?自考英語二（下）課文翻譯之unit11

自考英語二（下）課文翻譯之unit11

Unit ElevenSacrificed to Science ?是為科學犧牲嗎?

Professor Colin Blukemore works at Oxford University Medical School doing research into eye problems and believes that animal research has given humans many benefits:

科林.布萊克默教授任職于牛津大學醫(yī)學院， 正在對眼睛疾病進行研究他認為，用動物進行研究給人帶來了很多好處。

The use of animals has been central to the development of anaesthetics, vaccines and treatments for diabetes, cancer, developmental disorders...most of the major medical advances have been based on a background of animal research and development.

使用動物對于發(fā)展麻醉學、 疫苗以及糖尿病、 癌癥、發(fā)育失調等疾病的治療具有至關重要的作用。大部分重大的醫(yī)學進展都是基于對動物的研究和開發(fā)。

There are those who think the tests are simply unnecessary. The International Association Against Painful Experiments on Animals is an organization that promotes the use of alternative methods of research which do not make animals suffer. Their spokesman Colin Smith says: Animal research is irrelevant to our health and it can often produce misleading results. People and animals are different in their reactions to drugs and in the way their bodies work. We only have to look at some of the medical mistakes to see this is so.

有些人認為用動物進行試驗根本沒有必要， 反對用動物進行痛苦實驗國際協(xié)會是一個提倡使用替代的研究方法，使動物免受痛苦的組織、他們的發(fā)言人科林.史密斯說， 用動物進行研究與我們的健康無關。 它常常能產生令人誤導的結果。人和動物對藥物的反應不同， 身體作用的方式也不同， 我們只要看一下幾起醫(yī)療錯誤便會明白情況就是這樣。

But Professor Blackmore stresses: It would be completely irresponsible and unethical to use drugs on people that had not been thoroughly tested on animals. The famous example of thalidomide is a case for more animals testing, not less.The birth defects (hat the drug produced were a result of inadequate testing. If thalidomide were invented today, it would never he released for human use because new tests on pregnant animals would reveal the dangers.

但是布萊克默教授卻強調說， 如果把還沒有在動物身上徹底實驗過的藥物用在人身上， 那是完全不負責任和不道德的。 薩立多胺就是一個著名的例子， 說明對動物進行的實驗應該更多而不是更少。 這種藥物造成的嬰兒先天性缺損就是實驗不夠的結果。 如果薩立多胺是今天發(fā)明的， 它就決不會用在人身上， 因為對懷孕的動物的新試驗將會發(fā)現(xiàn)這種危險。

Another organization that is developing other methods of research is

FRAME. This is the Hund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments. It recognises that many experiments still have to be done on animals and is aiming for Reduction. Refinement and Replacement of animals in experiments. In 1981. it established a research programme to improve and expand non-animal testing. Increasingly, new technology is making it easier for us to find alternative methods of testing. Computer models can be used to simulate the way that cells work and to try to predict the toxicity of chemicals. Data from previous animal experiments is used lo develop a computer model which will predict what will happen if you add a chemical with an unknown biological effect to a substance. The eventual aim of computer modeling is to reduce the number of animals used in experiments.

另一個組織，英文簡稱叫 FRAME，其全稱的意思是替代動物藥物實驗基金會。該組織正在開展替代方法的研究， 這個組織承認有很多實驗仍然不得不在動物身上進行，但它正致力于減少、改進和代替對動物的實驗。1981 年時，這個組織確定了一個研究項目來改進非動物試驗和擴大非動物試驗的范圍。新的技術使我們日益容易找到替代的試驗方法。 可用計算機模型來模擬細胞的活動方式和預報化學藥品的毒性。 可用從以前的動物實驗獲取的數(shù)據(jù)來建立一個計算機模型，這個模型能夠預報如果將某一生物效果不明的化學藥品添加到另一種物質上將會出現(xiàn)什么情況。計算機模擬的最終目的是減少用作實驗對象的動物的數(shù)量。

The Lethal Dose 50 test (LD50) may also be replaced. In the original test, all the animals in a test group are given a substance until half of them die. The test indicates toxicity. A method using a fixed amount, which gives the same eventual information hut uses fever animals and does not require that they die, may replace the LD50. Many other new techniques are now available that enable more research to be done in the test tube to see if chemicals produce harmful biological effects. The number of animals used in laboratory tests has declinedover the last 20 years. This is partly due to alternatives and partly to the fact that experiments are better designed so fewer need Co be used --healthier animals provide better experimental results. For example, it used to take 36 monkeys to test a sample of polio vaccine, now it takes only 22. Also, lack of money has reduced the number of animals used — they are expensive to buy and expensive to keep.

藥劑致死劑量 50(LD50)試驗也可以被代替。在最初的試驗中，一個試驗組里的全部動物都要給予某種物質， 直到其中一半死亡為止。 這一試驗可以指示出物質毒性的大小。 另一種方法是使用固定量的有毒物質， 能夠給出同樣的最終信息，但使用較小的動物并且不需要它們死亡，這個方法可以代替LD50。現(xiàn)在已有很多別的新技術， 使更多的研究能在試管里進行， 以便發(fā)現(xiàn)化學藥品是否產生有毒的生物效果。用于實驗室試驗的動物數(shù)量在過去20 年中已經(jīng)減少。這部分地是由于采用了替代的方法，部分地是由于實驗比以前設計得更好，所以需要的動物就少了。結果是更健康的動物提供了更好的實驗效果。例如，以前做一次脊髓灰質炎需要36 只猴子，現(xiàn)在只需要 22 只。此外，資金缺乏也使得使用動物的數(shù)鼠減少了，因為購買和豢養(yǎng)這些動物都很費錢。

Birmingham University now has Britain's first department of Biomedical Ethics. Professor David Morton of the department is involved in animal research and is concerned with reducing animal suffering as much as possible. Animals spend 95% of their time in their cages and refinement also means making their lives better when not undergoing tests. This includes keeping them in more suitable cages, allowing social animals like dogs to live together and trying to reduce the boredom that these animals can experience. In Professor Morton's laboratory, rabbits live together in large runs, filled with deep litter and boxes that they can hide in. The researchers have also refined some experiments. In the US, one experiment in nerve regeneration involves cutting a big nerve in a rat's leg, leaving its leg paralysed. In Morton's lab. the researcher cuts u small nerve in the foot. He can see if it can regrow and the rat can still run around its cage.

伯明翰大學設有英國的第一個生物醫(yī)德系。該系的大衛(wèi).莫頓教授正在進行動物研究，他熱心于盡可能地減少動物的痛苦。被試驗的動物一生中95%的時間是在籠子里度過的， 因此條件的改善也意味著使它們在不被用來試驗時活得更好一些。這包括把它們豢養(yǎng)在更符合要求的籠子里，允許像狗這樣的群居性動物能生活在一起，并且努力降低這些動物生活的單調枯燥程度。在莫頓教授的實驗室望， 兔子一起生活在寬敞的兔舍甩， 里面放滿了很厚的褥草和箱子以便它們能在甲而躲藏。 研究人員們還改進了他們的某些實驗。 在美國，進行一次神經(jīng)再生實驗要在兔子腿上切掉一大段神經(jīng)，結果就把它的腿弄癱瘓了。在莫頓的實驗室里研究人員只在兔子腳上切下一小段神經(jīng)。研究人員可以看到神經(jīng)能否再生，老鼠是否還能在籠子里跑來跑去。

Even with these new developments in research, only a tiny proportion of all tests are done without using animals at some stage. The use of animals in experiments cannot stop immediately if medical research is to continue and consumer products are to be properly tested, and Professor Blakemore believes that sometimes there are no alternatives:

即使研究工作中取得了這些新進展， 全部實驗中也只有極小的一部分在某個階段不再需要使用動物。 如果藥物研究需要繼續(xù)進行并且需要準確試驗消費品商品的話，使用動物進行實驗就不可能立即停止。布萊克默教授認為， 有時候人們沒有替代的辦法：

Wherever possible, for both ethical and scientific reasons, we do not use animals. But cells live in animals and we can only really see how they behave when they are inside animals. We cannot possibly reproduce in a test tube or a computer model ail the complex reactions of the body to a drug or a disease. When it comes to research into heart disease and its effects on the body, or diseases of the brain for example, we do not have adequate substitutes for the use of animals. As research techniques become more advanced, (he number of animals used in experiments may decrease, but stopping testing on animals altogether is a long wav away.

只要可能，為了道德的和科學的兩種理由， 我們不使用動物。 但是細胞生活在動物身上， 我們只有在動物體內才能看到它們怎樣活動。我們不可能在試管里或用計算機模型模擬出身體對藥物或疾病的全部復雜反應。例如當研究心臟病和它對身體的影響時，或者當研究大腦疾病時， 我們沒有充分的代用品來代替動物。隨著研究技術的日益先進， 用于實驗的動物的數(shù)量可能會減少， 但距離徹底停止使用動物還很遙遠。

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