(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Chinese Scientists Develop Gene Therapy Which Could Delay Aging
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
Scientists in Beijing, China have developed a new gene therapy that can turn back some of the effects of aging in mice. The therapy also extended their lives. This may one day help humans as well.
The gene therapy involved disabling a gene called kat7. Scientists have found this gene to be the main cause of aging in cells.
Qu Jing of the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, or CAS, is one of the supervisors of the project. After six to eight months, Qu said, the mice showed an overall improvement in their appearance and grip strength. More importantly, she added, "they have (an) extended lifespan (of) about 25 percent."
A different team of scientists at the academy used a method called CRISPR/Cas9 to look for genes that cause the most cellular aging. They identified 100 genes out of around 10,000.
The kat7 gene, Qu said, was most involved in the aging of cells. It is one of tens of thousands of genes found in the cells of mammals.
Researchers disabled the kat7 gene in the livers of the mice in the study. They used a method called lentiviral vector to modify the gene by inserting a genetic material into the cell.
Their findings were published in the Science Translational Medicine paper in early January.
Qu said they tested the working of kat7 gene in different kinds of cell types, including human stem cells, human liver cells and mice liver cells. For all those cells, the researchers could not find any cellular toxicity. "And for the mice, she added, "we also didn't see any side-effects yet."
Even with these findings, Qu told Reuters, the method to disable the kat7 gene is still a long way from being ready for human tests. She said they need more tests in other human cells and mice organs before experimenting the method on human aging and other health conditions.
Qu said she hopes to be able to test the method on primates next. But that would require a lot of money and much more research first.
"In the end," she said, "we hope that we can find a way to delay aging even by a very minor percentage...in the future."
And that's the Health & Lifestyle report.
I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
重点讲解：
1. turn back 逆转；
If we can turn back time, maybe everything will be different.
如果时光可逆转，或许一切会不同。
2. look for 寻找；探索；
Look for software that's flexible enough for a range of abilities.
寻找功能多、适用性强的软件。
3. out of 表示比例）每…中；
You scored six out of ten.
总分十分你得了六分。
4. be able to do sth. 可以…的，能够…的；
They were able to come and go at will.
他们能够来去自由。
参考译文
中国科学家研发出延缓衰老的基因疗法
这里是VOA慢速英语健康生活报道。
中国北京的科学家研发出一种新的基因疗法，可以逆转小鼠衰老的某些影响。同时这种疗法还能延长小鼠的生命。这一发现可能有一天也能帮助到人类。
这种基因疗法涉及使名为kat7的基因失活。科学家发现这个基因是导致细胞衰老的主要原因。
中国科学院（简称中科院，CAS）动物研究所的曲静是该项目的负责人之一。曲静表示，六到八个月后，这些小鼠的外观和握力都表现出整体改善。她补充说，更重要的是，它们的寿命延长了约25%。”
中科院的另一个科学家团队使用名为CRISPR/Cas9的方法来寻找导致细胞老化最严重的基因。他们从大约10000个基因中识别出100个。
曲静表示，kat7基因是最显著的促进细胞衰老基因。该基因是在哺乳动物细胞中发现的成千上万的基因之一。
研究人员在研究中使小鼠肝脏中的kat7基因失活。他们采用了名为慢病毒载体的方法，通过在细胞中插入一种遗传物质来修改基因。
他们的发现发表在1月初的《科学转化医学》期刊上。
曲静表示，他们测试了kat7基因在不同类型的细胞中的作用，包括人类干细胞、人类肝细胞和小鼠肝细胞。对于所有这些细胞，研究人员均未发现任何细胞毒性。她补充表示，“对于老鼠，我们也没有看到任何副作用。”
曲静对路秀社记者表示，即使有了这些发现，使kat7基因失活的方法离人体试验还有很长的路要走。她表示，在使用该策略治疗人类衰老和其他健康状况之前，他们需要在其他人体细胞和小鼠器官中进行更多试验。
曲静表示，她希望接下来能够在灵长类动物上测试该方法。但这首先需要大量的资金和更多的研究。
她表示，“最终，我们希望未来能找到一种方法来延缓衰老，哪怕只是很小的一部分。”
以上是健康生活报道。
我是安娜·马迪奥。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
