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This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. com.
这里是bbclearningenglish.com英语六分钟节目。
William:
Hello and welcome to 6 minute English. I hope you're ready for another
five minutes and fifty-five seconds of wonderful English language
conversation about an interesting topic from BBC News. I'm William
Kremer.
大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟。想必您已经准备好收听本期精彩的BBC英语对话节目，对话内容均取自有趣的英语新闻，节目总时长为5分55秒。我是威廉·克雷默。
Helen: Hello, I'm Helen Hu. Today we're talking about genes. . .
大家好，我是海伦，今天我们来谈谈genes(基因)。
William: Oh right! Is that why we're both wearing jeans?
哦，是啊！这就是为什么今天我们都了穿jeans（牛仔裤）吗？
Helen:
No, no, not that kind of jeans. Genes spelled G-E-N-E-S - these are the
molecules in our body which hold genetic information. So genes tell our
bodies how they should grow and develop.
不不，不是这个jeans，是genesG-E-N-E-S,他们是我们身体中储藏遗传信息的分子。所以基因告诉会我们的身体如何生长，如何运转。
William: Right, and genes are what parents hand down to their children. We carry genes from one generation to the next.
对，而且父母把基因遗传给子女。我们把基因一代一代的传下去。
Helen: Now before we go any further, it's time for our weekly quiz. Were you very good at science at school, William?
在我们继续讨论基因之前呢，我们先来做每周的测试题。威廉，你在学校的时候自然科学学的怎样？
William: Not particularly.
不太好。
Helen: Good! You'll be rubbish at this then. OK, the question is: How many genes do human beings have? Is it
太好了，这下你惨了。今天的问题是人类身体中共有多少个基因？是：
a) between 10,000 and 25,000 or is it b) between 100,000 and 250,000 or c) between 1 million and 2. 5 million.
a)一万到两万五千个还是b)十万到二十五万个或者c)一百万到两百五十万个
William: Well I have no idea so I'm going to go for c) between 1 million and 2. 5 million.
我还真不知道，那我选c吧，一百万到两百五十万个。
Helen:
OK, well the answer will be at the end of the programme. Now, a new
scientific study has looked at the genes of lots of animals and found
traces of the same viruses that existed a long time ago.
好的，我们会在节目的最后揭晓答案。目前，一项科学研究观察了很多动物的基因，并发现了在很久以前就存在于动物体内的同一种病毒的痕迹。
William:
Right, they found traces - So they found signs that something happened
or existed. And the traces they found were of viruses, the tiny
creatures that spread infectious diseases. So Helen, they think that
these viruses have existed for millions of years then. . . ?
对的，他们发现了traces（痕迹）--某件事情发生或存在的迹象。而且他们发现的是病毒的痕迹，病毒是指一些传播感染性疾病的微小生物。海伦，他们觉得这些病毒已经存在了几百万年了？
Helen:
Exactly. Let's listen to a clip from BBC correspondent David Shukman.
See if you can hear which animals the researchers studied:
是的，我们来听一段BBC记者大卫·舒克曼的报道。看看你能不能听出来研究人员到底对哪些动物做了研究。
Researchers
from Oxford, New York and Belgium have investigated the genes of 38
mammals - including humans, mice, elephants and dolphins, and they've
found that most of them share traces of the same ancient viruses. The
work has established that at least one virus infected our common
ancestors as long as one hundred million years ago.
来自牛津、纽约、比利时的研究员，研究了38种哺乳动物的基因，其中包括人类、老鼠、大象和海豚，并发现大多数动物体内都存在同一种古老病毒的痕迹。这项实验证实至少有一种病毒在一百万年前就存在于我们共同的祖先体内。
Helen: So, did you hear which animals were mentioned?
那么，你听到他都提及了哪几种动物吗？
William: The researchers investigated 38 different mammals including humans, mice, elephants and dolphins.
研究人员共研究了38种不同的哺乳动物，其中包括人类、老鼠、大象和海豚。
Helen:
That's right. And by comparing the genes of the animals they've
concluded that there was at least one virus that infected our ancestors
perhaps a hundred million years ago.
是的。通过对比这些动物基因，他们得出结论：至少有一种病毒在一百万年前就对我们的祖先产生了影响。
William:
Wow. An ancestor is a person or plant that is related to something
today but that lived earlier. So. . . so what? So what, Helen? What's
the significance of that?
哦，ancestor（祖先）是指与今天的某种东西相关的人或者植物，但存在于很久以前。那...那又怎样呢？海伦？这个结论有什么意义呢？
Helen:
Well, for a start it suggests that these viruses are incredibly good at
survival. And as we will hear in our next clip, these diseases have not
only survived, but they have also evolved - they have changed and
adapted slowly over a long time.
首先，这表明这些病毒的生存能力极强。在接下来的报道中我们也会听到，这些病毒不仅能够生存，还会进化--在过去很长一段时间内他们一直在慢慢地改变、适应。
William: OK, so let's hear the next clip now. See if you can hear the word that David Shukman uses instead of the word viruses.
好，现在我们再来听一段报道。看看你能不能听到大卫·舒克曼用哪个词来代替viruses这个词。
The
scientists found that these micro-organisms have adapted to stay within
their host cell, where they have thrived. So within the double helix of
our DNA lies not only a legacy of past infections but also a miniature
eco-system in which the viruses live on and evolve.
科学家发现这些微生物已经习惯于呆在他们的宿主细胞里，并在那里繁衍兴盛。所以在我们DNA的双螺旋中不仅有以前传染病的遗传基因，还有这些病毒得以生存进化的微小生态系统。
William: David Shukman used the word micro-organisms instead of the word viruses. A micro-organism is a very very small creature.
大卫·舒克曼用micro-organisms来代替viruses这个词。micro-organism是一种非常非常小的生物。
Helen:
He said the scientists found that the micro-organisms had thrived,
meaning they had prospered, they had developed well. The research
suggests that our genes actually help viruses to survive and evolve. And
some viruses have developed positive outcomes. For example the protein
syncytin evolved from a virus and has helped develop the female
placenta.
他说科学家发现微生物繁衍兴盛，意思是他们很兴旺，发展的很好。这项研究表明我们的基因实际上是在帮助病毒生存、进化。而且一些病毒已经演化出积极的成果。比如，从一种病毒演化来的合胞体蛋白有助于女性胎盘的生长。
William: Right, OK, so these micro-organisms can be good things?
所以这些微生物是好东西了？
Helen: Well, they are not exactly 'good', but they have helped us to evolve.
不能完全说"好"，但他们帮助我们进化演变。
William:
Ah sorry, I wasn't being very 'scientific'! Anyway, Let's hear the
final clip now, and we're going to hear the opinion of the senior
researcher on the project. See if you can hear why he thinks his
research could be useful in the future.
哈，不好意思，我实在太不'专业'了！不管怎么样，我们来听最后一段报道，听一听该项目资深研究员的看法。看看你能不能听出来为什么他会觉得他的研究在未来会有用处。
According
to the senior author of the study, Dr Robert Belshaw of Oxford
University, understanding these survivors from the distant past may
provide clues to the early detection of cancers or infections.
这项研究的资深研究员是牛津大学的罗伯特·贝尔肖博士，他表示，研究这些从古代幸存下来的微生物可能会给癌症和传染病的早期检查提供线索。
William:
Robert Belshaw thinks understanding the viruses might help the early
detection of cancers or infections - they might help us notice these
diseases early on.
罗伯特·贝尔肖认为研究这些微生物可能会对癌症和传染病的早期检查有所帮助--他们能帮助我们更早的发现这些疾病。
Helen:
OK, time to hear the answer to our quiz. I asked you how many genes
human beings have and you choose c) between 1 million and 2. 5 million.
Well, the answer is a) 10,000 - 25,000.
是的，现在是时候揭晓问题的答案了。我的问题是：人的身体中共有多少个基因，你选的是c，一百万到两百五十万个。其实正确答案应该是a，一万到两万五千个。
Helen: Ok, I can tell you're not that interested in this so why don't you do something useful and remind us of today's vocabulary?
好吧，看来你对这个不太感兴趣，那你来做点有用的事吧，带我们复习一下今天的单词怎么样？
William: Okey-doke.
没问题。
genes
基因
a trace
痕迹
a virus
病毒
an ancestor
祖先
to evolve
进化、演变
a micro-organism
微生物
to thrive
繁荣，兴旺
detection
检测、发觉
Helen: If you would like to know more about these words, download our pdf script on bbclearningenglish. com.
如果你想深入了解这些单词，请登录bbclearningenglish.com下载PDF字幕。
William: Goodbye!
周见！
Helen: Bye!
再见。
That was 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. com.
以上是bbclearningenglish.com英语六分钟节目。
