莫”的机器人），后者通常具有复杂的控制和计算程序，需要大量实时计算，而前者步行时只使用简单的控制和计算程序。他说：“我们的传感器可以探测与地面的接触，而且发动机的唯一指令就是每走一步就发出一次开关信号”。

Perhaps to show how much the passive-dynamic robots depend on mechanics and not on electronic calculating power for their humanlike gait, the Delft robot has a blue bucket for a head, and the Cornell robot has an orange plastic bird attached to its head.

也许是为了表明被动动力式两足机器人具有人类的步态，并且依靠的不是电子计算能力而是机械力，代尔夫特机器人的头被设计成一个蓝色的桶状物，而康奈尔大学的机器人则有一个橙色塑料小鸟固定在头部。

This less-is-more approach also applies to sensory feedback. The Cornell and Delft robots don’t use sophisticated, real-time calculations or a lot of feedbacks as do other robots that continuously sense the angles of their joints, for example. “This suggests that human walking, too, might require only very simple controls,” Dr. Ruina said. (The M.I.T. robot does incorporate sensory feedback as a means of learning how to walk.)

这种“以少胜多”的方法也用在了传感反馈方面。康奈尔大学和代尔夫特的机器人并不像其它机器人那样使用复杂尖端的实时计算器或大量的反馈信息，例如不停地感应关节的角

度等。瑞纳博士说：“这表明人类行走可能也只需要非常简单的控制。”（麻省理工学院的机器人使用传感反馈，以学习如何走路。）

Michael J. Foster, director of the National Science Foundation division that supported some of the M.I.T. research, said the work demonstrated that complex objects could be controlled simply. The walking robot goes through complex motions, yet explicit computer control is not needed over every joint.

国家科学基金会负责资助麻省理工学院研究项目的部门主任迈克尔?福斯特认为，上述研究说明复杂的物体是可以用简单的方法进行控制的。虽然步行机器人要进行复杂的运动，但并非每一个关节都需要计算机明确的指令。

“Much of the control is given to us by the laws of physics rather than by our own efforts in programming,” Dr. Foster said.

福斯特博士说：“许多控制是由物理学定律决定的，而不是我们通过设计程序实现的”。

Marc Raibert, president of Boston Dynamics, a software engineering company that specializes in human simulation, said that the principles of passive-dynamic design would be important for future robot generations. "Every practical legged robot will incorporate these principles," he said. "If you make the mechanical structures right," for example, adjusting the mass and length of the upper and lower legs to mimic the natural dynamics of walking, "the legs do the right thing from physics."

马克?雷伯特是美国专门从事人体仿真软件工程公司—波士顿动力学公司的总裁。他认为，被动动力式两足机器人的设计原理对将来的机器人时代是很重要的。他说：“每一个实用的可行走机器人的设计都将运用这些原理。如果能正确处理好机械结构，比如调整腿的上、下两部分的重量和长度来模仿自然行走的力学原理，那么机器人的腿就会按照物理学的规律正确运动。”

In passive designs, he said, the mechanism has built into it the elements that let it move naturally. "This way we can avoid relying on the computer to have the knowledge of how something should move," he said.

他认为在被动动力式两足机器人的设计中，这一机械装置赋予机器人各种因素，使其按照自然的方式行走。他说：“这样我们就不必依赖计算机来了解物体的运动原理。”

Cornell's robot uses very little energy to walk forward, mainly because its passivedynamic design emphasizes the natural interaction of gravity and inertia and minimizes the role of control and actuation. "Our robots use a 10th, a 20th or a 50th the energy of all other powered robots," Dr. Ruina said, depending on the robot and the way the energy is calculated. "We let mechanics take care of a lot of the motion, as opposed to using motors to control all the joints in time."

康奈尔大学制造的机器人在前进时用的能量非常少，主要是因为其被动力学设计强调重力和惯性的自然相互作用，而将控制和驱动力降至最低限度。瑞纳博士说：“我们的机器人使用的能量只有其它动力机器人的1/10、1/20 或1/50”,取决于机器人的类型和能量的计算方式。“我们运用力学原理控制机器人的大量动作，而不是使用电动机实时控制所有的关节。”

The Cornell robot has a 12-volt battery on each arm to provide the energy the motor uses to power the ankles when they push off. Springs in the legs store the energy. Each arm is mechanically linked to the opposite leg.

康奈尔大学的机器人每只手臂上都装有一个12 伏特的电池，用以提供发动机驱动脚踝在踏步时所需的能量。机器人腿部的弹簧也储存着能量。在机械结构方面，每只手臂都与其相反一侧的腿连接在一起。

Steve Collins, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, designed the robot when he

was an undergraduate working under the direction of Dr. Ruina. "As each leg swings forward," he said, "a small motor stretches a spring," which is released to provide a push. As the forward foot lands, a microchip tells the rear foot to push off.

密歇根大学的博士生史蒂夫?考林斯是该机器人的设计者，当时他还是瑞那博士指导下工作的一个本科生。他说：“随着腿的摆动，一个小型电动机拉动弹簧，”弹簧的拉伸为腿部运动提供了推力。当前脚着地时，芯片就会向后脚发出开始运动的指令。

It was important, Mr. Collins said, to bear in mind the way people move naturally. He said "the leg is analogous to a pendulum," which can either be let go to swing or driven exactly in a movement. He added, "We are letting the legs swing naturally."

考林斯先生认为，重要的是要考虑到人们自然行走的方式。他说：“腿像一个钟摆，”即可以让其自然的摆动，也可以在外力的作用下运动。他补充道：“我们让机器人的腿部自然摆动。”

Right now, the passive-dynamic robots move forward only, and they will need far more power, for example, to climb stairs.

目前，被动动力式机器人只能向前运动，而例如在爬楼梯时，它们则需要更多的动力。

In the future some of their principles may combine with those used in sophisticated robots in which every angle is controlled. "Perhaps we'll use natural dynamics for walking when there's no high energy requirement," Mr. Collins said. Even if the machines are not entirely built on passive-dynamic principles, the parts that are may lead to a reduction in cost.

将来被动动力式机器人的一些设计原则可能会与高端机器人的设计原则相结合，从各个角度进行控制。考林斯先生说：“也许在不需要使用高能量时，我们会使用自然动力学的原理来控制机器人的行走。”即使机器人不是完全按照被动动力原则设计的，只要某些部件是这样设计的，也会使成本降低。

Mr. Collins hopes to use the insights gained in building the Cornell robot in work he is doing on prostheses. With the National Science Foundation's support, he has started a company to develop a prosthetic foot. "The study of passive-dynamic models has given us insights into the way energy is used in walking," he said, in particular details ofstep-to-step transitions that have a large impact on the energy used in walking. "Based on these insights," he said, "we should be able to build prosthetic feet that require less energy, making it a lot easier to walk."

考林斯先生希望将从开发康奈尔机器人所获得的灵感用于他所从事的肢体修复的工作。希望将制造康奈尔机器人过程中得到的启示运用到修复术的研究工作中。在国家科学基金会的支持下，他建立了一个生产假脚的公司。他说：“通过被动动力模型的研究，使我们能够深入了解步行中能量的使用方式，”特别是有关步与步之间进行转换的具体情况，这种转换对步行中所使用的能量有很大的影响。他说：“基于这些了解，我们应该能设计出耗能少、易于行走的假脚。”

Dr. Tedrake of M.I.T. is not sure how passive-dynamic robots will play out in the future. "For now," he said, "we'd like to convince Japanese robotic makers to insert some of our ideas into their robots.”

麻省理工学院的泰德雷克博士对于被动动力式机器人未来将会如何发展还不能确定。他说：“在目前这种情况下，我们希望能够说服日本机器人制造商，在他们设计的机器人中加入一些我们的想法。”

Unit7 GM Organisms转基因生物

By far the most common genetically modified (GM) organisms are crop plants. But the technology has now been applied to almost all forms of life, from pets that glow under UV light to bacteria which form HIV- blocking "living condoms" and from pigs bearing spinach genes to goats that produce spider silk.

到目前为止，农作物是最常见的转基因（GM）生物。但该技术已应用于几乎所有形式的生命体，从在紫外光下会发光的宠物到起到拦截艾滋病毒作用的细菌，从具有菠菜基因的转基因猪到能生产蜘蛛丝蛋白的转基因山羊。

GM tomatoes, as puree, first appeared on British supermarket shelves in 1996 (a different fresh GM tomato first appeared in the US in 1994), but the consumer furore that surrounded GM technology did not erupt until February 1999. This was because a controversial study suggested that a few strains of GM potatoes might be toxic to laboratory rats. Those experiments, subsequently criticised by other experts, were carried out in Scotland by biochemist Arpad Pustzai.

转基因西红柿，如西红柿酱，1996年第一次出现在英国的超市货架上（1994年一种与众不同的新鲜转基因西红柿在美国第一次出现），但直到1999年2月转基因技术才在消费者中引起巨大风波。这是因为一个有争议的研究报告指出，有一些品种的转基因马铃薯可能会对实验鼠有毒性。这些随后遭到其他专家批评的实验，是由生物化学家阿帕德?普斯扎在苏格兰进行的。

What followed was a European anti-GM food campaign of near religious fervour. Spearheaded in the UK by environmental groups and some newspapers, the campaign would have far-reaching consequences. It culminated in an unofficial moratorium on the growth and import of GM crops in Europe and led to a trade dispute with the US.

随之而来的是全欧洲近乎宗教般狂热的反对转基因食品运动。在英国，这一运动以一些环保团体和报纸为先导并产生了深远的影响。它造成了在欧洲民间转基因农作物发展和进口的停滞以及导致了与美国的贸易争端。

GM crops are today very rare in Europe, strict labelling laws and regulations are in place for food (DNA bar codes), and public opinion towards the technology remains largely negative. Several UK government reports have offered qualified support for GM crops and produce, though they argue that the economic benefits of the technology are currently small. Some African nations have also opposed engineered crops, even to the point of rejecting international food aid containing them.

今天转基因作物在欧洲十分罕见，在那里针对食品有着严格的标签法（即DNA条形码），多数公众对于转基因技术也一直持负面意见。尽管英国的一些政府报告中也有保留地提供了对转基因农作物育种和生产的支持，但公众仍认为，目前该技术的经济利益较小。一些非洲国家也反对转基因作物，甚至拒绝含有转基因农作物的国际粮食援助。

GM produce has been taken up with far less fuss in the US (where it does not have to be labelled), India, China, Canada, Argentina, Australia and elsewhere. However controversy over a type of GM corn only approved for animal feed - which turned up in taco shells and other products stirred opinion in the US.

在美国（在美国转基因食物甚至不被贴上标签）、印度、中国、加拿大、阿根廷、澳大利亚和其他地方，转基因农产品的发展则受到较少的争议。但是将只适用于作为动物饲料的转基因玉米用于墨西哥玉米饼和其他产品中的做法则引发了美国民众的争议。

Biotech Revolution生物技术革命

The human race has methodically improved crop plants through selective breeding for many thousands of years, but genetic engineering allows that time-consuming process to be accelerated and exotic traits from unrelated species to be introduced. But not everyone agrees this is represents progress.

数千年来人类有条不紊地通过选择育种提高农作物品质，但转基因工程大大缩短这一耗时的过程并将一些其它物种的特性引入到农作物中。但是，并非所有人都认为这是进步。

The root of genetic engineering in crops lies in the 1977 discovery that soil bug Agrobacterium tumefaciense can be used as a tool to inject potentially useful foreign genes into plants. With the help of that microbe, and other gene-implantation technologies such as electroporation, and gene guns, geneticists have developed a multitude of new crop type.

转基因技术应用于农作物源于1977年的发现：人们可以通过土壤农杆菌tumefaciense 向植物体中植入可能有用的植物外源基因。在该细菌和其他基因植入技术的帮助下，如电穿孔和基因枪，遗传学家已经开发出许多作物种类。

Most of these are modified to be pest, disease or herbicide resistant, and include: soya, wheat, corn (maize), oilseed rape (canola), cotton, sugar beet, walnuts, potatoes, peanuts, squashes, tomatoes, tobacco, peas, sweet peppers, lettuce and onions, among others. The bacterial gene Bt is one of the most commonly inserted. It produces an insecticidal toxin that is harmless to people.

其中大多数新作物种类为防虫害，抗疾病或抗除草剂类型，其中包括：大豆、小麦、玉米、油菜、棉花、甜菜、核桃、土豆、花生、南瓜、番茄、烟草、豌豆、甜椒、生菜和洋葱等。Bt菌是最常见的植入基因之一。它产生的杀虫毒素对人无害。

Supporters of GM technology argue that engineered crops –such as vitamin A-boosted golden rice or protein-enhanced potatoes – can improve nutrition, that drought- or salt-resistant varieties can flourish in poor conditions and stave off world hunger, and that insect-repelling crops protect the environment by minimising pesticide use.

基因技术的支持者认为，转基因作物，如富含维生素A的金稻米或蛋白质增强型马铃薯，可以改善营养；抗干旱或抗盐品种能在恶劣的环境下茁壮生长，避免世界粮食短缺；能够驱蚊虫的农作物则通过减少农药使用而起到保护环境的作用。

Other plants have been engineered to improve flavour, increase shelf life, increase hardiness and to be allergen-free (see also: hay fever-free grass). Geneticists have even created a no-tears onion to banish culinary crying, and novel caffeine-free coffee plants.

其他植物通过基因工程，达到改善口味，增加保质期，提高硬度和防过敏（例如，无花粉症草）。遗传学家甚至培育了无泪洋葱以避免烹饪时流泪和新型不含咖啡因的咖啡树。

“Frankenfood”Fears“魔怪食品”的忧虑

Critics fear that what they call “Frankenstein foods” could have unforeseen, advers e health effects on consumers, producing toxic proteins (and allergens) or transferring antibiotic-resistance and other genes to human gut bacteria to damaging effect. But there has been little evidence to back up such risks so far.

评论家担忧所谓的“魔鬼食品”会对消费者健康造成难以预见的不良影响，产生有毒蛋白质（和过敏原毒蛋白）或将耐抗生素性和其它基因转移到人类肠道细菌中。但至今，人们没有足够的证据来支持对这种风险的担忧。

More plausible threats are that modified crops could become insidious superweeds, or that

they could accidentally breed with wild plants or other crops –genetically polluting the e nvironment. This could be a potentially serious problem if “pharm” crops, engineered to produce pharmaceutical drugs, accidentally cross breed with food varieties (or seeds become mixed up).

一个更加似乎合理的威胁是：转基因作物可能成为隐伏的超级杂草，或者偶然中他们与野生的植物品种或其他作物杂交，造成环境基因污染。如果“药用”作物，即通过转基因技术生产医疗用药，意外地与食品品种杂交（或他们的种子混在一起），这则可能是一个潜在的严重问题。

Large numbers of field trials, carried out by the UK government and others, reveal that gene transfer does occur. One 2002 study showed that transgenes had spread from US to traditional maize varieties in Mexico. A 2004 study revealed that conventional varieties of major US food crops have also been widely contaminated. Another study proved that pollen from GM plants can be carried on the wind for tens of kilometres.

由英国政府和其他人员进行的大量田间试验表明基因转移确实存在。2002年的一项研究表明，转植基因已经从美国蔓延到墨西哥传统的玉米品种。2004年的一项研究显示，美国主要粮食作物的传统品种，也遭到广泛的基因污染。另一项研究证明，转基因植物的花粉可以借助风力传播数十公里。

Many experts agree that insect-repelling plants will also speed the evolution of insecticide-resistant pests. Normal crops are often grown alongside transgenic ones as refuges for the pests, in an attempt to prevent their accelerated evolution into “superpests”.

许多专家一致认为驱虫植物也将加速抗农药害虫的演化。普通农作物通常被种植在转基因作物旁作为害虫的庇护所，这样可以防止“超级害虫”的加速发展。

Environmentalists also argue that growing GM crops affects farmland biodiversity. Field trials to test for this have produced mixed results –some suggesting that GM crops actually boost biodiversity.

环保主义者也认为，种植转基因农作物影响农田的生物多样性。以检验这一担忧的田间试验得出不同结果——一些试验表明转基因作物实际上推动生物多样性。

Growing Globalisation日益全球化

Genetic modification of crops may offer the largest potential benefits to developing nations. However, the growing globalisation of agriculture is a trend that worries some. Activists and disgruntled farmers worry that the agricultural biotech industry is encouraging reliance on their own-brand herbicide-resistant plants (Roundup Ready for example), which could create monopolies.

基因改造农作物为发展中国家提供最大的潜在好处。然而，农业日益全球化的趋势引起一些人的忧虑。反对转基因作物的积极分子和不满的农民们担心，农业生物技术产业是鼓励他们依赖通过转基因技术生产的抗除草剂的植物（例如“抗农达”作物），这可能造成垄断。

Companies such as Monsanto or Syngenta protect their GM seeds with patents. In one well-known legal case a Canadian farmer was successfully prosecuted for growing GM canola, though he claimed seed had accidentally blown on to his land.

一些公司如Monsanto和Syngenta通过申请专利保护自己的转基因种子。关于这一点有一个著名的案件：一位加拿大农民因种植转基油菜而被起诉，尽管他声称种子是被风不小心吹到他土地上的。

Companies have also investigated technology protection systems. One type of TPS, dubbed

the Terminator system by its critics, is a genetic trick that means GM crops fail to produce fertile seeds. This prevents the traditional practice of putting seeds aside from the crop to replant the following year, forcing farmers to buy new seed every year. However, some biotech companies have pledged not to use this technology, despite the fact it could be a useful tool in preventing genetic pollution.

各家公司还调查技术保护系统。其中有一种被评论者称为终结者的系统，该系统通过基因手段使转基因作物无法产生有繁殖能力的种子。这样农民每年必须购买新的种子，而不能将农作物种子留下为下一年补种。不过，尽管它可能是防止基因污染的一个有用工具，一些生物技术公司已承诺不使用这种技术。

A clever genetic variation on that theme, the Exorcist system, allows the production of fertile seeds, but with any foreign GM DNA spliced out and destroyed. The GM revolution has not been restricted to crops. A small number of farm and laboratory animals have also been modified.These include: quick-to-mature GM salmon, endowed with an early growth spurt, GM cows that produce casein-enriched milk ideal for cheese making, pigs bearing spinach genes that produce lower-fat bacon, goats engineered to churn out spider silk in their milk and mice that produce healthy fish oils.

驱魔者系统，一个巧妙的关于该问题的基因变异，能生产出多产的种子，但会造成任何外来的转基因DNA突变和损坏。转基因革命并不只局限于农作物。少量的农场和实验室动物也被转基因，其中包括：具有早期井喷式生长特点的快速成熟的转基因三文鱼，能够产出酪蛋白丰富，适于制作奶酪牛奶的转基因奶牛，具有菠菜基因，适合制作低脂肪培根肉的转基因猪，能在大量产出富含蜘蛛丝蛋白羊奶的转基因山羊和能产出优质鱼油的转基因鼠。

Unit8 Human Gene Therapy—Harsh Lessons, High Hopes

人类基因疗法——代价沉重，但充满希望

A 4-year-old girl named AshanthiDeSilva from the suburbs of Cleveland lay on crisp white hospital sheets with a needle stuck in a vein. She didn't mind; this happened all the time in her chronically sick childhood. At the other end of the intravenous hookup hung a clear plastic bag of very special cells: her own white blood cells, genetically altered to fix a defect she inherited at birth.

住在克利夫兰郊区的4岁女孩阿珊蒂·德西尔维娅正躺在医院洁白的床单上接受静脉滴注。对此，她并不在意，因为这样的情况在她长期受病痛困扰的童年里是家常便饭。在静脉滴注管的另一端悬挂着装有特殊细胞的透明塑料袋，那是她自己的白血球，通过基因修正来治疗她与生俱来的遗传性疾病。

A strikingly thin middle-aged doctor stared anxiously at the tiny figure. W. French Anderson, M.D., and his colleagues R. Michael Blaese, M.D., and Kenneth Culver, M.D., all then working at the National Institutes of Health, crossed a symbolic threshold with AshanthiDeSilva that day, becoming the first group to begin a clinical trial in the new frontier of medical treatment: human gene therapy.

一个瘦削的中年医生焦虑地凝视着这个娇小的身躯。这是医学博士弗伦奇·安德森，当时他和他的同事迈克尔·布利斯（医学博士）、肯尼斯·卡尔沃（医学博士）都在美国国家卫生研究所工作。那一天，他们和阿珊蒂·德西尔维娅一起跨过了一个标志性的里程碑，成为第一个在医学治疗前沿—人类基因疗法—进行临床试验的团队。

The reason for the excitement was simple: Most diseases have a genetic component and gene therapy holds the hope of curing, not merely treating, a broad range of ailments, including inherited diseases like cystic fibrosis and even chronic conditions like cancer and infectious diseases like AIDS.

这个消息之所以如此令人兴奋，原因很简单：多数病变都有自己的基因构成，基因疗法为治愈诸多疾病而不仅仅是缓解病痛带来了希望，其中包括诸如囊肿性纤维化等遗传性疾病，甚至是癌症这一类的慢性疾病和艾滋病等传染性疾病。

At least, that's the theory.

至少在理论上是这样的。

In the 10 years since that first genetic treatment on Sept. 14, 1990, the hyperbole has exceeded the results. Worldwide, researchers launched more than 400 clinical trials to test gene therapy against a wide array of illnesses. Surprisingly, cancer has dominated the research. Even more surprising, little has worked.

1990年9月14日进行的第一次基因治疗距今已有10年，这10年中，对事实的夸大超过了实际效果。在世界范围内，研究者们进行了400多次临床试验来测试基因疗法治疗多种疾病的效果。令人惊讶的是，癌症成为研究的重点，而且更让人惊奇的是，成效甚微。

"There was initially a great burst of enthusiasm that lasted three, four years where a couple of hundred trials got started all over the world," says Anderson, now at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "Then we came to realize that nothing was really working at the clinical level."

洛杉矶南加利福尼亚大学的安德森说：“最初三四年大家都充满了热情，在全世界范围内进行了两三百个试验。后来我们开始意识到在临床方面并没有真正的突破。”

Abbey S. Meyers, president of the National Organization for Rare Disorders Inc., an umbrella

organization of patients' groups, is much more blunt. "We haven't even taken one baby step beyond that first clinical experiment," Meyers says. "It has hardly gotten anywhere. Over the last 10 years, I have been very disappointed."

全国罕见疾病组织（这是一个由患者团体组成的联合组织）主席艾比·麦尔斯更为坦率，他说：“自最初进行的临床试验，我们没有取得什么进步。几乎没有任何结果。在过去的十年里，我一直很失望。”

And then things got worse.

接下来，情况变得更糟。

In September 1999, a patient died from a reaction to a gene therapy treatment at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Human Gene Therapy in Philadelphia. Jesse Gelsinger, an exuberant 18-year-old from Tucson, Arizona, suffered from a broken gene that causes one of those puzzling metabolic diseases of genetic medicine. An optimistic, altruistic Gelsinger went to Philadelphia to help advance the science that might eventually cure his type of illness. Instead, the experiment killed him.

1999年9月，在费城宾夕法尼亚大学人类基因疗法研究所，一名患者死于基因疗法引起的反应。18岁充满活力的杰西·吉尔辛格来自亚利桑那州图森市，他体内遭到破坏的基因引起了一种基因医学上令人困惑的新陈代谢疾病。吉尔辛格开朗乐观、不计个人得失，为了推进科学研究，最终找到能够治愈所患疾病的疗法而远赴费城，但医学实验却夺去了他的生命。

In the aftermath of his death, there has been a flurry of activity to minimize the chance of future accidental deaths. The Food and Drug Administration, along with the National Institutes of Health, launched several investigations of the University of Pennsylvania studies and others. The inquiries provided disappointing news: Gene therapy researchers were not following all of the federal rules requiring them to report unexpected adverse events associated with the gene therapy trials; worse, some scientists were asking that problems not be made public. And then came the allegations that there were other unreported deaths attributed to genetic treatments, at least six in all.

在他去世后，人们开始采取紧急措施，将造成意外死亡的几率降至最低。国家食品药品管理局和国家卫生研究所对宾夕法尼亚大学的研究和其他一些研究进行了调查。调查结果令人失望，结果显示基因疗法的研究者们并没有按照联邦法令的要求上报由基因疗法实验造成的意外不良事故；更糟的是，有些科学家们还要求不要公开报道这些问题。此后有传言称，还有其他基因治疗引起的死亡事件未报道，总共至少有6例。

"Probably the clearest evidence of the system to protect research subjects not working is that only 35 to 37 of 970 serious adverse events from a common type of gene therapy trial were reported to the NIH" as required, says LeRoy Walters, the recently retired head of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University and former chairman of NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. "That is fewer than 5 percent of the serious adverse events."

最近退休的乔治敦大学肯尼迪道德伦理研究所所长、重组DNA顾问委员会前主席拉罗伊·沃尔特斯说：“为供研究的被试者而建立的保护系统没有起作用，这一点最明显的证据就是，在一个普通类型的基因疗法实验中出现的970件严重不良事件，只有35到37件（按要求）上报给国家卫生研究所；这个数目还不足严重不良事件的5%。”

The news hit the clinical trial community like a thunderclap. The consequences have been immediate and wide-ranging, and may threaten future research.

该消息对临床医学研究界不啻一声惊雷，立即产生了广泛的影响，甚至危及未来的研究

工作。

"Participation in gene therapy trials is way down because the public is not sure what to make of this," says Philip Noguchi, M.D., director of the Cellular and Genetic Therapy Division in FDA's Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research (CBER). "They want to know what the government is doing to help restore the confidence in this field."

国家食品药品管理局生物制品评价与研究中心、细胞与基因疗法部门主任菲利普·诺谷奇（医学博士）说：“参加基因疗法的试验者急剧下降，因为公众弄不清这种疗法到底是怎么回事，他们想知道政府正在这一领域采取什么措施来恢复人们的信心。”

Not all the news about gene therapy is bad. It's true that dramatic cures have not been seen to date, but there are tantalizing signs that important advances may be just around the corner.

但并不是所有有关基因疗法的消息都是坏消息。诚然，迄今还未看到奇迹般的疗效，但有初步迹象显示，重大突破或许已近在指日。

AshanthiDeSilva, the girl who received the first credible gene therapy, continues to do well a decade later. She suffered a type of inherited immune disorder called Severe Combined Immune Deficiency, or SCID (pronounced skid), that left her susceptible to every passing microorganism. Without gene therapy, DeSilva would be living like David, the Boy in the Bubble, who had a similar disorder. Instead, the NIH researchers inserted a normal copy of the broken gene into some of her white blood cells, healing them, helping them function normally to restore her immune system. Cynthia Cutshall, the second child to receive gene therapy for the same disorder as DeSilva, also continues to do well.

第一个接受令人信服的基因治疗的女孩阿珊蒂·德西尔维娅十年之后仍然生活的很好。她患有一种名叫重症复合性免疫缺陷症(SCID)的遗传性免疫紊乱，由于这种疾病，任何与她接触的微生物都会对她产生影响。如果没有基因疗法，她就会像有相似病例的“泡泡男孩”大卫那样度过一生。国家卫生研究所的研究者将被破坏基因的正常副本植入她的白血球，治愈并帮助它们正常地发挥作用，以恢复她的免疫系统。第二个接受基因治疗的孩子辛西娅·卡特谢尔和德西尔维娅患有同一疾病，也恢复得很好。

Scientists, however, have discounted the benefit of the first gene therapies because the girls began receiving a new drug treatment that replaces the missing enzyme just before receiving the genetic therapy. And they continue to receive the drug after the genetic treatment, though gene therapy pioneer Anderson argues that since the drug dose has remained the same while their bodies have grown substantially over the decade, it makes a negligible contribution to their well-being.

然而，一些科学家对最初这两例基因疗法不以为然，因为患病的女孩在接受基因疗法之前已经开始接受一种新药的治疗，以替代她们自身所短缺的酶，其后也一直在持续服用该药。不过基因疗法研究的先驱安德森认为，既然十年来姑娘们服用药物的剂量一直没有变化，而她们的身体却持续显著恢复，可以推定该药物的影响微乎其微。

In April, French scientists reported convincing evidence that they successfully treated a different form of SCID (X-linked severe combined immune deficiency, the type suffered by the boy in the bubble) with gene therapy. Four of the first five babies treated by Alain Fischer, M.D., of the Necker children's hospital in Paris have had "a complete or near complete recovery" of their immune systems after the treatment.

四月份，法国科学家报告了强有力的证据说明他们用基因疗法成功地治疗了一例不同类型的SCID（伴X染色体的重症复合型免疫缺陷症，是“塑料泡里的男孩”所患的疾病）。巴黎内克尔儿童医院阿莱恩·菲什尔（医学博士）最初治疗的5个儿童中，有4人在接受治疗

后其免疫系统完全康复或接近完全康复。

Meanwhile, researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Stanford University and Avigen, Inc., a biotech company in Alameda, Calif., have reported promising results in hemophilia B patients. The team packaged a gene for Factor IX, a blood clotting protein, in a defective adeno-associated virus (AAV). They then used the AAV to insert the gene into patients who suffered abnormal blood clotting because they lack Factor IX. Normally, these hemophilia patients needed to inject Factor IX to prevent uncontrolled bleeding. In June, the researchers reported treating six patients with the Factor IX gene therapy. Even though the dose of the gene therapy was so low that no one expected it to help, it reduced the number of injections of Factor IX that these patients used on an ad hoc basis.

同时，费城儿童医院、斯坦福大学和加州阿拉米达市Avigen生物技术有限公司的研究者们报告了B型血友病患者的满意效果。这个团队给被感染的腺相关病毒（AVV）中的一种血凝蛋白—凝血酶原复合物—植入了一个基因，然后通过AVV将基因植入到因缺少凝血酶原复合物而患有异常血凝功能的患者身体里。而一般情况下，这些血友病患者则需要注射凝血酶原复合物来防止无法控制的流血。六月份，研究人员报告又采用凝血酶原复合物基因疗法治疗了6名患者。虽然这次基因疗法的剂量很低，没有人会期待它会有多大作用，但是该治疗减少了患者作为权宜之计注射凝血酶原复合物的次数。

"The hemophilia studies are looking promising," says FDA's Noguchi, "but will need further study to know whether it is an effective product."

国家食品药品管理局的诺谷奇说：“血友病的研究前景看好，但是还需要更进一步的研究才能知道它到底是不是一种有效的疗法。”

These two studies suggest the power of genetic treatments.

以上两项研究说明了基因疗法的威力。

"We do seem to have turned the corner," says Anderson, "and there are a number of clinical trials that are starting to show success."

安德森说：“我们似乎已经度过了难关，现在有相当数量的临床试验开始显示出成功的迹象。”

Even as FDA increases its scrutiny of the field to ensure patient safety, there is a sense of advancement. "There is good progress being made," Noguchi says. "FDA thinks that gene therapy will work, but we don't know for which disease. The recent events in France show that if you have the right disease, and can insert the right gene, you can obtain good results."

即使国家食品药品管理局为保证患者的安全加强了对这一领域的监督，基因疗法还是取得了进步。诺谷奇说：“这一领域正在取得明显的进步，国家食品药品管理局认为基因疗法是有效的，但是我们不知道对哪些疾病有效。法国最近的研究成果表明：如果你患有恰当的疾病，植入恰当的基因，那么就会取得良好的效果。”

Unit9 The Big Bang: It Sure Was BIG!! 宇宙大爆炸

The Hubble Telescope’s deepest view of the universe teaches us about the beginning.

哈勃望远镜对宇宙深处的探索告诉了我们宇宙是如何起源的。

One of the most persistently asked questions has been: How was the universe created? Many once believed that the universe had no beginning or end and was truly infinite. Through the inception of the Big Bang theory, however, no longer could the universe be considered infinite. The universe was forced to take on the properties of a finite phenomenon, possessing a history and a beginning.

长久以来，人们常常问道的一个问题就是：宇宙是如何被创造的？许多人曾经认为，宇宙没有开始也没有结束，宇宙是真正的无限的。然而自从宇宙大爆炸理论被创立以来，宇宙就不再被认为是无限的。宇宙被冠以有限现象的特性，有了历史也有了起源。

About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion is known as the Big Bang. At the point of this event all of the matter and energy of space was contained at one point. What existed prior to this event is completely unknown and is a matter of pure speculation. This occurrence was not a conventional explosion but rather an event filling all of space with all of the particles of the embryonic universe rushing away from each other. The Big Bang actually consisted of an explosion of space within itself unlike an explosion of a bomb were fragments are thrown outward. The galaxies were not all clumped together, but rather the Big Bang lay the foundations for the universe.

大约150亿年前，宇宙的膨胀由一场巨大的爆炸伊始。这一爆炸被称为宇宙大爆炸。在爆炸发生时，宇宙空间的所有物质和能量都存在于一个点。至于在此之前还存在过什么则是完全未知的，是纯粹的猜测。这一爆炸的发生并不是常规性的，爆炸使得胚胎时期的宇宙中充满了急速离散的粒子。宇宙大爆炸不像炸弹爆炸那样，所有的爆炸碎片都向外飞出，他实际上是一个空间在其内部的爆炸。当时星系并非成团地聚在一起，不是所有的星系都聚集在一起，大爆炸为宇宙的诞生奠定了基础。

The origin of the Big Bang theory can be credited to Edwin Hubble. Hubble made the observation that the universe is continuously expanding. He discovered that a galaxy’s velocity is proportional to its distance. Galaxies that are twice as far from us move twice as fast. Another consequence is that the universe is expanding in every direction. This observation means that it has taken every galaxy the same amount of time to move from a common starting position to its current position. Just as the Big Bang provided for the foundation of the universe, Hubble’s observations provided for the foundation of the Big Bang theory.

大爆炸理论的起源应归功于埃德温.哈勃。哈勃观测到宇宙在不断地扩大。他发现一个星系的运动速度与其距离是成正比的。因此，距离我们两倍远的星系，移动速度也是我们的两倍。另一个结论是，宇宙是向四面八方膨胀的。这一观察意味着对于所有的星系来说，他们从一开始相同的位置移动到现在各自的位置所用的时间都是一样的。正如宇宙大爆炸为宇宙奠定了基础一样，哈勃的观测也为宇宙大爆炸理论奠定了基础。

Since the Big Bang, the universe has been continuously expanding and, thus, there has been more and more distance between clusters of galaxies. This phenomenon of galaxies moving farther away from each other is known as the red shift. As light from distant galaxies approach earth there is an increase of space between earth and the galaxy, which leads to wavelengths being stretched.

自宇宙大爆炸以来，宇宙一直在不断地扩大，而且星系之间的距离越来越远。这种星系

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