​自考英语二（下）课文翻译之unit11

自考英语二（下）课文翻译之unit11

Unit ElevenSacrificed to Science ?是为科学牺牲吗?

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.布莱克默教授任职于牛津大学医学院， 正在对眼睛疾病进行研究他认为，用动物进行研究给人带来了很多好处。

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.

使用动物对于发展麻醉学、 疫苗以及糖尿病、 癌症、发育失调等疾病的治疗具有至关重要的作用。大部分重大的医学进展都是基于对动物的研究和开发。

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.

有些人认为用动物进行试验根本没有必要， 反对用动物进行痛苦实验国际协会是一个提倡使用替代的研究方法，使动物免受痛苦的组织、他们的发言人科林.史密斯说， 用动物进行研究与我们的健康无关。 它常常能产生令人误导的结果。人和动物对药物的反应不同， 身体作用的方式也不同， 我们只要看一下几起医疗错误便会明白情况就是这样。

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.

但是布莱克默教授却强调说， 如果把还没有在动物身上彻底实验过的药物用在人身上， 那是完全不负责任和不道德的。 萨立多胺就是一个著名的例子， 说明对动物进行的实验应该更多而不是更少。 这种药物造成的婴儿先天性缺损就是实验不够的结果。 如果萨立多胺是今天发明的， 它就决不会用在人身上， 因为对怀孕的动物的新试验将会发现这种危险。

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.

另一个组织，英文简称叫 FRAME，其全称的意思是替代动物药物实验基金会。该组织正在开展替代方法的研究， 这个组织承认有很多实验仍然不得不在动物身上进行，但它正致力于减少、改进和代替对动物的实验。1981 年时，这个组织确定了一个研究项目来改进非动物试验和扩大非动物试验的范围。新的技术使我们日益容易找到替代的试验方法。 可用计算机模型来模拟细胞的活动方式和预报化学药品的毒性。 可用从以前的动物实验获取的数据来建立一个计算机模型，这个模型能够预报如果将某一生物效果不明的化学药品添加到另一种物质上将会出现什么情况。计算机模拟的最终目的是减少用作实验对象的动物的数量。

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.

药剂致死剂量 50(LD50)试验也可以被代替。在最初的试验中，一个试验组里的全部动物都要给予某种物质， 直到其中一半死亡为止。 这一试验可以指示出物质毒性的大小。 另一种方法是使用固定量的有毒物质， 能够给出同样的最终信息，但使用较小的动物并且不需要它们死亡，这个方法可以代替LD50。现在已有很多别的新技术， 使更多的研究能在试管里进行， 以便发现化学药品是否产生有毒的生物效果。用于实验室试验的动物数量在过去20 年中已经减少。这部分地是由于采用了替代的方法，部分地是由于实验比以前设计得更好，所以需要的动物就少了。结果是更健康的动物提供了更好的实验效果。例如，以前做一次脊髓灰质炎需要36 只猴子，现在只需要 22 只。此外，资金缺乏也使得使用动物的数鼠减少了，因为购买和豢养这些动物都很费钱。

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.

伯明翰大学设有英国的第一个生物医德系。该系的大卫.莫顿教授正在进行动物研究，他热心于尽可能地减少动物的痛苦。被试验的动物一生中95%的时间是在笼子里度过的， 因此条件的改善也意味着使它们在不被用来试验时活得更好一些。这包括把它们豢养在更符合要求的笼子里，允许像狗这样的群居性动物能生活在一起，并且努力降低这些动物生活的单调枯燥程度。在莫顿教授的实验室望， 兔子一起生活在宽敞的兔舍甩， 里面放满了很厚的褥草和箱子以便它们能在甲而躲藏。 研究人员们还改进了他们的某些实验。 在美国，进行一次神经再生实验要在兔子腿上切掉一大段神经，结果就把它的腿弄瘫痪了。在莫顿的实验室里研究人员只在兔子脚上切下一小段神经。研究人员可以看到神经能否再生，老鼠是否还能在笼子里跑来跑去。

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这些新进展， 全部实验中也只有极小的一部分在某个阶段不再需要使用动物。 如果药物研究需要继续进行并且需要准确试验消费品商品的话，使用动物进行实验就不可能立即停止。布莱克默教授认为， 有时候人们没有替代的办法：

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，为了道德的和科学的两种理由， 我们不使用动物。 但是细胞生活在动物身上， 我们只有在动物体内才能看到它们怎样活动。我们不可能在试管里或用计算机模型模拟出身体对药物或疾病的全部复杂反应。例如当研究心脏病和它对身体的影响时，或者当研究大脑疾病时， 我们没有充分的代用品来代替动物。随着研究技术的日益先进， 用于实验的动物的数量可能会减少， 但距离彻底停止使用动物还很遥远。

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