Genetically modified tree

　　轉基因樹木

　　Into the wildwood

　　進軍森林

　　A GM species may soon be liberated deliberately

　　一種轉基因樹木不久或將大量種植，但很審慎

　　ONCE upon a time, according to folklore, a squirrel could travel through America s chestnutforests from Maine to Florida without ever touching the ground.

　　民間流傳有這樣的故事：很久很久以前，松鼠在穿過美國緬因州到福羅里達州的栗樹林時，可以一直不觸碰地面。

　　The chestnut population of North America was reckoned then to have been about 4 billiontrees. No longer.

　　估計北美那時的栗樹約有40億棵。現在卻不復存在了。

　　Axes and chainsaws must take a share of theblame.

　　必須說，斧頭鋸子不乏其罪，

　　But the principal culprit is Cryphonectria parasitica, the fungus that causes chestnut blight.

　　但栗疫病菌才是罪魁禍首，是這種真菌致栗樹感染了栗疫病。

　　In the late 19th century, some infected saplings from Asia brought C. parasitica to NorthAmerica. By 1950 the chestnut was little more than a memory in most parts of the continent.

　　19世紀后期，一批亞洲來的感染栗疫病菌的樹苗把該病菌帶到了北美。到了20世紀50年代，北美大陸大部分地區的栗樹便全部消失，成為了回憶。

　　American chestnuts may, however, be about to rise againthanks to genetic engineering.

　　但有了基因工程，美國栗樹有望再次繁茂起來。

　　This month three experimental patches will be planted, under the watchful eye of theDepartment of Agriculture, in Georgia, New York and Virginia.

　　在美國農業部的密切看護下，將于本月在喬治亞州、紐約州和弗吉尼亞州分別栽種一片栗樹林進行實驗。

　　Along with their normal complements of genes, these trees have been fitted with a handfulof others that researchers hope will protect them from the fungus.

　　這些栗樹除攜帶正常的附加基因外，還添加了少數不同尋常的附加基因。研究者希望通過添加這些基因來防止栗樹被真菌感染。

　　The project has been organised by the Forest Health Initiative, a quango set up to look intothe idea of using genetic engineering to rescue species of tree whose populations havebeen devastated by fungal diseases or insect pests.

　　該項目的組織者是一個半官方機構森林健康行動，該機構的創立是為了檢查用基因工程來拯救被真菌病或害蟲摧毀的樹木種群的可行性。

　　It has sponsored research at several universities, and this month s trial is the first big fieldtest.

　　FHI已在幾所大學發起了研究倡議，并于本月邁出大型實地試驗的第一步。

　　If it works, the FHI will ask the government for permission to plant transgenic chestnuts inthe wild, with the intention of re-establishing the species in America s woodlands.

　　如果可行，FHI則會向政府申請在自然環境中種植基因改良栗樹，以重建美國林地的栗樹林。

　　And if that goes well, it could provide a model for projects to re-establish elm trees, ashtrees and a fir tree known, confusingly, as the eastern hemlock.

　　如果這也可行，那就能為榆樹、白蠟樹和杉樹重建項目提供示范。

　　The search for genetic protection for the chestnut was begun in 1990 by William Powell ofthe State University of New York, in Syracuse, and Scott Merkle of the University of Georgia,in Athens.

　　栗樹基因保護研究始于1990年，由錫拉丘茲市紐約州立大學的威廉鮑威爾和愛森斯市喬治亞大學的斯科特默克爾共同進行。

　　Dr Powell knew that many of the symptoms of chestnut blight are caused by the oxalic acidthat C. parasitica generates as it grows.

　　鮑威爾確信，栗疫病的很多癥狀都由栗疫病菌生長時產生的草酸引起。

　　He also knew that wheat has an enzyme called oxalate oxidase, which detoxifies oxalicacid.

　　他也清楚，小麥有一種草酸氧化酶，能夠分解草酸。

　　He and his team therefore transferred the gene that encodes oxalate oxidase from wheat tochestnut.

　　于是，鮑威爾和他的團隊將小麥中能夠編碼草酸氧化酶的基因轉移到了栗樹的基因中。

　　Last summer they showed that oxalate oxidase can indeed enhance blight-resistance.

　　去年夏天，他們證明了，草酸氧化酶的確能夠增強栗樹的抗枯萎性。

　　A few years ago the Forest Health Initiative asked Dr Powell and some other researchersdoing related studies to look at the work of the American Chestnut Foundation, a groupwhich had been crossbreeding Chinese and American chestnuts.

　　幾年前，FHI邀請了正在進行相關研究的鮑威爾博士和另一些研究者研究美國栗樹研究基金會的工作。

　　Since C. parasitica is Asian, Asiatic trees have evolved resistance to it. The foundationhoped to make a hybrid sufficiently Chinese to be protected, but sufficiently American topass muster as local.

　　由于栗疫病菌發于亞洲，亞洲樹種已經形成了對該真菌的抗性。

　　With the aid of the genomes of the two species, Dr Powell and his collaborators begantesting 27 Chinese chestnut genes in the American tree.

　　借助兩種栗樹的基因組，鮑威爾博士及其合作伙伴開始在美國生長的樹上測試27種板栗基因。

　　The 800 trees to be planted this month will contain various combinations of these genes,the original wheat gene and six further genes from other tree species.

　　本月將栽種800棵樹，這些樹包含了原小麥基因以及其他樹種6種基因的各種組合基因。

　　And results should come quickly.

　　預計結果很快就可以得出。

　　Field tests for blight-resistance are typically done when trees are a few years old, but DrPowell s team have devised a test of the sapling s leaves that they believe can tell whether atree is resistant when it is less than a year old.

　　抗枯萎性的實地試驗一般要當樹木生長幾年之后才能進行，但鮑威爾博士研究小組想出了一個測試樹苗葉子的辦法，他們認為可以在樹齡不滿一年的情況下測試出樹的抗性。

　　The trial itself will last three years, and the researchers running it will monitor how themodified chestnuts fit in to the local ecosystem, as well as how healthy they are.

　　這項試驗會進行三年，進行該試驗的研究者將持續觀察記錄改良過的栗樹在當地生態系統的適應程度以及它們的健康狀況。

　　If they both do fit and are fit, a decision will then have to be made about whether torelease them into the wild. That will be up to the Department of Agriculture, theEnvironmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.

　　如果能夠適應并且長勢良好，那是否要在自然環境中大量種植就得由農業部、環境保護署和食品藥品監督管理局來決定了。

　　Until now, the genetic modification of trees has had strictly commercial aims: speedingup the growth and extending the environmental tolerance of species intended forplantations.

　　迄今為止，改良樹木基因帶有明確的商業目的：一是催長，二是為了造林增加物種對環境的容忍度。

　　This use of genetic modification has been opposed by environmentalists, who fear thatsuch supertrees may escape and damage wild forests.

　　為達到該商業目的使用轉基因，遭到了環保主義者的反對，他們擔心這樣的超級樹會瘋長進而危害到野生叢林。

　　The Forest Health Initiative s goal, though, is to heal wild forests, not hurt them.

　　但FHI的目標是為了恢復而不是危害野生叢林。

　　If its experiments do produce a strain of chestnut that could do the job, it will be interestingto see how enthusiastically greens embrace it.

　　如果試驗成功，真能培育出抗栗疫病菌的新品種，那看看環保黨在欣然接受時會表現出怎樣的歡欣鼓舞，還挺有意思的。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.according to 根據，按照

　　Again this is according to recently declassifiedinformation.

　　這也還是根據最近解密的信息得知的。

　　It did not go according to plan.

　　這個妥協方案并沒有按計劃執行。

　　2.fit with 適應

　　Many of the rome sundials will fit with this pedestal base.

　　羅馬日晷許多人會適應這個底座。

　　The pattern has to be very liquid so that it can fit with the individual.

　　模式必須靈活機動，這樣它才能適應個人需要。

　　3.look into 在里查資料;深入地檢查

　　Pfizer recently hired braun research inc.to look into the leading causes of sleeplessness.

　　輝瑞制藥公司最近聘請了布勞恩調查公司就造成失眠的主要原因開展研究。

　　A commission would be set up to look into complaints of anti-competitive behaviour.

　　香港將成立一個委員會，對反競爭行為的投訴進行調查。

　　4.provide for 為提供生活費;為作準備

　　Even if egypt s islamists refrain from scrapping the peace treaty, israel fears they will seekto amend the clauses that provide for sinai s demilitarisation.

　　就算埃及的伊斯蘭當政者沒有廢除戴維營和平協議，以色列依然害怕埃及將修改那些規定西奈半島非軍事化的條款。

　　It takes a lot to provide for 7 billion humans.

　　地球為了供養70億人口付出了很多代價。

　　Genetically modified tree

　　轉基因樹木

　　Into the wildwood

　　進軍森林

　　A GM species may soon be liberated deliberately

　　一種轉基因樹木不久或將大量種植，但很審慎

　　ONCE upon a time, according to folklore, a squirrel could travel through America s chestnutforests from Maine to Florida without ever touching the ground.

　　民間流傳有這樣的故事：很久很久以前，松鼠在穿過美國緬因州到福羅里達州的栗樹林時，可以一直不觸碰地面。

　　The chestnut population of North America was reckoned then to have been about 4 billiontrees. No longer.

　　估計北美那時的栗樹約有40億棵。現在卻不復存在了。

　　Axes and chainsaws must take a share of theblame.

　　必須說，斧頭鋸子不乏其罪，

　　But the principal culprit is Cryphonectria parasitica, the fungus that causes chestnut blight.

　　但栗疫病菌才是罪魁禍首，是這種真菌致栗樹感染了栗疫病。

　　In the late 19th century, some infected saplings from Asia brought C. parasitica to NorthAmerica. By 1950 the chestnut was little more than a memory in most parts of the continent.

　　19世紀后期，一批亞洲來的感染栗疫病菌的樹苗把該病菌帶到了北美。到了20世紀50年代，北美大陸大部分地區的栗樹便全部消失，成為了回憶。

　　American chestnuts may, however, be about to rise againthanks to genetic engineering.

　　但有了基因工程，美國栗樹有望再次繁茂起來。

　　This month three experimental patches will be planted, under the watchful eye of theDepartment of Agriculture, in Georgia, New York and Virginia.

　　在美國農業部的密切看護下，將于本月在喬治亞州、紐約州和弗吉尼亞州分別栽種一片栗樹林進行實驗。

　　Along with their normal complements of genes, these trees have been fitted with a handfulof others that researchers hope will protect them from the fungus.

　　這些栗樹除攜帶正常的附加基因外，還添加了少數不同尋常的附加基因。研究者希望通過添加這些基因來防止栗樹被真菌感染。

　　The project has been organised by the Forest Health Initiative, a quango set up to look intothe idea of using genetic engineering to rescue species of tree whose populations havebeen devastated by fungal diseases or insect pests.

　　該項目的組織者是一個半官方機構森林健康行動，該機構的創立是為了檢查用基因工程來拯救被真菌病或害蟲摧毀的樹木種群的可行性。

　　It has sponsored research at several universities, and this month s trial is the first big fieldtest.

　　FHI已在幾所大學發起了研究倡議，并于本月邁出大型實地試驗的第一步。

　　If it works, the FHI will ask the government for permission to plant transgenic chestnuts inthe wild, with the intention of re-establishing the species in America s woodlands.

　　如果可行，FHI則會向政府申請在自然環境中種植基因改良栗樹，以重建美國林地的栗樹林。

　　And if that goes well, it could provide a model for projects to re-establish elm trees, ashtrees and a fir tree known, confusingly, as the eastern hemlock.

　　如果這也可行，那就能為榆樹、白蠟樹和杉樹重建項目提供示范。

　　The search for genetic protection for the chestnut was begun in 1990 by William Powell ofthe State University of New York, in Syracuse, and Scott Merkle of the University of Georgia,in Athens.

　　栗樹基因保護研究始于1990年，由錫拉丘茲市紐約州立大學的威廉鮑威爾和愛森斯市喬治亞大學的斯科特默克爾共同進行。

　　Dr Powell knew that many of the symptoms of chestnut blight are caused by the oxalic acidthat C. parasitica generates as it grows.

　　鮑威爾確信，栗疫病的很多癥狀都由栗疫病菌生長時產生的草酸引起。

　　He also knew that wheat has an enzyme called oxalate oxidase, which detoxifies oxalicacid.

　　他也清楚，小麥有一種草酸氧化酶，能夠分解草酸。

　　He and his team therefore transferred the gene that encodes oxalate oxidase from wheat tochestnut.

　　于是，鮑威爾和他的團隊將小麥中能夠編碼草酸氧化酶的基因轉移到了栗樹的基因中。

　　Last summer they showed that oxalate oxidase can indeed enhance blight-resistance.

　　去年夏天，他們證明了，草酸氧化酶的確能夠增強栗樹的抗枯萎性。

　　A few years ago the Forest Health Initiative asked Dr Powell and some other researchersdoing related studies to look at the work of the American Chestnut Foundation, a groupwhich had been crossbreeding Chinese and American chestnuts.

　　幾年前，FHI邀請了正在進行相關研究的鮑威爾博士和另一些研究者研究美國栗樹研究基金會的工作。

　　Since C. parasitica is Asian, Asiatic trees have evolved resistance to it. The foundationhoped to make a hybrid sufficiently Chinese to be protected, but sufficiently American topass muster as local.

　　由于栗疫病菌發于亞洲，亞洲樹種已經形成了對該真菌的抗性。

　　With the aid of the genomes of the two species, Dr Powell and his collaborators begantesting 27 Chinese chestnut genes in the American tree.

　　借助兩種栗樹的基因組，鮑威爾博士及其合作伙伴開始在美國生長的樹上測試27種板栗基因。

　　The 800 trees to be planted this month will contain various combinations of these genes,the original wheat gene and six further genes from other tree species.

　　本月將栽種800棵樹，這些樹包含了原小麥基因以及其他樹種6種基因的各種組合基因。

　　And results should come quickly.

　　預計結果很快就可以得出。

　　Field tests for blight-resistance are typically done when trees are a few years old, but DrPowell s team have devised a test of the sapling s leaves that they believe can tell whether atree is resistant when it is less than a year old.

　　抗枯萎性的實地試驗一般要當樹木生長幾年之后才能進行，但鮑威爾博士研究小組想出了一個測試樹苗葉子的辦法，他們認為可以在樹齡不滿一年的情況下測試出樹的抗性。

　　The trial itself will last three years, and the researchers running it will monitor how themodified chestnuts fit in to the local ecosystem, as well as how healthy they are.

　　這項試驗會進行三年，進行該試驗的研究者將持續觀察記錄改良過的栗樹在當地生態系統的適應程度以及它們的健康狀況。

　　If they both do fit and are fit, a decision will then have to be made about whether torelease them into the wild. That will be up to the Department of Agriculture, theEnvironmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.

　　如果能夠適應并且長勢良好，那是否要在自然環境中大量種植就得由農業部、環境保護署和食品藥品監督管理局來決定了。

　　Until now, the genetic modification of trees has had strictly commercial aims: speedingup the growth and extending the environmental tolerance of species intended forplantations.

　　迄今為止，改良樹木基因帶有明確的商業目的：一是催長，二是為了造林增加物種對環境的容忍度。

　　This use of genetic modification has been opposed by environmentalists, who fear thatsuch supertrees may escape and damage wild forests.

　　為達到該商業目的使用轉基因，遭到了環保主義者的反對，他們擔心這樣的超級樹會瘋長進而危害到野生叢林。

　　The Forest Health Initiative s goal, though, is to heal wild forests, not hurt them.

　　但FHI的目標是為了恢復而不是危害野生叢林。

　　If its experiments do produce a strain of chestnut that could do the job, it will be interestingto see how enthusiastically greens embrace it.

　　如果試驗成功，真能培育出抗栗疫病菌的新品種，那看看環保黨在欣然接受時會表現出怎樣的歡欣鼓舞，還挺有意思的。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.according to 根據，按照

　　Again this is according to recently declassifiedinformation.

　　這也還是根據最近解密的信息得知的。

　　It did not go according to plan.

　　這個妥協方案并沒有按計劃執行。

　　2.fit with 適應

　　Many of the rome sundials will fit with this pedestal base.

　　羅馬日晷許多人會適應這個底座。

　　The pattern has to be very liquid so that it can fit with the individual.

　　模式必須靈活機動，這樣它才能適應個人需要。

　　3.look into 在里查資料;深入地檢查

　　Pfizer recently hired braun research inc.to look into the leading causes of sleeplessness.

　　輝瑞制藥公司最近聘請了布勞恩調查公司就造成失眠的主要原因開展研究。

　　A commission would be set up to look into complaints of anti-competitive behaviour.

　　香港將成立一個委員會，對反競爭行為的投訴進行調查。

　　4.provide for 為提供生活費;為作準備

　　Even if egypt s islamists refrain from scrapping the peace treaty, israel fears they will seekto amend the clauses that provide for sinai s demilitarisation.

　　就算埃及的伊斯蘭當政者沒有廢除戴維營和平協議，以色列依然害怕埃及將修改那些規定西奈半島非軍事化的條款。

　　It takes a lot to provide for 7 billion humans.

　　地球為了供養70億人口付出了很多代價。