2023考研英語閱讀心臟疾病與微生物
Heart disease and the microbiome
心臟疾病與微生物
High steaks
牛排吃越多，心臟病風險越高
Hardening of the arteries may be caused by amalign interaction of meat-eating and intestinalbacteria
肉食與腸道細菌的惡性作用可能會造成動脈硬化
THOSE who take part in clinical trials often have to do nasty things, from taking new drugsto forgoing sleep.
參加臨床試驗的受試者常常得要做一些令人難受的事兒，從試用新藥到放棄睡眠。
Participants in a trial organised byStanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, had a decidedly easier task: eating steak.
克里夫蘭醫學中心的斯坦利?哈森在俄亥俄州組織的臨床試驗中的受試者所要做的，相對來說要簡單的多：吃牛排。
After reading Dr Hazen s conclusions, though, they may be inclined to eat rather less of it.
但要是讀過哈森博士的實驗報告后，他們或許寧愿自己少吃一些。
A link between red-meat consumption and heart disease was perceived by epidemiologistsseveral decades ago, but the nature of this link has never been properly explained.
幾十年前就有流行病學家發現心臟疾病與食用紅肉有關，但這種關聯的原理一直沒有得到合理的解釋。
Blame s finger usually points at saturated fats and cholesterol.
飽和脂肪酸和膽固醇經常被指責為引起心臟疾病的罪魁禍首。
Red meat contains both.
紅肉中這兩種物質都有。
But a big recent study showed no connection between saturated fat and heart disease, sosomething else is probably involved.
最近一項大型研究發現飽和脂肪酸并不會引起心臟疾病，很可能是一些其他物質引起的心臟疾病。
Dr Hazen thinks he knows what.
哈森博士認為他發現了這些物質是什么。
As he outlines in a paper just published in Nature Medicine, he believes the blame actuallylies with the microbiomethe collection of 100 trillion or so bacteria that live in the humangut.
正如他在《自然醫學》上剛發表的文章中所說的那樣，他認為罪魁禍首實際上是微生物菌群-人體腸道中生存著大約100萬億細菌。
Generally, members of the microbiome get on well with their host.
一般來說，腸道菌群可與宿主和諧共處。
They digest complex carbohydrates that human enzymes cannot handle, thus increasing thenutritional value of food.
它們可分解人體中的酶所不能分解的復雜碳水化合物，因而可進一步提高食物的營養價值。
They also fend off infections by hostile bugs.
它們還可阻擋病原菌對人體的侵害。
But, as with any partnership, the interests of the partners are not always in perfectalignment, and Dr Hazen thinks the processing of red meat is an example of suchmisalignment.
不過，像任何合作關系一樣，雙方的利益并不總是完美一致的，哈森博士認為紅肉的消化吸收過程正是這種不一致的實例。
The mismatch in question revolves around a molecule called carnitine.
這種失衡主要是由一種叫做肉毒堿的化學物質引起的。
This chemical helps transport fatty acids inside cells, and red meat is rich in it.
肉毒堿可參與運輸細胞內的脂肪酸，而紅肉中富含肉毒堿。
Dr Hazen thinks that when it is metabolised by gut bacteria, a chain of events begins thatresults in atherosclerosis.
哈森博士認為腸道細菌代謝紅肉時，由此引發人體內一連串的生物化學反應，從而導致動脈粥樣硬化。
A gut feeling
腸道感覺
Dr Hazen has already demonstrated, in a paper published in 2011, that parts of themicrobiome can promote atherosclerosis.
哈森博士在他2011年發表的文章中驗證，部分腸道菌群可促進動脈硬化。
In that paper he showed that choline, a molecule found in eggs and meat, is digested bysome gut bacteria to produce trimethylamine, which is then processed in the liver to createtrimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAOa substance that encourages atherosclerosis.
他在文中指出膽堿在蛋類和肉類中發現的一種分子，被腸道細菌消化吸收后生成三甲胺，三甲胺在肝臟中轉化為能夠加速動脈硬化的三甲胺N-氧化物或氧化三甲胺。
That is bad in general.
這些化學物質通常對人體是有害的。
And if the arteries in question are the coronary arteries, which supply heart muscle withblood, it is bad in particular because it can lead to a heart attack.
并且如果有損傷的動脈是為心肌供血的冠狀動脈，情況尤為糟糕，因為這將引起心臟病發作。
Carnitine is chemically similar to choline so, given its abundance in red meat, Dr Hazenwanted to know if it, too, might be linked with heart disease.
肉毒堿的化學作用與膽堿相似，由于肉毒堿在紅肉中含量豐富，哈森博士試圖通過實驗探究肉毒堿是否也與心臟疾病有關聯。
He also wanted to know how TMAO wreaks its havoc on arteries.
同時他也想搞清楚氧化三甲胺是如何損傷動脈血管的。
Attempting to answer these questions required several studies, on both mice and men.
為了得到答案，哈森博士對人和老鼠進行了多項研究。
The first involved five human volunteers eating 8oz sirloin steaks, plus a carnitinesupplement.
第一組實驗的五個志愿者食用了8盎司沙朗牛排以及一片肉毒堿補充劑。
This diet resulted in high levels of both carnitine and TMAO in the volunteers blood.
實驗結果是，志愿者血液中都出現了高含量的肉毒堿和氧化三甲胺。
But when the same people were given antibiotics to kill their gut microbes, a subsequentsteak meal produced little TMAO, even though their carnitine levels went even higher thanbefore.
但當這些志愿者食用可殺死腸道細菌的抗生素后，食用同樣的牛排卻只產生了少量的氧化三甲胺，盡管之前他們血液中肉毒堿含量升高過。
Production of TMAO, then, seems to need bacteria.
這表明氧化三甲胺的產生似乎確實需要腸道菌群參與。
Those bacteria are not, however, always present.
然而，這樣的腸道細菌并不總是存在的。
In the interests of science, Dr Hazen persuaded a vegan volunteer to eat a steak.
出于對科學真理的探索，哈森博士說服一名嚴格素食主義志愿者食用一塊牛排。
He compared this man s subsequent TMAO levels with those of a meat eater after a steakmeal.
他將這位志愿者與食肉志愿者吃牛排后的血液中氧化三甲胺含量相比較，
The carnivore s TMAO levels jumped.
肉食志愿者的氧化三甲胺含量飆升，
The vegan s did not.
而素食志愿者的卻沒有。
That suggests the vegan s particular gut floraadapted to his usual meat-free dietdid notcontain species that can digest carnitine.
這表明素食者特有的腸道菌群已經適應了他日常的素食飲食不含可分解肉毒堿的細菌。
Some vegetarian volunteers, given carnitine pills but spared the steak, showed similarresults.
一些素食志愿者沒吃牛排，但服用肉毒堿制劑，實驗結果與吃牛排相似。
To find out whether all this matters, Dr Hazen looked at the association between heartdisease and levels of carnitine and TMAO in more than 2,500 people.
為證實所有這些因素是否相關，哈森博士調查了2500多人，試圖發現心臟疾病與肉毒堿和氧化三甲胺之間的關系。
He found there was indeed an association between heart disease and carnitine, but onlywhen TMAO levels were also high.
他發現心臟疾病確實與肉毒堿的含量有關，但只有當氧化三甲苯含量也同樣很高時才可以。
Experiments in mice confirmed the broader hypothesis: TMAO production relies onmicrobes that digest carnitine, and prolonged consumption of that chemical by susceptiblemice leads to atherosclerosis.
老鼠實驗證實了進一步的猜想：氧化三甲胺的產生需要分解肉毒堿的腸道細菌參與，易感小鼠如果長期食用肉毒堿會導致動脈硬化。
Exactly how this happens is still hazy.
確切的作用機理目前尚不清楚。
Dr Hazen has shown, in yet further experiments on mice,that microbe-generated TMAOinterferes with liver enzymes that make bile acidssubstances that help remove excesscholesterol.
在接下來的老鼠實驗中，哈森博士指出，細菌分解產生的氧化三甲胺可干擾產生膽汁酸的肝酶的活性膽汁酸可幫助轉移多余的膽固醇。
TMAO also influences cholesterol metabolism in other parts of the body, including the arterywall.
氧化三甲胺還影響包括動脈壁在內的身體其他部位中的膽固醇代謝。
But the precise chain of events linking microbes to heart disease is still unclear.
但使得腸道細菌與心臟疾病有關的一系列相關的精確反應至今還不清楚。
Another unknown is which of the microbiome s many species are responsible for promotingTMAO production.
腸道菌群中是否有很多種細菌參與氧化三甲胺的生成目前也并不明確。
Based on an analysis of the faeces of both vegetarians and meat eaters, Dr Hazen suspectsbacteria of several genera, including Clostridium and Fusibacterium.
基于對素食與肉食志愿者的糞便研究，哈森博士猜想有幾種不同屬的細菌參與反應，其中包括梭狀芽胞桿菌屬和梭菌屬。
Regardless of the details, though, this study suggests that people looking for the link betweenheart disease and the eating of meat have been ignoring two culprits, carnitine and bacteria.
但不論生化反應細節如何，這項研究表明人們長期以來尋找心臟病與食肉之間的關聯，卻忽略了肉毒堿和腸道細菌這兩大元兇。
That does not absolve cholesterol of blameon the contrary, carnitine boosts cholesterol spernicious effect.
不過這并不意味著膽固醇是無害的相反，肉毒堿的存在大大增長了膽固醇的害處。
But the study is yet another reminder that medical science s past failure to take properaccount of humanity s bacterial guests has stopped researchers understanding how bodiesactually work.
這項研究同時也提醒人們，之前醫學研究未能把人體腸道內的細菌考慮在內，使得研究者們沒能真正搞明白人體是如何運轉的。
Heart disease is the biggest killer around.
現在心臟疾病是威脅人類健康的頭號殺手。
Though Dr Hazen s analysis does not change advice about how to preventatherosclerosis, it may radically revise the treatment of those for whom prevention hasfailed.
雖然哈森博士的研究未能改變預防動脈硬化的醫囑，但卻徹底改變了動脈硬化患者的治療方案。
詞語解釋
1.incline to 向方向彎， 傾斜
Spin industry foreign trader invests motive andincline to analysis.
紡織行業外商投資動機與趨向分析。
I incline to disagree with you on that point.
在那一點上我傾向于跟你意見不同。
2.publish in 發表于
The second main kind of blogs are, in effect, niche magazines that choose to publish in a blogformat.
另一類博客，實際上是以博客形式發布的非主流雜志。
In recent years, of course, the pressure on scientists to publish in the top journals hasincreased, making the journals that much more crucial to career success.
當然，近年來要求科技工作者在頂級期刊上發表論文的壓力越來越大，使得這些期刊在他們事業成功上所起的作用越來越關鍵。
3.live in 住在;存在于
My friends jenny and danny live in canada.
我的朋友詹妮和丹尼住在加拿大。
In what world do you live in?
你生活在一個什么樣的世界?
4.lead to 通向;導致
That can lead to serious consequences.
這會導致嚴重的后果。
All these ideologies lead to repression.
所有這些思想最終都導致鎮壓。
Heart disease and the microbiome
心臟疾病與微生物
High steaks
牛排吃越多，心臟病風險越高
Hardening of the arteries may be caused by amalign interaction of meat-eating and intestinalbacteria
肉食與腸道細菌的惡性作用可能會造成動脈硬化
THOSE who take part in clinical trials often have to do nasty things, from taking new drugsto forgoing sleep.
參加臨床試驗的受試者常常得要做一些令人難受的事兒，從試用新藥到放棄睡眠。
Participants in a trial organised byStanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, had a decidedly easier task: eating steak.
克里夫蘭醫學中心的斯坦利?哈森在俄亥俄州組織的臨床試驗中的受試者所要做的，相對來說要簡單的多：吃牛排。
After reading Dr Hazen s conclusions, though, they may be inclined to eat rather less of it.
但要是讀過哈森博士的實驗報告后，他們或許寧愿自己少吃一些。
A link between red-meat consumption and heart disease was perceived by epidemiologistsseveral decades ago, but the nature of this link has never been properly explained.
幾十年前就有流行病學家發現心臟疾病與食用紅肉有關，但這種關聯的原理一直沒有得到合理的解釋。
Blame s finger usually points at saturated fats and cholesterol.
飽和脂肪酸和膽固醇經常被指責為引起心臟疾病的罪魁禍首。
Red meat contains both.
紅肉中這兩種物質都有。
But a big recent study showed no connection between saturated fat and heart disease, sosomething else is probably involved.
最近一項大型研究發現飽和脂肪酸并不會引起心臟疾病，很可能是一些其他物質引起的心臟疾病。
Dr Hazen thinks he knows what.
哈森博士認為他發現了這些物質是什么。
As he outlines in a paper just published in Nature Medicine, he believes the blame actuallylies with the microbiomethe collection of 100 trillion or so bacteria that live in the humangut.
正如他在《自然醫學》上剛發表的文章中所說的那樣，他認為罪魁禍首實際上是微生物菌群-人體腸道中生存著大約100萬億細菌。
Generally, members of the microbiome get on well with their host.
一般來說，腸道菌群可與宿主和諧共處。
They digest complex carbohydrates that human enzymes cannot handle, thus increasing thenutritional value of food.
它們可分解人體中的酶所不能分解的復雜碳水化合物，因而可進一步提高食物的營養價值。
They also fend off infections by hostile bugs.
它們還可阻擋病原菌對人體的侵害。
But, as with any partnership, the interests of the partners are not always in perfectalignment, and Dr Hazen thinks the processing of red meat is an example of suchmisalignment.
不過，像任何合作關系一樣，雙方的利益并不總是完美一致的，哈森博士認為紅肉的消化吸收過程正是這種不一致的實例。
The mismatch in question revolves around a molecule called carnitine.
這種失衡主要是由一種叫做肉毒堿的化學物質引起的。
This chemical helps transport fatty acids inside cells, and red meat is rich in it.
肉毒堿可參與運輸細胞內的脂肪酸，而紅肉中富含肉毒堿。
Dr Hazen thinks that when it is metabolised by gut bacteria, a chain of events begins thatresults in atherosclerosis.
哈森博士認為腸道細菌代謝紅肉時，由此引發人體內一連串的生物化學反應，從而導致動脈粥樣硬化。
A gut feeling
腸道感覺
Dr Hazen has already demonstrated, in a paper published in 2011, that parts of themicrobiome can promote atherosclerosis.
哈森博士在他2011年發表的文章中驗證，部分腸道菌群可促進動脈硬化。
In that paper he showed that choline, a molecule found in eggs and meat, is digested bysome gut bacteria to produce trimethylamine, which is then processed in the liver to createtrimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAOa substance that encourages atherosclerosis.
他在文中指出膽堿在蛋類和肉類中發現的一種分子，被腸道細菌消化吸收后生成三甲胺，三甲胺在肝臟中轉化為能夠加速動脈硬化的三甲胺N-氧化物或氧化三甲胺。
That is bad in general.
這些化學物質通常對人體是有害的。
And if the arteries in question are the coronary arteries, which supply heart muscle withblood, it is bad in particular because it can lead to a heart attack.
并且如果有損傷的動脈是為心肌供血的冠狀動脈，情況尤為糟糕，因為這將引起心臟病發作。
Carnitine is chemically similar to choline so, given its abundance in red meat, Dr Hazenwanted to know if it, too, might be linked with heart disease.
肉毒堿的化學作用與膽堿相似，由于肉毒堿在紅肉中含量豐富，哈森博士試圖通過實驗探究肉毒堿是否也與心臟疾病有關聯。
He also wanted to know how TMAO wreaks its havoc on arteries.
同時他也想搞清楚氧化三甲胺是如何損傷動脈血管的。
Attempting to answer these questions required several studies, on both mice and men.
為了得到答案，哈森博士對人和老鼠進行了多項研究。
The first involved five human volunteers eating 8oz sirloin steaks, plus a carnitinesupplement.
第一組實驗的五個志愿者食用了8盎司沙朗牛排以及一片肉毒堿補充劑。
This diet resulted in high levels of both carnitine and TMAO in the volunteers blood.
實驗結果是，志愿者血液中都出現了高含量的肉毒堿和氧化三甲胺。
But when the same people were given antibiotics to kill their gut microbes, a subsequentsteak meal produced little TMAO, even though their carnitine levels went even higher thanbefore.
但當這些志愿者食用可殺死腸道細菌的抗生素后，食用同樣的牛排卻只產生了少量的氧化三甲胺，盡管之前他們血液中肉毒堿含量升高過。
Production of TMAO, then, seems to need bacteria.
這表明氧化三甲胺的產生似乎確實需要腸道菌群參與。
Those bacteria are not, however, always present.
然而，這樣的腸道細菌并不總是存在的。
In the interests of science, Dr Hazen persuaded a vegan volunteer to eat a steak.
出于對科學真理的探索，哈森博士說服一名嚴格素食主義志愿者食用一塊牛排。
He compared this man s subsequent TMAO levels with those of a meat eater after a steakmeal.
他將這位志愿者與食肉志愿者吃牛排后的血液中氧化三甲胺含量相比較，
The carnivore s TMAO levels jumped.
肉食志愿者的氧化三甲胺含量飆升，
The vegan s did not.
而素食志愿者的卻沒有。
That suggests the vegan s particular gut floraadapted to his usual meat-free dietdid notcontain species that can digest carnitine.
這表明素食者特有的腸道菌群已經適應了他日常的素食飲食不含可分解肉毒堿的細菌。
Some vegetarian volunteers, given carnitine pills but spared the steak, showed similarresults.
一些素食志愿者沒吃牛排，但服用肉毒堿制劑，實驗結果與吃牛排相似。
To find out whether all this matters, Dr Hazen looked at the association between heartdisease and levels of carnitine and TMAO in more than 2,500 people.
為證實所有這些因素是否相關，哈森博士調查了2500多人，試圖發現心臟疾病與肉毒堿和氧化三甲胺之間的關系。
He found there was indeed an association between heart disease and carnitine, but onlywhen TMAO levels were also high.
他發現心臟疾病確實與肉毒堿的含量有關，但只有當氧化三甲苯含量也同樣很高時才可以。
Experiments in mice confirmed the broader hypothesis: TMAO production relies onmicrobes that digest carnitine, and prolonged consumption of that chemical by susceptiblemice leads to atherosclerosis.
老鼠實驗證實了進一步的猜想：氧化三甲胺的產生需要分解肉毒堿的腸道細菌參與，易感小鼠如果長期食用肉毒堿會導致動脈硬化。
Exactly how this happens is still hazy.
確切的作用機理目前尚不清楚。
Dr Hazen has shown, in yet further experiments on mice,that microbe-generated TMAOinterferes with liver enzymes that make bile acidssubstances that help remove excesscholesterol.
在接下來的老鼠實驗中，哈森博士指出，細菌分解產生的氧化三甲胺可干擾產生膽汁酸的肝酶的活性膽汁酸可幫助轉移多余的膽固醇。
TMAO also influences cholesterol metabolism in other parts of the body, including the arterywall.
氧化三甲胺還影響包括動脈壁在內的身體其他部位中的膽固醇代謝。
But the precise chain of events linking microbes to heart disease is still unclear.
但使得腸道細菌與心臟疾病有關的一系列相關的精確反應至今還不清楚。
Another unknown is which of the microbiome s many species are responsible for promotingTMAO production.
腸道菌群中是否有很多種細菌參與氧化三甲胺的生成目前也并不明確。
Based on an analysis of the faeces of both vegetarians and meat eaters, Dr Hazen suspectsbacteria of several genera, including Clostridium and Fusibacterium.
基于對素食與肉食志愿者的糞便研究，哈森博士猜想有幾種不同屬的細菌參與反應，其中包括梭狀芽胞桿菌屬和梭菌屬。
Regardless of the details, though, this study suggests that people looking for the link betweenheart disease and the eating of meat have been ignoring two culprits, carnitine and bacteria.
但不論生化反應細節如何，這項研究表明人們長期以來尋找心臟病與食肉之間的關聯，卻忽略了肉毒堿和腸道細菌這兩大元兇。
That does not absolve cholesterol of blameon the contrary, carnitine boosts cholesterol spernicious effect.
不過這并不意味著膽固醇是無害的相反，肉毒堿的存在大大增長了膽固醇的害處。
But the study is yet another reminder that medical science s past failure to take properaccount of humanity s bacterial guests has stopped researchers understanding how bodiesactually work.
這項研究同時也提醒人們，之前醫學研究未能把人體腸道內的細菌考慮在內，使得研究者們沒能真正搞明白人體是如何運轉的。
Heart disease is the biggest killer around.
現在心臟疾病是威脅人類健康的頭號殺手。
Though Dr Hazen s analysis does not change advice about how to preventatherosclerosis, it may radically revise the treatment of those for whom prevention hasfailed.
雖然哈森博士的研究未能改變預防動脈硬化的醫囑，但卻徹底改變了動脈硬化患者的治療方案。
詞語解釋
1.incline to 向方向彎， 傾斜
Spin industry foreign trader invests motive andincline to analysis.
紡織行業外商投資動機與趨向分析。
I incline to disagree with you on that point.
在那一點上我傾向于跟你意見不同。
2.publish in 發表于
The second main kind of blogs are, in effect, niche magazines that choose to publish in a blogformat.
另一類博客，實際上是以博客形式發布的非主流雜志。
In recent years, of course, the pressure on scientists to publish in the top journals hasincreased, making the journals that much more crucial to career success.
當然，近年來要求科技工作者在頂級期刊上發表論文的壓力越來越大，使得這些期刊在他們事業成功上所起的作用越來越關鍵。
3.live in 住在;存在于
My friends jenny and danny live in canada.
我的朋友詹妮和丹尼住在加拿大。
In what world do you live in?
你生活在一個什么樣的世界?
4.lead to 通向;導致
That can lead to serious consequences.
這會導致嚴重的后果。
All these ideologies lead to repression.
所有這些思想最終都導致鎮壓。
