今日导读
纵观人类历史，我们不断在挖掘自然的秘密中，重新定义人类社会与自然世界的关系。每一次重大的发现都将人类发展推上一个新的高度。但在高速发展的同时，从新型疾病的肆虐到生态平衡的破坏，各种问题也是层出不穷。到今天，随着生物技术的发展，我们将眼光投向了自身，既然我们可以一定程度上控制自然中的一些事情，那我们为什么不能控制自己的基因呢？这个想法既令人激动，也让人担忧。合成生物技术究竟能为我们带来什么好处？它背后巨大的伦理危机是否值得我们冒这个险？今天我们就来读这篇《经济学人》的评论，看一看专家们是怎么看待这个事情的。
新闻原文
The promise and perils of synthetic biology
The Economist
For the past four billion years or so the only way for life on Earth to produce a sequence of DNA—a gene—was by copying a sequence it already had to hand. Sometimes the gene would be damaged or scrambled, the copying imperfect or undertaken repeatedly. From that raw material arose the glories of natural selection. But beneath it all, gene begat gene.
That is no longer true. Now genes can be written from scratch and edited repeatedly, like text in a word processor. Immune cells can be told to follow doctors’ orders; stem cells better coaxed to turn into new tissues; fertilised eggs programmed to grow into creatures quite unlike their parents. The scale of the potential changes seems hard to imagine. To harness the promise and minimise the peril, it pays to learn the lessons of the past.
The earliest biological transformation—domestication—produced what was hitherto the biggest change in how humans lived their lives. This allowed new densities of settlement and new forms of social organisation: the market, the city, the state.
Synthetic biology will have a similar cascading effect, transforming humans’ relationships with each other and, potentially, their own biological nature. The ability to reprogram the embryo is, rightly, the site of most of today’s ethical concerns. How humans may choose to change themselves biologically is hard to say; that some choices will be controversial is not. It will challenge the human capacity for wisdom and foresight. It might defeat it. But carefully nurtured, it might also help expand it.
带着问题听讲解
新闻中提到了哪些生物细胞？
如何理解“cascading effect”？
专家对于合成生物学的担忧是什么？
新闻正文
The promise and perils of synthetic biology
合成生物学的希望与危机
For the past four billion years or so the only way for life on Earth to produce a sequence of DNA—a gene—was by copying a sequence it already had to hand. Sometimes the gene would be damaged or scrambled, the copying imperfect or undertaken repeatedly. From that raw material arose the glories of natural selection. But beneath it all, gene begat gene.
在过去大约 40 亿年中，地球上的生物制造出一串 DNA（基因）的唯一方法，就是复制手边已有的序列。有的时候，由于不完全或重复的复制，这些基因可能会被损坏或者被打乱顺序。自然选择的辉煌壮丽就诞生于这些原材料中。但是在这一切复杂变化之下，最基本的原理其实就是基因生基因。
That is no longer true. Now genes can be written from scratch and edited repeatedly, like text in a word processor. Immune cells can be told to follow doctors’ orders; stem cells better coaxed to turn into new tissues; fertilised eggs programmed to grow into creatures quite unlike their parents. The scale of the potential changes seems hard to imagine. To harnessthe promise and minimise the peril, it pays to learn the lessons of the past.
不过这已不再是真理。现在人们可以从零开始编写基因，并且反复地编辑，就像在文字处理器中的文本一样。人们可以让免疫细胞听从医生的指令；可以更好地诱导干细胞再生成新的组织，可以编辑受精卵的基因，孕育出与他们的父母相当不同的生物。不过，这一技术发展引发的潜在变化将达到什么样的规模，似乎很难想象。想要利用它好的一面，并且将风险降至最低，我们需要吸取过去的经验教训。
The earliest biological transformation—domestication—produced what was hitherto the biggest change in how humans lived their lives. This allowed new densities of settlement and new forms of social organisation: the market, the city, the state.
最早的生物转化——驯化，对人类生活方式产生了迄今为止最大的变化。这让更高密度的群居生活和全新的社会结构——市场、城市、国家——变得可能。
Synthetic biology will have a similar cascading effect, transforming humans’ relationships with each other and, potentially, their own biological nature. The ability to reprogram the embryo is, rightly, the site of most of today’s ethical concerns. How humans may choose to change themselves biologically is hard to say; that some choices will be controversial is not. It will challenge the human capacity for wisdom and foresight. It might defeat it. But carefully nurtured, it might also help expand it.
合成生物学将会有类似的级联效应，会改变人与人之间的关系，并有可能改变人类自身的生物特性。对胚胎编辑的能力，引发了当今大多数的伦理忧虑，这合乎情理。人类会做出什么选择来改变自身的生物特性，这一点很难说；但可以确信的是，有些选择定会引起争议。它（合成生物学）将挑战人类智慧和远见的能力边界。它可能会突破这一边界，但经过精心的扶持，它也有可能拓宽这个边界。
重点词汇
peril
/ˈperəl/
n. 巨大的危险；险情，险境
e.g.
英文释义：The perils of sth. are the dangers or problems it may involve.
搭配短语：the perils of drug abuse（吸食毒品的危害）
synthetic biology
合成生物学
e.g.
synthetic 搭配短语：synthetic materials（合成材料）
a sequence of
一连串，一系列
e.g.
英文释义：A number of things that come one after another in a particular order.
词义辨析
a sequence of, a series of
sequence 更强调事情的先后顺序，比如 He described the events of that day in sequence. 他按先后顺序描述了那天的情况，而 series 对于先后顺序就没有那么严格的要求，a series ofaccidents 一连串的事故，但事故发生的顺序就不那么重要了。
scramble
/ˈskræmbl/
v. 打乱（单词或字母使之不再有任何含义）
e.g.
搭配短语：scrambled eggs（炒蛋）
arise
/əˈraɪz/
v. 出现；产生，形成
e.g.
例句：Problems have arisen.
例句：Difficulties arose.
例句：Most conflicts arise from ignorance.
beget
/bɪˈɡet/
v. 导致；成为…的父亲
e.g.
英文释义：to cause or bring about
例句：Poverty begets debts.
from scratch
从零开始；白手起家
e.g.
例句：He built his own company from scratch.
coax
/koʊks/
v. 哄劝，哄骗，劝诱
e.g.
例句：His friends coaxed him into talking about his own problems.
fertilise
/ˈfɜːrtəlaɪz/
v. 使受精，使受孕，使受粉
e.g.
例句：Bees fertilise the flowers by bringing pollen.
harness
/ˈhɑːrnɪs/
v. 控制；利用…的动力
e.g.
英文释义：control and make use of
例句：Harness the sun’s rays as a source of energy.
domestication
/dəˌmestɪˈkeɪʃn/
n. 驯化，驯养
e.g.
词性拓展：domesticate (v.)
英文释义：the process of bringing animals or plants under human control in order to provide food, power, or company
hitherto
/ˌhɪðərˈtuː/
adv. 迄今为止
e.g.
近义词：so far
density
/ˈdensəti/
n. 密度
e.g.
搭配短语：population density（人口密度）
cascade effect
级联效应
e.g.
相关词汇：cascade（n. 瀑布；v. 像瀑布一般地落下）
相关词汇：domino effect（多米诺骨牌效应）
embryo
/ˈembrioʊ/
n. 胚胎
nurture
/ˈnɜːrtʃər/
v. 养育，培育
补充词汇知识
promise
n. （成功的）迹象，征兆
to hand
在手边的，现有的
近义词：at hand
imperfect
adj. 不完全的
glory
n. 辉煌的事物
例句：The Eiffel Tower stands as one of the glories of Paris.
arise
v. 产生；出现；升起
搭配短语：difficulties arose
搭配短语：arise from
例句：Most conflicts arise from ignorance.
word processor
文字处理器
stem cells
干细胞
tissue
n. 生物组织
analogy
n. 类比
例句：These verbs are part of an analogy with the act of writing.
scale
n. 规模
allow
v. 使… 有可能
近义词：enable
settlement
n. 定居，定居点
potentially
adv. 潜在地，可能地
unprecedented
adj. 前所未有的
reprogram
词根词缀：re-（再次、重新）
词根词缀：program（编程）
rightly
adv. 正当地、合理地
英文释义：behaving in a way that is suitable and acceptable
例句：She quite rightly complained to the manager about this.
site
n. 某事发生的地点或现场
ethical
adj. 道德的，伦理的
搭配短语：ethical issues
challenge
v. 挑战
搭配短语：challenge authority
capacity
n. 容量；办事能力
英文释义：the ability to do a particular thing
搭配短语：intellectual capacity
wisdom
n. 智慧
foresight
n. 远见卓识
nurture
v. 培育、养育
长难句解析
How humans may choose to change themselves biologically is hard to say; that some choices will be controversial is not.
人类会做出什么选择来改变自身的生物特性，这一点很难说；但可以确信的是，有些选择定会引起争议。
How 引导了一个主语从句，主语是一句话，how humans may choose to change themselves biologically, 人类会做出什么选择来改变自身的生物特性，谓语是 is，表语部分是 hard to say，这一点很难说。that some choices will be controversial is not，省略了 hard to say, 句子补充完整是 that some choices will be controversial is not hard to say. 是 that 引导的主语从句，主语是 some choices will be controversial ，有些选择会引起争议这一点，is not hard to say 是说这一点其实是可以肯定的。
一句话总结新闻
本期《经济学人》讲述了合成生物学可能带来的希望，以及利用不当会引发的危机。
拓展阅读
合成生物学可以从人类与自然的关系变化中学到什么？
动物驯化与作物培育
这是距今最远的一次变革，随着农耕时代的到来，人类逐渐学会了如何让作物稳定增产，如何驯服凶猛的禽兽，让他们变得温顺、听话。这样的生产方式可以养活更高密度的人群，但同时也逐渐孕育出了人类社会的等级分化，因此一定程度也“驯化”了人类自身。合成生物学可能会有类似扰乱社会伦理关系的副作用，在未来，拥有更多资源的人或许可以为自己的后代挑选更加“优质”的基因。
全世界生态系统联通
当欧洲人在 16 世纪发现美洲大陆后，他们用国际贸易联通了“新世界”和“旧世界”，牛、马、棉花等物种第一次出现在美洲，而土豆、辣椒和烟草也被引入了欧洲。各个大陆特有的物种在世界范围内流通，全世界的生态系统从未如此紧密地交流。但是从美洲传来的疾病也在毫无招架之力的“旧世界”中肆虐。而现在的合成生物学既然可以治病救人，同时也有十足的潜力创造并大批量地复制出致命的病毒。但是到现在为止，学术界依然保持着开放和服务全人类的态度，如果我们能好好保护这一点，合成生物学将会得到很好的发展。
化石燃料的开发与利用
这是离我们最近的一次巨大变革，人类开始利用地球积攒了几十亿年的生物资源来快速发展，其中包括了煤炭、石油、天然气等。然而这一变革所带来的问题日益明显，温室效应愈演愈烈，它带来的后果很可能是灾难性的。在这一点上，合成生物学有大有作为的空间。现有的技术已经可以合成能够替代一些石油制品的材料了，同时专家学者也在一直试图合成可以作为燃料的材料。
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