(单词翻译:单击)
Comic books like Watchmen and Kick-Ass ask: What would happen if superheroes existed in the real world? Watchmen suggested we'd get sociopaths. Kick-Ass said they'd be weirdos who walk the line between neighborhood watch and vigilante. In reality, some people do dress up and patrol streets, occasionally fighting crime. But is it possible for an actual comic book hero to exist in real life?
像《守望者》(Watchmen)和《海扁王》(Kick-Ass)这样的漫画都提出了这样一个问题:如果超级英雄真的存在,现实世界将会发生什么?《守望者》认为我们会拥有反社会人格。《海扁王》则认为他们会穿行于街道,密切监视社区动静,是想要充当义务警察的怪胎。在现实生活中,确实会偶尔有人穿着奇装异服,巡逻于街道打击犯罪。但是,漫画书中的英雄真的会存在于现实世界吗?
Here are 10 comic book heroes that could exist now, or sometime in the future.
下面介绍10位现在或不久的将来可能存在的超级英雄。
10.Cyclops
10.激光眼
Cyclops, one of the leaders of the X-Men, shoots a powerful beam of energy from his eyes. This sounds like pure science fiction. However, a pair of physicists at Massachusetts General Hospital have altered human cells so they can emit light of their own.
激光眼是X战警的领导之一。他能够从眼中发射出强大的能量光线,这听起来简直就是科幻小说。然而,麻省总医院(Massachusetts General Hospital)的研究人员已经成功改变了人的体细胞,使它们能够自身发光。
The team altered human kidney cells to produce the green fluorescent protein that makes jellyfish glow. The illuminated cells are easier to track, which has implications for cancer treatment.
这些科学家通过改造人体的肾细胞来制造绿色荧光蛋白,这也就是能使水母发光的蛋白质。这种发光细胞很容易追踪,而且还有治疗癌症的功效。
The researchers said that this could lead to people shooting beams out of their eyes. Sadly, it would probably be more like a flashlight than a death ray.
研究人员称这种蛋白可以使人们从眼中发出光线。但遗憾的是,这种光线更像是手电筒发出的光束,而不是所谓的死亡射线。
9.Swamp Thing
9.沼泽怪
Alec Holland was a scientist secretly working in the marshes when a bomb in his lab detonated. Instead of killing him, the blast turned him into Swamp Thing—a half-plant, half-man hybrid. He has super strength and the ability to communicate with plants. While communicating with vegetation and getting super strength from plants may not be possible, one thing that is theoretically possible is having a human-plant hybrid—specifically, humans getting energy from the Sun via photosynthesis.
艾力克·霍兰(Alec Holland)本是一名在沼泽地工作的秘密组织的科学家。他的实验室发生的爆炸非但没有使他丧命,反而把他变成了沼泽怪,一种半人半植物的杂交生物体。他有很强大的力量而且还能和植物交流。尽管与植物交流还能从植物中获得能量是不太可能的,但是成为半人半植物的杂交生物在理论上却是有可能的。因为,确切地说,人类也是通过植物的光合作用从太阳中获得能量的。
Most animals, including humans, do not use photosynthesis to get energy. However, scientists have recently discovered a small group of animals that do. Such animals include the pea aphid and the oriental hornet. The only vertebrate to use photosynthesis is the spotted salamander.
大多数动物,包括人类,并不能进行光合作用。但是,科学家最近发现有些极少数的动物也能进行光合作用,比如豌豆蚜(pea aphid)和东方胡蜂(the oriental hornet)。而唯一能进行光合作用的脊椎动物只有斑点钝口螈(the spotted salamander)。
In 2011, a synthetic biologist from the University of California injected the embryos of zebra fish with photosynthetic bacteria. Though the fish didn't start photosynthesizing, they accepted the bacteria as the animal developed. This gives hope to other organisms, even humans, perhaps one day accepting such bacteria and using them.
2011年,一位加州大学(the University of California)的合成生物学家成功将光合细菌注射到斑马鱼的胚胎中。尽管斑马鱼并没有进行光合作用,但它们却能和这些光合细菌和谐共生。这给其他生物包括人类提供了可能,也许有一天我们能和它们共生并从它们体内获得能量。
However, humans would still need leaves or some similar organ to maximize how much energy they get from the Sun. To absorb solar energy, whether as a plant or using solar panels, you need a large, flat surface. Humans simply aren't shaped that way. So while it is theoretically possible to become more plant-like, it would be a terrible superpower to have.
但是,人类仍需要类似于植物叶子的器官来尽可能多地从太阳获得能量。因为不管是植物还是太阳能电池板,都需要宽阔平坦的表面来吸收太阳能,而人类是不可能变成那种形状的。虽然按照理论来说,人可以拥有植物的某些功能,但是一般人还是不会想要拥有这种超能力的。
8.Captain America
8.美国队长
When World War II broke out, Steve Rogers wanted to fight the Nazis. He was a small, weak man, but he had a big heart. So he was chosen for the Super Solider project and was injected with a serum, making him into the strong and powerful Captain America.
当二战爆发时,拥有雄心壮志的史蒂夫·罗杰斯(Steve Rogers)本想参军打击纳粹。但是他身体很瘦弱,在参加体检时不幸被拒绝了。后来他被选中参加了"超级士兵"(Super Solider)计划,在注射了血清后成为了坚强而有力量的美国队长。
It's not actually possible to grow taller through drugs as Steve Rogers did. Bones simply cannot grow like that. However, it is possible to become taller through painful surgery. Doctors break the bones and implant telescoping rods that stretch the bones apart at the rate of 1 millimeter (0.04 in) per day. One man managed to grow 15 centimeters (6 in) after two surgeries.
像罗杰斯那样通过药物来长高是不可能的——骨骼不可能迅速增长。但是,通过手术来增高却是可能的。医生会在人体的骨骼内植入一个人造伸缩杆,使之以每天1毫米(0.04英寸)的速度生长。有人就在两次手术后成功增高了15厘米(6英寸)。
Besides growing taller, Rogers also got much stronger from just one injection, which is possible. A team at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio developed a shot that will increase muscle mass with a single injection. The shot uses a virus that codes the protein follistatin, which suppresses a gene called myostatin that stops muscle growth. The project's lead researcher calls myostatin "brakes" and says the virus he created would simply let up on the brakes.
除了长高外,罗杰斯也通过注射血清变得更加强壮,这也是有可能的。俄亥俄州全国儿童医院(Nationwide Children's Hospital)的研究机构研发出一种通过一次注射就能增加肌肉组织的药物。该药物含有一种病毒,它能够解码人体中抑制肌肉生长的基因(肌肉生长抑制素)。该机构负责人把这种肌肉生长抑制素称作"制动器"(brakes),他还表示它们制造的这种病毒能够阻止其对肌肉生长的抑制。
The shot is for patients who suffer from muscular diseases. Growth does not happen exactly the way it does in the comic, in a matter of moments. Instead, these muscles grow for six months. While this particular shot does not allow for super soldiers in the immediate future, it does show that muscle growth from one injection is a real thing.
这种试剂是专门为肌肉萎缩症患者研发的。它不会像漫画中那样立竿见影,相反,这些肌肉的生长需要长达6个月的时间。尽管这种特殊试剂不会用于未来的超级士兵身上,但它确实说明了通过注射获得肌肉生长的可能性。
翻译:ZC 来源:前十网