考研英語時文賞讀（70）：人類如何才能戰(zhàn)勝HIV？

　　摘要：考研英語作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學了英語十幾年，卻仍經(jīng)常有總分過線掛在英語上的情況，因此英語復習不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會不定時推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　An estimated 37 million people worldwide are living with HIV, with just under 2 million of those people having recently contracted the virus. In the United States, around 1.1 million people live with HIV, but as many as 15% (or roughly 1 in 7) of those infected do not know they carry the virus. Some groups bare more of the burden of the HIV risk than others, especially racial minorities and men who have sex with other men.

　　全世界大概有3700萬人攜有HIV病毒，其中不到200萬人是最近新增的病毒感染者。在美國，HIV病毒攜帶者約110萬人，但是其中15%的感染者（大概七分之一的人）根本不知道自己攜有該病毒。有些群體的病毒感染率高于其他人，特別是那些少數(shù)族裔以及與同性存在性關系的男性。

　　HIV is considered rare in the US with less than 200,000 new infections per year. But for those living with HIV, treatment of the virus becomes a lifelong commitment to medication and maintenance because a reliable cure remains elusive. What makes HIV so hard to eradicate? And how close has science brought us to a cure?

　　美國的HIV病例發(fā)生率還算比較低，每年新出現(xiàn)的HIV感染者不到20萬。但是對于那些已經(jīng)患上HIV的病人來說，對付這種病毒的方法只有一輩子藥不離身，茍延殘喘，因為目前為止仍未出現(xiàn)可靠的根治方案。到底是什么讓HIV如此難根治？到底還要多久科學家才能發(fā)現(xiàn)勝利的曙光？

　　What Is HIV?

　　什么是HIV？

　　The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is a virus that targets the body’s immune system. Within a few weeks of contracting the virus, known as the acute infection stage, people typically experience what feels like a very bad case of the flu as the virus works hard to replicate itself throughout the body. Once this initial surge is over, HIV transitions into a clinical latency stage which means people carrying the virus can go for years without experiencing any symptoms at all.

　　人類免疫缺陷病毒，也就是我們常說的HIV，這種病毒能直接摧毀我們體內(nèi)的免疫系統(tǒng)。在感染該病毒的前幾個星期，即急性感染期，由于體內(nèi)的病毒處于瘋狂的自我復制階段，患者通常會表現(xiàn)出非常嚴重的流感癥狀。一旦這種伴隨著病毒數(shù)量激增的感染初期一過去，HIV就會進入臨床潛伏期，這也就意味著患者會一直攜帶著這種病毒，并且不會有任何癥狀出現(xiàn)。

　　If left untreated, however, HIV can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. This occurs once the immune system has become sufficiently damaged or has been weakened enough to allow the contraction of what are called opportunistic illnesses.

　　但是如果直接聽之任之，那么HIV就會發(fā)展成獲得性免疫缺陷綜合征，也就是艾滋病。一旦免疫系統(tǒng)受到了很大程度上的損壞，或是由于太過脆弱而讓機會性疾病趁虛而入，HIV就會變成艾滋病。

　　Why Is HIV So Hard to Cure?

　　為什么HIV如此難以根治？

　　The first cases of clinically-reported AIDS in the United States occurred in 1981 in Los Angeles. Since then, despite extensive study, we are still without a standard cure. HIV is particularly difficult to combat because it attacks the body’s immune system, the very system meant to fight off infections like HIV.

　　美國首例臨床診斷的艾滋病出現(xiàn)在1981年的洛杉磯。盡管關于艾滋病的深入研究一直在進行著，但是這些年來我們依舊沒有研究出一個標準的醫(yī)療方案。HIV之所以很難攻克，是因為它破壞的是人體的免疫系統(tǒng)，而免疫系統(tǒng)恰恰就是原本能抵抗像HIV一類的感染病毒的保護墻。

　　The virus first hijacks a protein called CD4 found on the cells of our immune system to replicate itself and then eventually kills those cells off. Among those under attack are T cells, the cells typically tasked with seeking out and destroying cells infected with viruses or cancers.

　　這種病毒一旦進入體內(nèi)，就會先通過免疫細胞里的蛋白質(zhì)CD4進行自我復制，然后再將這些細胞全部消滅。包括T細胞也會受到攻擊破壞，而人體T細胞本身承擔的責任就是找出并摧毀那些已經(jīng)感染上病毒或癌癥的變異細胞。

　　HIV is also be able to kill off immune system cells that it hasn’t even infected yet. The loss of those uninfected cells further leads to the decline in the immune system’s ability to do its job and thus the body’s ability to fight off future infections.

　　HIV病毒還會殺掉那些未曾感染的免疫細胞。而這些功能完整的細胞一旦消失，就會進一步導致免疫系統(tǒng)功能的崩潰，人體也就無法抵御后續(xù)的各種病毒感染。

　　As if all of that weren’t challenging enough, HIV is found to have an extremely high mutation rate in the first 10 days of infection, meaning researchers looking for a cure are chasing down a moving target.

　　HIV一入侵人體，似乎就能“勢如破竹”，科學家發(fā)現(xiàn)這種病毒的變異率在感染前10天極其地高，這就意味著科學家在研究治療方法的時候就仿佛在追趕一個移動的目標（研究變量太多）。

　　We’ve discussed before how challenging it is to come up each year with the vaccine to fend off the ever-adapting flu virus, and the rapidly mutating HIV is at least an order of magnitude worse.

　　我們之前討論過每年成功研究出對抗一直不斷適應環(huán)境的流感病毒的疫苗有多么困難，而對于這種不斷變異的HIV，更是難上加難。

　　The virus at work on the body has been likened to an arsonist setting fire to the local firehouse: there is no way to fight the blaze when the tools for that fight are the ones under attack.

　　這種病毒對人體的感染就好比縱火犯在地方小城鎮(zhèn)的消防站里放火：當陷入火海的恰恰就是你能滅火的工具，這場大火你根本無從滅起。

　　(全文共520個詞：科學美國人)

　　?幫幫提示：考研英語同源外刊美文賞讀匯總