(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
When you are sick with a cold or the flu, you may have a runny nose. Why is it called a runny nose? Because of the mucus flowing and dripping from your nose.
Yucky! But, guess what? Mucus is very helpful.
Just hearing the word is enough to make some people uneasy, but science tells us that mucus is our friend. New research has found that health benefits can come from mucus and viruses.
Our bodies can produces more than a liter of it every day. So what is it?
"Mucus is typically a clear, gel-like substance. It is very slimy. Mucus is a secretion or substance that your body produces, and it produces it to protect itself but also to select for specific bacteria and microbes that actually help you and contributes to your immune system, and it sort of covers and coats almost the entire inside of our bodies.
That is Jeremy Barr, adjunct professor at San Diego State University. He says that mucus is where all of your good bacteria lives and grows.
When you have a virus, it can cause many illnesses. Barr and his fellow researchers studied a virus called "phage."
He says this virus, when mixed with mucus cells in the body, can help protect it against bacteria.
"Phages are a special kind of virus because they only infect and kill bacteria. They don't infect humans or other animals. What our research has shown is that these phages actually stick to mucus layers all throughout your body and by sticking there they work with your body to protect and control the bacterial community that can reside or live in your mucus layers."
Mucus also helps protect your lungs from dust, bacteria, cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes and other intruders.
Barr says the interaction between mucus and phage is constant. And there are health benefits when you have a cold.
"When you get sick, the common cold is actually a type of virus that infects our own cells and so, in that case, changes to your mucus layer could disrupt these phages or...and could sometimes lead to what we call a secondary infection. So you will actually get a bacterial pathogen that will come in and cause an infection after the common cold. We think this is a very important mechanism in your body to keep you healthy and to protect you from bacterial infection."
The group grew human lung cells in petri dishes to produce sterile mucus. They then added the phage virus. Then, they added bacteria. They found that the lung cells were better protected from bacteria than those without the added phage virus.
Jeremy Barr says he hopes the research will bring forth new fields of phage research, even to help prevent food-borne outbreaks like E. coli.
"So we think that if we could use these phages and how they stick to mucosal surfaces and potentially protect against some of these food-borne outbreaks."
So the next time you have a cold, remember your mucus -- along with the phage virus -- is hard at work to make you healthy and keep those harmful bacteria away.
I'm Marsha James.
词汇解释
1.mucus n. 粘液；黏液
Coughing clears the lungs of mucus.
咳嗽能清除肺里的黏液。
2.secretion n. 分泌；分泌物；藏匿；隐藏
Gastric secretion is reduced in volume and total acid content.
胃分泌的容量和总酸度降低。
3.phage n. [病毒] 噬菌体
The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed.
噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。
4.exhaust fume 排烟；废气
The city's streets are filthy and choked with exhaust fumes.
那座城市的街道肮脏不堪，弥漫着令人窒息的废气。
5.pathogen n. 病原体；病菌
The pathogen was almost instantly detected by automated systems.
病原体几乎立刻就被自动系统检测到了。
6.food-borne adj. 食物传染的
foodborne infection and intoxication
因食物而引起的感染与中毒
内容解析
1.and it produces it to protect itself but also to select for specific bacteria and microbes that actually help you and contributes to your immune system,
contribute to 有助于；捐献
Various factors contributed to his downfall.
多种因素的作用导致了他的倒台。
Heat, cold, tactile and other sensations contribute to flavour.
热、冷、触觉和其他感觉构成了食物风味的一部分。
2.So the next time you have a cold, remember your mucus -- along with the phage virus -- is hard at work to make you healthy and keep those harmful bacteria away.
keep away 防范；不接近
Keep away from the doors while the train is moving.
列车运行过程中要远离车门。
I signed to him to keep away, but he continued to advance.
我示意他离开，但他还是继续往前走。
参考译文
当你感冒或患流感时，你可能会流鼻涕。为什么叫流鼻涕？因为有粘液从你的鼻子里流出或滴出来。
好恶心！但你猜怎么着？粘液是有益的。
只要听到这个词就足以让有些人不安了，但科学告诉我们，粘液是我们的朋友。新研究发现粘液和病毒可以带来健康益处。
我们的身体每天可以分泌一升多的粘液，那么粘液究竟是什么东西呢？
“粘液是一种清澈的、凝胶状物质，它非常黏糊，粘液是人体分泌的一种分泌物，人体分泌粘液是为了保护自身，也是为了选出一定的对人体免疫系统有益的细菌或微生物，粘液几乎覆盖人体内部的各个地方。”
这是圣地亚哥州立大学助理教授杰里米·巴尔，他说粘液是人体所有有益细菌生活和生长的地方。
当人体染上病毒时就会产生很多疾病，巴尔和他的同事们研究一种名为噬菌体的病毒。
他说当这种病毒和人体的粘液混合时，能保护人体免受细菌的侵害。
“噬菌体是一种特别的病毒，因为它们只会感染和杀死细菌，不会感染人体或其他动物。我们的研究表明，这些噬菌体粘附在人体各处的粘液层，这样与人体协作来保护和控制生活在粘液层里的菌群。”
粘液还能保护人的肺部免受尘埃、细菌、香烟烟雾、废气和其他入侵者的侵害。
巴尔说粘液和噬菌体之间的互动是一直进行的，当人患上感冒时会产生健康益处。
“当人生病时，普通感冒事实上是一种感染人体细胞的病毒，这样，身体粘液层的变化能干扰这些噬菌体，有时会导致所谓的二次感染。所以在患上普通感冒后，你会因为细菌病原体侵入二感染，我想这是身体内的非常重要的机制，可以保护人体健康，保护人体免受细菌感染。”
该小组在培养皿里培养了人体肺细胞来产生无菌粘液，然后加入噬菌体病毒，然后加入细菌，他们发现与那些没有加入噬菌体病毒的细胞相比，这样的肺细胞能够得到的更好地保护来抵御细菌的侵入。
杰里米·巴尔说他希望这项研究能推动噬菌体研究新领域的发展，甚至帮助预防大肠杆菌等食源性疾病的爆发。
“所以我们认为，如果我们能使用这些噬菌体以及如何粘附在粘膜表面的特点来预防一些食源性疾病的爆发。”
所以下次你感冒时要记得粘液和噬菌体病毒，是它们在努力维持你的健康，让有害细菌远离你。
我是玛莎·詹姆斯。
