2016年考研英语阅读及翻译:Reproductive technology

　　2016年考研英语阅读及翻译:Reproductive technology

　　“PLAYING God” is what medicine is for. Every Caesarean section and cancer treatment is an attempt to interfere with the natural course of events for the benefit of the patient. Not every procedure should be allowed, but a general sense of what is “unnatural” is a poor guide to what to ban. Transplants and transfusions were once considered unnatural, but now save many lives. That insight is why MPs were right to agree, on February 3rd, that Britain should become the first country to allow the creation of children with genetic material from three people instead of the usual two.

　　By doing so, they hope to relieve terrible suffering. Faults with mitochondria—the tiny power sources inside cells—afflict about one child in 6,500, or 100 a year in Britain. The many conditions that result, a lot of them agonising and fatal, have no cure. So scientists hope to prevent them at conception, by transferring the healthy nucleus of an egg cell with damaged mitochondria into the body of an egg with functioning ones.

　　The procedure is not yet allowed anywhere else in the world, partly because it is new and untested in people but also because of the opposition that reproductive medicine often inspires. Mitochondria contain DNA, therefore any child born as a result of such intervention will inherit genes from three people—hence the headlines in Britain this week about “three-parent babies”. If the baby is a girl the genetic tweak in her mitochondria will be inherited by her children, and in turn by her granddaughters' children. It is a “germ-line modification”, and thus irrevocable.

　　This ethical objection to mitochondrial donation is decisively outweighed by the good that ought to come from it. Mitochondrial disease is a misery to those who have it and a terror to those who fear they might pass it on to their children; curtailing it would be wonderful. The complaint that this is the first step on the road to “designer babies” is as weak as any other slippery-slope argument: approving one procedure does not mean automatically approving others.

　　A second objection is that this procedure, like any new technique, might not be safe. Those who must bear that risk are not yet born, and so cannot consent to the treatment. But parents already make medical decisions on behalf of their children, even unborn ones. And Britain's bureaucrats, led by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates fertility treatments, have been scrupulous in assessing risks. The HFEA first granted a research licence for the technique in 2005. Since then, a scientific panel has conducted three reviews of trials in test tubes and in animals. These have given no cause for concern.

　　参考译文:

　　医学的初衷本就是“与上帝过招”。曾经剖腹产和癌症治疗被视为是一种对病人有益但却违背自然法则的手段，可是并非每个步骤都应被人接受，在一般情况下，我们很难对于这类“非自然”的行为颁布禁令，就好比移植和输血曾一度被定为是一种“非自然”手段，然而这两种方式却拯救了无数条生命。正是有这样的见解，在2月3日，英国国会议员行使表决权，认为英国应该成为首个允许利用“一父两母”3人基因共同育子(“三亲婴儿”)的国家，从而打破传统意义上的双亲育儿。

　　他们希望通过这样的方式来纾缓一种因线粒体疾病带来的痛苦。线粒体，作为细胞的动力工厂，却往往存在一些缺陷。在英国，大约每6500名儿童中就有一个会饱受因线粒体缺陷所带来的折磨，而这类线粒体相关疾病，每年也约有100例。多数情况下，患者多会感到极为痛苦，因无法治愈，因而多为致命的。因此，科学家们希望能在孕育期间，将捐赠者健康的线粒体与有缺陷的孕方卵子相结合来培育新的生命，以此来阻止或预防这一疾病的发生。

　　这一方法尚未允许在其他国家和地区随意使用，不仅是因为这是一项新技术、尚未通过人类测试，更是因为容易激发反生殖医学派的反对。线粒体本身含有DNA，因此任何一个通过该种方式出生的孩子，都会同时继承三方的遗传因子。因此这一周英国的头条新闻均为“三亲婴儿”。如果诞生的是名女婴，那么她的基因突变的线粒体将会遗传给她的孩子，同理的，将会一直遗传给她孙女的孩子，这是一种“胚芽线式的修饰”，因此该基因无法改变。

　　线粒体捐献的好处远远大于其伦理上的弊端。线粒体病给该病的患者带来深切痛苦，让他们害怕会将此病遗传给其子女，假若我们能通过“一父两母”这样的方法，解决这一问题，该有多好啊!有人指出，线粒体捐献是“设计婴儿”的第一步，但这种言论如同其它站不住脚的论调一样不堪一击，因为允许人为干预这一步骤并不意味着可以自由的发展其他步骤。

　　第二个反对的声音则来自于该技术本身。毕竟作为一项新的技术，它并非足够安全。而这一次要承担风险的则是那些尚未出生的婴儿，因而有人反对采用这一治疗方式。但换言之，当今父母早就开始代表他们的孩子做出了足够多的医疗决策，当然包括他们未出世的孩子们。人类受精与胚胎管理局(HFRA)作为英国一家管理不孕不育的机构，一直引导着英国的一些政府机构谨慎的评估该风险。HFRA从2005年起，便首次颁发许可证允许开展这一技术的研究。从那时起，该科学小组就已在试管婴儿及动物身上进行了三次检验，检查结果也并未显示存在问题。

　　2016年考研英语阅读及翻译:Reproductive technology的延伸阅读——2016考研考生择校须知

　　1.择校前考生需要了解全面信息

　　考生报考前要了解报考目标的竞争态势及录取原则为了确保报考的学校是较为保险的，考生需要对报考目标做到非常的了解，包括学术氛围、导师质量、历年分数、历年的报录比、招生人数，等等。同时要了解报考的院校是否有特殊的录取原则，包括考试科目、命题范围等。

　　2.选择有价值的院校进行报考

　　考生在选定考研目标时，除了要确保能考上之外，还要让研究生读得有价值。有价值体现为经过两三年的学习，能够从进修过程中得到收获。这个收获一方面表现为知识上的收获，另外一方面是通过这个学历为你将来的就业增加一些附加值。

　　3.选择就业理想区域的学校

　　目标院校所处区域关系着考生就读期间接触的平台、视界还有将来的就业和发展。到自己打算就业的区域去读研是最好的选择。学生可利用读研的时间，多结交朋友，为自己踏上社会搭建关系网，同时熟悉这个城市，为未来的挑战做准备。