科学美国人60秒:染病蚂蚁或会外出寻找治愈良方
日期:2015-10-26 15:36

(单词翻译:单击)

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听力文本
We humans take medicine when we're sick.
As do our primate cousins.
Chimps, for example, snack on a bitter African shrub to combat intestinal worms.
But the habit extends even to invertebrates.
Take fruit flies—which sip alcohol to ward off parasitic wasps.
Or wood ants, which line their nests with antifungal, antibacterial tree sap.
Now researchers in Finland report that ants there that have encountered a pathogenic fungus appear to fight the infection by eating foods high in free radicals.
Those are molecules with a talent for causing cell damage, in this case, to the cells of the fungus.
That's according to a study in the journal Evolution.
The researchers collected some 400 wild ants.
They exposed some to the fungus, and left the rest alone.
Then they offered up a sort of eggy custard—either plain, or laced with free radicals—in the form of hydrogen peroxide.
Uninfected ants didn't want anything to do with the radical-rich food.
Which makes sense.
“Exactly, I mean we don't take painkillers on a daily basis, or we don't take antimicrobial agents on a daily basis.
Because that would have really severe side effects on the organism."
Dalial Freitak, an insect immunologist at the University of Helsinki.
Sick ants, on the other hand, preferred the peroxide diet—even before developing a full-blown infection.
And the medicine upped their odds of survival some 30 percent.
"I would definitely go for it!"
As for free radicals in the wild?
Dalial says ants might get them from the honeydew substance that aphids produce.
Or decomposing corpses—another ant favorite.
No word on whether they sometimes seek out antioxidants.

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参考译文

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我们人类生病的时候会服用药物jColC)fhn2dG
而我们的灵长类近亲也是如此FVGnXOw(fes
以黑猩猩为例,它们会进食一种很苦的非洲灌木作为药物消除肠道内的寄生虫Q,QqPjE63CzJ6E2Bj@
而无脊椎动物也是这样H-UWN2|=9425!Og
比如果蝇会通过吸食酒精抵御寄生蜂dyQ#)x-oT#is
还有树蚁会将自己的巢穴建在抵抗真菌及细菌的树汁旁h-w6YTDzdN#Rm_1%l
而现在芬兰的研究人员表示蚂蚁如果感染病原性真菌会将富含自由基的食物作为药物|cs_~7Jd!sYWBH
这些自由基分子可是能够非常有效消灭损害细胞的真菌c!,RU1AqxWJ,^K5h[;C

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这是根据刊登在《进化》期刊上的一篇研究得出的结论faS#vxdxJ@*
研究人员们对大约400只野生蚂蚁进行了实验W2Ar4P_3,6)d.jlC
这些蚂蚁有的暴露在真菌环境下,而剩下则作为对照组]ro=%a]NyWlQ]g-XcWsp
而后研究人员们又为蚂蚁提供了一种原味或添加过氧化氢自由基的蛋奶冻LjX]ZX,TVBI71y[[F,O
未受真菌感染的蚂蚁并不想吃富含自由基的食物PTbIOe3^4aumZn&_p
实验结果充分说明了问题KUe2xFZ]3LtP,XK
的确如此,我的意思是我们没必要每天都吃止痛药,或者我们没必要每天都摄取抗生素GNS#msW6tZj|lCYd*k2v
因为那样的话真的会对机体组织产生非常严重的负作用^)5Sm!%7Yi
赫尔辛基大学的昆虫免疫学家达理尔·弗雷塔克说道FbBZ[W6zXjz
而另一方面,染病的蚂蚁即便完全被感染前也更喜欢为它们准备的药方ZLjvhE9g[qX9tG
而且这些药物为它们提升约30%的生存几率)3Kqy9tOv7IBxc
我要是蚂蚁的话也会选择吃药!
那野外环境下哪里能获得自由基呢?
达理尔表示蚂蚁们也许会从蚜虫产生的蜜露物质中获得hi^+5TpV^G].Tg|1uOZ
或者从蚂蚁的另一项爱好,分解尸体也能获得这类物质OZONqA^al5Q).v#%B
现在它们有时候会外出寻找抗氧化药不用再评论了7p0#2yatNNwh=m]

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译文为可可英语翻译,未经授权请勿转载!

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重点讲解

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1.ward off 避开,挡住

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例句:He managed to free one hand to ward off a punch.
他设法挣脱出一只手来挡住了一拳Pxl8_x_wCX

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2.appear to 似乎,好像

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例句:By all accounts, Rodger would appear to be a fine fellow.
据说,罗杰是个好小伙l!jZaX_A][]GIVoTl8

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3.according to 根据,按照

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例句:He advocates streaming children, and educating them according to their needs.
他提倡把学生按能力分班,因需施教,5,zS_).*qf

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4.want to 想要

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例句:The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.
你是什么样的人和你想成为什么样的之间的差距就是,你做了什么-RN*m[~l%8|rqM=m,ZBZ

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重点单词
  • severeadj. 剧烈的,严重的,严峻的,严厉的,严格的
  • sipn. 啜饮 v. 啜饮,啜
  • survivaln. 生存,幸存者
  • celln. 细胞,电池,小组,小房间,单人牢房,(蜂房的)巢室
  • primaten. 灵长目动物 n. (常大写)首席主教 n. 首领
  • infectionn. 传染,影响,传染病
  • substancen. 物质,实质,内容,重要性,财产
  • shrubn. 灌木 n. 果汁甜酒
  • hydrogenn. 氢
  • punchn. 打洞器,钻孔机,殴打 n. (酒、水、糖等制成的)