万物简史(MP3+中英字幕) 第592期:生命的物质(18)
日期:2019-07-30 16:51

(单词翻译:单击)

Ninety-seven percent of your DNA consists of nothing but long stretches of meaningless garble — "junk," or "non-coding DNA," as biochemists prefer to put it. Only here and there along each strand do you find sections that control and organize vital functions. These are the curious and long-elusive genes.
你的DNA的97%是由大量没有任何意义的垃圾(Junk),或生化学家喜欢称之为非编码DNA构成的。每一段里你发现只有部分区段在起着掌控和组织的作用。这是一些行为古怪、难以捉摸的基因。
Genes are nothing more (nor less) than instructions to make proteins. This they do with a certain dull fidelity. In this sense, they are rather like the keys of a piano, each playing a single note and nothing else, which is obviously a trifle monotonous. But combine the genes, as you would combine piano keys, and you can create chords and melodies of infinite variety. Put all these genes together, and you have (to continue the metaphor) the great symphony of existence known as the human genome.
基因就是(不过是)制造蛋白质的指令。它们在完成这一工作时尽职尽责。在这个意义上,它们就像钢琴的键,每一个键只能弹奏出一个音符,仅此而已,这显然有点儿单调。然而,将所有的基因组合在一起,就像你将所有的键组合在一起一样,你就能(继续这个比喻)弹奏出一曲伟大的生命交响乐,这就是人类基因组。
人类基因组

An alternative and more common way to regard the genome is as a kind of instruction manual for the body. Viewed this way, the chromosomes can be imagined as the book's chapters and the genes as individual instructions for making proteins. The words in which the instructions are written are called codons, and the letters are known as bases. The bases — the letters of the genetic alphabet — consist of the four nucleotides mentioned a page or two back: adenine, thiamine, guanine, and cytosine. Despite the importance of what they do, these substances are not made of anything exotic. Guanine, for instance, is the same stuff that abounds in, and gives its name to, guano.
基因组换一种通俗的说法就是一种身体指令的手册。从这个角度来看,可以将染色体想像为一本书的章节,而基因则是制造蛋白质的个别指令。指令中所写的单词被称为密码子,单词中的一个个字母被称为碱基。碱基——基因子母表中的字母——由前面我们提到的腺嘌呤、鸟嘌呤、胞嘧吟和胸腺嘧啶4种核苷酸组成。尽管它们的作用极为重要,这些物质不是什么稀奇的东西组成。例如,鸟嘌呤就是因为在鸟粪层中大量存在而得名。

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重点单词
  • certainadj. 确定的,必然的,特定的 pron. 某几个,某
  • symphonyn. 交响乐
  • vitaladj. 至关重要的,生死攸关的,有活力的,致命的
  • genomen. [生]基因组;[生]染色体组
  • fidelityn. 忠实,忠诚,准确性
  • varietyn. 多样,种类,杂耍
  • combinev. 结合,联合,使结合 n. 集团,联合企业,联合收割
  • geneticadj. 基因的,遗传的,起源的
  • exoticadj. 异国的,外来的,奇异的,脱衣舞的 n. (复数
  • infiniteadj. 无限的,无穷的 n. 无限