(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Autism-Related Genes Discovered
The human body has about 25,000 genes. Researchers already know of 65 genes they believe carry a risk for autism. Now, researchers at Princeton University in New Jersey have identified 2,500 more that could help create the conditions for autism.
The discovery is important because the genes could lead scientists toward finding a cause and, possibly, a treatment.
Autism and ... Facebook?
Autism is a condition that makes it difficult for some people to communicate, learn and socialize.
Arjun Krishnan is a researcher at Princeton's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. He says researchers used what they called a machine-learning computer program to identify autism-related genes.
Krishnan explains that the program identified similarities between brain-related genes and the 65 autism-risk genes.
Then, the program looked for other genes that are "friends" of both sets.
He says the process is like finding friends on Facebook.
"And if Facebook wanted to find out who your friends are and wanted to suggest a friend for you, what they would do is find out who your friends are and then find out other people who are friends with those same people. And if they are, they are very likely friends of you, too. So that is how they give you suggestions of new friends you might know. We used a very, very similar strategy..."
The strategy permitted researchers to find patterns within the brain's huge circuitry. It showed that having genes that are "friends" of both brain-related and autism-related genes can increase a person's risk for autism.
The findings can also help researchers understand why one person may be only mildly affected with autism, while another is severely affected.
Olga Troyanskaya is a professor of computer science and genomics at Princeton. She says people's entire sets of genes influence what kinds of symptoms they have.
In other words, autism researchers need to consider not only individual genes, but also gene combinations.
Researchers still have not found a way to diagnose autism, beyond just observing the child. But they hope this new research into gene patterns will lead to a way to diagnose very young children. Then they can be helped as soon as possible.
I'm Anne Ball.
词汇解析
1.computer program 计算机程序
Finding a volunteer to write the computer program isn't a problem
找个志愿者编这个计算机程序不成问题。
2.looked for 寻找
The Japanese war lords had looked for a certainty.
日本军阀要想寻求万全之策。
3.lead to 导致
Blindly copying others might very well lead to losses.
盲目搬用别人的经验很容易造成损失。
4.find out 发现
I'll find out the address,and ring you back.
我找到地址后再与你通电话。
内容解析
1.Then they can be helped as soon as possible.
soon as possible 尽快
I want this agreement in black and white as soon as possible.
我要尽快得到这份书面协议。
The best plan would be to lead trumps as soon as possible.
最好的办法是马上先出将牌。
2.In other words, autism researchers need to consider not only individual genes, but also gene combinations.
In other words 换言之
In other words, frictional work is not completely recoverable.
换句话说，摩擦力的功不能完全回收。
In other words, the process of economic growth is under way.
换句话说，经济增长过程正在进行。
参考译文
自闭症是如何形成的？
人体的基因数量约为25000个。科学家们已得知其中65个基因可能会引起自闭症。现在，新泽西州普林斯顿大学的研究人员新检验出2500个可能有助于引发自闭症的基因。
这项研究非常重要，因为这些基因能够带领科学家们发现自闭症的根源及医治方法。
通常，自闭症患者在交流、学习和社交都存在障碍。
阿尔琼·克里斯南是普林斯顿大学路易斯·西格勒综合基因组研究所的研究人员。他说，研究人员们使用一种名为“机器学习”的计算机程序来识别与自闭症相关的基因。
克里斯南指出，程序可够识别大脑相关基因与65个自闭症有关基因的相似性。
之后，程序开始寻找与二者相似的其他基因。
他说，这一过程类似于在脸书网上加好友。
“如果脸书想要识别出你的好友并给你推荐好友的话，首先会找到你的好友，然后查看这些人的共同好友都有谁。这些人很有可能也是你的朋友。他们就是这样给你推荐可能认识的人的。我们的策略是非常相似的……”
研究人员利用该策略在大脑的巨大回路中寻找模型。若基因与“大脑”和“自闭症”都类似，那么患自闭症的风险就会增加。
这一结论也有助于研究人员解释，为何患自闭症的人其症状和程度各不相同。
奥尔加·特拉安斯卡亚是普林斯顿大学计算机科学和基因组专业的教授。她表示，人体的整体基因影响外在的症状。
换言之，研究自闭症不能只局限于单个基因，还要考虑到基因组合。
除了观察儿童症状，研究人员尚未发现诊断自闭症的有效方法。他们希望基因模型的最新研究结果能够发现诊断低龄儿童的方法。这样他们可以尽早帮助这些儿童。
安妮·波尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
