经济学人社论 || 我们身边的异形生物

原文:http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzU1MDQwNTgzMg==&mid=2247491492&idx=1&sn=725cd8f7ff184d6184a2764c61fa4c11&chksm=fba04c03ccd7c515404c5e0632340120c559cdb50d646b418d55d5f947abbbd147153f020be8#rd

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感谢思维导图作者

April,女,金融小白崽,边追经济学人边追星


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The aliens among us

我们身边的异形生物 

英文部分选自经济学人20200822Leaders版块

The aliens among us

我们身边的异形生物 


Viruses cause pandemics. They also shape the world

病毒引发流行病,同时也在塑造世界


Humans think of themselves as the world’s apex predators. Hence the silence of sabre-tooth tigers, the absence of moas from New Zealand and the long list of endangered megafauna. But SARS-COV-2  shows how people can also end up as prey. Viruses have caused a litany of modern pandemics, from covid-19, to HIV/AIDS to the influenza outbreak in 1918-20, which killed many more people than the first world war. Before that, the colonisation of the Americas by Europeans was abetted—and perhaps made possible—by epidemics of smallpox, measles and influenza brought unwittingly by the invaders, which annihilated many of the original inhabitants.


人类认为自己是世界上最顶端的掠食者。正是因为这种想法,剑齿虎销声匿迹,新西兰不再有摩亚鸟的踪影,一连串巨型动物出现在濒危榜单上。然而,新型冠状病毒(SARS-COV-2)表明人类最终也可能成为猎物。病毒引发了一系列现代流行病,从新冠肺炎(COVID-19)到艾滋病(HIV/AIDS),再到19181920年的流感(这场流感的死亡人数比一战还要多)。在此之前,欧洲侵略者无意中带来的天花、麻疹和流感使许多原住民丧命,这加速了欧洲人在美洲的殖民活动,并使殖民化成为可能。


The influence of viruses on life on Earth, though, goes far beyond the past and present tragedies of a single species, however pressing they seem. Though the study of viruses began as an investigation into what appeared to be a strange subset of pathogens, recent research puts them at the heart of an explanation of the strategies of genes, both selfish and otherwise.


然而,病毒对地球上生命的影响远远超出了从古至今某个单一物种的悲剧,不论这些悲剧看起来多么可怕。虽然病毒的研究始于对一种陌生的病原体亚群的调查,但不管是出于私利还是其他目的,最近的研究正将它们置于解释基因策略的核心位置。


Viruses are unimaginably varied and ubiquitous. And it is becoming clear just how much they have shaped the evolution of all organisms since the very beginnings of life. In this, they demonstrate the blind, pitiless power of natural selection at its most dramatic. And—for one group of brainy bipedal mammals that viruses helped create—they also present a heady mix of threat and opportunity.


病毒的种类多到难以想象,而且无处不在。此外,越发清楚的是,从生命诞生之初起,病毒在很大程度上影响了所有生物的进化。在这个过程中,它们用最引人注目的方式,展示了自然选择盲目无情的力量。病毒帮助创造了一群头脑发达的双足哺乳动物;对他们而言,病毒既带来了令人头疼的威胁,也带来了令人兴奋的机遇。


As our essay in this week’s issue explains, viruses are best thought of as packages of genetic material that exploit another organism’s metabolism in order to reproduce. They are parasites of the purest kind: they borrow everything from the host except the genetic code that makes them what they are. They strip down life itself to the bare essentials of information and its replication. If the abundance of viruses is anything to go by, that is a very successful strategy indeed.


正如我们在本周文章中所阐述的那样,最恰当的做法是将病毒看成是一包包的遗传物质,它们会利用另一种生物的新陈代谢来繁殖后代。病毒是最纯粹的寄生生物:除了造就自身的遗传密码,它们身上的一切都是从宿主那借来的。它们将生命本身剥离到最基本的要素:信息及其复制。如果将病毒的大量存在作为衡量标准,那么这确实是一个成功的策略。


The world is teeming with them. One analysis of seawater found 200,000 different viral species, and it was not setting out to be comprehensive. Other research suggests that a single litre of seawater may contain more than 100bn virus particles, and a kilo of dried soil ten times that number. Altogether, according to calculations on the back of a very big envelope, the world might contain 1031 of the things—that is one followed by 31 zeros, far outnumbering all other forms of life on the planet.


世界上充斥着病毒。在一项海水研究中,人们发现了200,000种不同的病毒。并且,这个结果尚不全面。其他研究则表明,一升海水中可能含有1000亿以上的病毒颗粒,而一公斤干燥土壤所含的病毒量是这个数目的十倍。总之,根据大量数据估算,全世界可能有1031个病毒——相当于1后面跟着310,远超地球上所有其他生命形式的数目。


注:A back-of-the-envelope calculationusing estimated or rounded numbers to develop a ballpark figure quickly. 粗略计算, 可作为对某个观点的支持或论据.


As far as anyone can tell, viruses—often of many different sorts—have adapted to attack every organism that exists. One reason they are powerhouses of evolution is that they oversee a relentless and prodigious slaughter, mutating as they do so. This is particularly clear in the oceans, where a fifth of single-celled plankton are killed by viruses every day. Ecologically, this promotes diversity by scything down abundant species, thus making room for rarer ones. The more common an organism, the more likely it is that a local plague of viruses specialised to attack it will develop, and so keep it in check.


据我们所知,种类繁多的病毒已经进化到能攻击所有现存有机体。它们之所以是进化的动力源,一部分是因为这些病毒目睹着无情而骇人的屠杀,并在此过程中进化。这在海洋中尤为明显,那里每天有五分之一的单细胞浮游生物死于病毒。从生态学上讲,可通过削减大规模物种的数量来促进多样性,从而为稀有物种腾出空间。一种有机体越普遍,就越可能产生专门攻击它的传染病,进而对该物种进行控制。


This propensity to cause plagues is also a powerful evolutionary stimulus for prey to develop defences, and these defences sometimes have wider consequences. For example, one explanation for why a cell may deliberately destroy itself is if its sacrifice lowers the viral load on closely related cells nearby. That way, its genes, copied in neighbouring cells, are more likely to survive. It so happens that such altruistic suicide is a prerequisite for cells to come together and form complex organisms, such as pea plants, mushrooms and human beings.


这种引发传染病的倾向也能有效刺激进化,促使猎物发展出防御机制,而这些防御机制有时会产生更广泛的影响。例如,为什么个体细胞会故意破坏自身。对此的一个解释是:该细胞牺牲自身来降低邻近密切细胞的病毒载量。这样,它复制在邻近细胞中的基因就更有可能存活。碰巧的是,这种利他性自杀是细胞聚集在一起形成复杂有机体的先决条件,如豌豆、蘑菇和人类。


The other reason viruses are engines of evolution is that they are transport mechanisms for genetic information. Some viral genomes end up integrated into the cells of their hosts, where they can be passed down to those organisms’ descendants. Between 8% and 25% of the human genome seems to have such viral origins. But the viruses themselves can in turn be hijacked, and their genes turned to new uses. For example, the ability of mammals to bear live young is a consequence of a viral gene being modified to permit the formation of placentas. And even human brains may owe their development in part to the movement within them of virus-like elements that create genetic differences between neurons within a single organism.


病毒成为进化动力源的另一个原因是,它们能传递遗传信息。一些病毒基因组最终整合到宿主细胞中,并遗传给这些生物的后代。8%25%的人类基因组中似乎存在这样的病毒起源。不过,病毒本身也会反过来受到影响,它们的基因会因此产生新用途。例如,哺乳动物之所以能够生育幼仔,就是因为病毒基因受到修改后形成了胎盘。甚至人类大脑发育也可能部分归功于病毒样元素在大脑中的运动,这些病毒样元素在单个有机体内的神经元间产生了基因差异。


Evolution’s most enthralling insight is that breathtaking complexity can emerge from the sustained, implacable and nihilistic competition within and between organisms. The fact that the blind watchmaker has equipped you with the capacity to read and understand these words is in part a response to the actions of swarms of tiny, attacking replicators that have been going on, probably, since life first emerged on Earth around 4bn years ago. It is a startling example of that principle in action—and viruses have not finished yet.


生物体内及生物之间持续、执拗、虚无的竞争,催生出令人惊叹的复杂性,这是进化最迷人的地方。亲爱的读者,您之所以能看懂眼前的文字正是因为自然选择赋予了您阅读理解的能力。这一定程度上源于生物对大量而微小的攻击性复制基因所做出的反应。这些复制基因的攻击行为可能始于约40亿年前,也就是地球生命诞生之初。这一让人诧异的例子鲜活地证明了病毒对进化的影响,而且病毒不会止步于此。


注:The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design is a 1986 book by Richard Dawkins, in which the author presents an explanation of, and argument for, the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. 《盲眼钟表匠:生命自然选择的秘密》是英国著名生物学家道金斯的经典之作。盲眼钟表匠象征了大自然环环相扣、一丝不苟的运行机制。


Humanity’s unique, virus-chiselled consciousness opens up new avenues to deal with the viral threat and to exploit it. This starts with the miracle of vaccination, which defends against a pathogenic attack before it is launched. Thanks to vaccines, smallpox is no more, having taken some 300m lives in the 20th century. Polio will one day surely follow. New research prompted by the covid-19 pandemic will enhance the power to examine the viral realm and the best responses to it that bodies can muster—taking the defence against viruses to a new level.


人类的认知是独一无二的,并且饱经病毒的雕琢。这让人类拥有新的方式去应对病毒威胁并让病毒为人所用。首先值得一提的是神奇的疫苗,在抗原发起攻击以前,疫苗帮助人类率先进行抵御。得益于疫苗,在20世纪夺去了3亿人的生命的天花传染病灭绝了。小儿麻痹症也将步天花的后尘。新冠疫情促进了新的研究,这将让人类进一步审视病毒,并刺激人体对病毒产生最佳反应——先发制的水平将到达新的高度。


Another avenue for progress lies in the tools for manipulating organisms that will come from an understanding of viruses and the defences against them. Early versions of genetic engineering relied on restriction enzymes—molecular scissors with which bacteria cut up viral genes and which biotechnologists employ to move genes around. The latest iteration of biotechnology, gene editing letter by letter, which is known as CRISPR, makes use of a more precise antiviral mechanism.


另一方面的进步有赖于生物操纵工具的发展,这将来自于对病毒及其防御机制的深入了解。早期的基因工程依赖于限制性内切酶——分子剪刀,细菌用它来切割病毒基因,生物技术专家通过它来移动基因。生物技术当前已经发展到可以对每个碱基进行编辑,也就是CRISPR技术,这运用了更为精准的抗病毒机制。


From the smallest beginnings

最微小的缘起


The natural world is not kind. A virus-free existence is an impossibility so deeply unachievable that its desirability is meaningless. In any case, the marvellous diversity of life rests on viruses which, as much as they are a source of death, are also a source of richness and of change. Marvellous, too, is the prospect of a world where viruses become a source of new understanding for humans—and kill fewer of them than ever before. 


自然界并非充满善意。创造一个没有病毒的世界是完全不可能实现的无谓之举。无论如何,生命令人叹为观止的多样性,有赖于病毒——病毒虽然会带来死亡,但也会让世界丰富多变。随着病毒不断加深人类的自我认知,病毒的致死率在不断下降,未来世界令人向往。


翻译组:

Jessie, 女 ,旅游业转行口译,喜欢教书与读书

Cecilia,女,一口一笔,无可救药的乐观主义者

Desmond,男,即将读研,悬疑剧、恐怖片和三国杀爱好者


校对组:

Neil,  男,外贸民工,经济学人铁粉

Yo,女,种下过流星,立志不做大鸵鸟

Hannah,女,英语教书匠,经济学人粉丝

Miranda,女,翻译在读,爱哭又爱笑的00


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观点|评论|思考


本次感想

Vincent 男,狱警,电子与法学双硕,爱好诗歌与哲学

众生之心,无往不着,又着故,障蔽其本有无着之心,犹如浮云,障翳虚空,空相不显,全成翳相。着即起苦,故曰生苦是其业用。

精彩的一文,有些段落读之有读《失控》一书的感觉。学界的旧观念(足够旧)是大自然和经济活动等都会收敛到平衡稳态,数学上建立某种稳态模型进行研究相对也更便利。新观点(其实也很旧)与之相对,流动才是常态。类似混沌非线性数学等研究都有助于改变旧有的观念,支持新观点。KK谈稳定的状态,说那是一种由持续的误差所保证的一种永久临跌的状态。所以说,人类世界可能在须臾之际,毫无征兆地陷入了一种由分布在低层,在极微处的乌合之众搅动而起的漩涡之中。然后,你再看,那些枚举比对人类进程史上各种类似事件的努力,像极了于新像旧影间执著于答案,已谈不上错对和效率了。

如果说自然是建立在恒久流变的基础之上,那么不稳定性可能就是引起自然生物类型丰富多彩的原因。不稳定的自然力量是多样性产生的根源。像文中所述,与病毒共存,也即我们的存在其实无时无刻不能摆脱对这些极微处扰动与变化的依赖。其实人类早已习惯了与不稳定打交道,并在此过程中濡养自我的心智,不断突破理论所限,愈接近真实规律则愈近乎神。或许可以这样说,未来或许可以围绕无妄之变化灵活地做出修正,灵活地即时制造和应对,而此灵活性越高,则越近乎神。就此建立一种由变化驱动的工作经济模式,也未尝可知。


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