Happy Birthday,Double Helix
Flash of Insight Ignited Biological Revolution
生日快樂，雙螺旋─引發(fā)生物學(xué)革命的頓悟
★flash of insight, “突然領(lǐng)悟”. 又，a sudden flash of inspiration/wit, 靈感/機(jī)智的閃現(xiàn)。 Ignite, 點(diǎn)燃，引發(fā)，這里是比喻用法。
Fifty years ago this month, on a foggy Saturday morning in Cambridge, England, a 24-year-old beanpole of an American scientist （Watson） sat down with a few white cardboard cutouts and set off a revolution in biology.
五十年前的二月，在英國(guó)劍橋大學(xué)星期六一個(gè)霧蒙蒙的早晨，一位24歲清瘦高挑的美國(guó)科學(xué)家坐在一堆裁剪出的紙板塊旁，他由此引發(fā)了一場(chǎng)生物學(xué)領(lǐng)域的革命。
★beanpole, “非常高且瘦的人”。這里的of 表示同位關(guān)系，即前后是同一個(gè)人。Set off, “引起,導(dǎo)致”,同前面的ignite意思相近，如：The court's initial verdict in the police officers' trial set off serious riots. 法庭對(duì)這名警官的初審判決引起了嚴(yán)重的*。
The DNA molecule is a double helix, resembling a ladder that's been twisted along its length. Each "rung" is made up of two bases, paired according to the rule that jumped out at Watson from his desktop. These bases provide the genetic code; just as a four-letter alphabet could spell out words, the sequence of the four kinds of bases along the length of the DNA molecule spells out the information stored in genes.
DNA（脫氧核糖核酸）的分子是一種雙螺旋結(jié)構(gòu)，酷似一架沿縱向扭曲的梯子。每個(gè)“橫檔”由兩個(gè)堿基組成，它們搭配的原則是華生在書桌旁突然想到的。這些堿基的組合便構(gòu)成了基因代碼。正如一個(gè)四個(gè)字母組成的字母表可以拼寫出單詞一樣，這些沿DNA分子伸展方向由四種不同堿基排成的序列清楚地表達(dá)了基因所貯存的遺傳信息。
★along its length, “沿著它延伸的方向”。 Jump out at Watson, 擬人的說法，可以翻譯為“突然想出”。Spell out, “to make perfectly clear and understandable,使十分清楚明白”：The government has so far refused to spell out its policies.政府到目前為止拒絕解釋其政策。
The finding unleashed a torrent of research into DNA that's still going on, both to understand how it works and to put it to use. Many of today's scientific headlines — the deciphering of the DNA of humans and other species, the transplanting of genes into animals and crops to change their traits, the use of gene therapy to treat disease, the DNA evidence that exonerates people imprisoned unjustly — ultimately came from the double helix discovery.
這一發(fā)現(xiàn)導(dǎo)致了大量有關(guān)DNA的、目前仍在進(jìn)行的研究， 這些研究致力于理解DNA的活動(dòng)機(jī)理以及如何應(yīng)用對(duì)它的認(rèn)識(shí)。許多今日科學(xué)界的熱門話題，諸如人類和其他物種的DNA密碼*，將基因移植到動(dòng)物或植物體內(nèi)以改變其生物特征，應(yīng)用基因療法治療疾病以及依靠DNA證據(jù)使被錯(cuò)誤監(jiān)禁的人恢復(fù)清白，都最終源自雙螺旋分子結(jié)構(gòu)的發(fā)現(xiàn)。
★unleash, “釋放，發(fā)動(dòng)”，和前面的ignite, set off意思接近。Decipher, “解讀，破譯”，其近義詞有decode, break, crack, cryptanalyze, decrypt等，它的反義詞是cipher, “將…寫成密碼”。 Exonerate, “免除（對(duì)某人的）責(zé)備，決定（某人）無罪”：The report on the accident exonerates the company from any responsibility. 這次事故的報(bào)告確定該公司無須負(fù)任何責(zé)任。
The DNA story is far from over. Scientists are still working out the details of how DNA is replicated so quickly and accurately — an astonishing feat, since each human cell contains billions of base pairs lined up along nearly six feet of DNA, all packed into a nucleus only one-twentieth the width of a human hair.
DNA的故事遠(yuǎn)未結(jié)束。科學(xué)家們還在努力查明DNA快速精確復(fù)制的奧秘。DNA的復(fù)制是一項(xiàng)驚人的活動(dòng)，之所以這么說，是因?yàn)槊總€(gè)人體細(xì)胞內(nèi)有數(shù)十億的堿基對(duì)排列在近六英尺長(zhǎng)的DNA分子上，而所有這些物質(zhì)都緊密分布在只有人類頭發(fā)二十分之一寬度的細(xì)胞核中。
★feat, “業(yè)績(jī)，功績(jī)”：a remarkable feat of engineering, 一項(xiàng)了不起的工程業(yè)績(jī)。 Line up, “排列，派布”，還表示“組織，準(zhǔn)備好”，如：We've lined up Pavarotti for the main role in the opera. 我們邀請(qǐng)了帕瓦羅蒂在歌劇中擔(dān)任主角。 又lineup, 陣容，陣形： a candidate with an impressive lineup of endorsements，一位具有大量支持者的候選人。
Flash of Insight Ignited Biological Revolution
生日快樂，雙螺旋─引發(fā)生物學(xué)革命的頓悟
★flash of insight, “突然領(lǐng)悟”. 又，a sudden flash of inspiration/wit, 靈感/機(jī)智的閃現(xiàn)。 Ignite, 點(diǎn)燃，引發(fā)，這里是比喻用法。
Fifty years ago this month, on a foggy Saturday morning in Cambridge, England, a 24-year-old beanpole of an American scientist （Watson） sat down with a few white cardboard cutouts and set off a revolution in biology.
五十年前的二月，在英國(guó)劍橋大學(xué)星期六一個(gè)霧蒙蒙的早晨，一位24歲清瘦高挑的美國(guó)科學(xué)家坐在一堆裁剪出的紙板塊旁，他由此引發(fā)了一場(chǎng)生物學(xué)領(lǐng)域的革命。
★beanpole, “非常高且瘦的人”。這里的of 表示同位關(guān)系，即前后是同一個(gè)人。Set off, “引起,導(dǎo)致”,同前面的ignite意思相近，如：The court's initial verdict in the police officers' trial set off serious riots. 法庭對(duì)這名警官的初審判決引起了嚴(yán)重的*。
The DNA molecule is a double helix, resembling a ladder that's been twisted along its length. Each "rung" is made up of two bases, paired according to the rule that jumped out at Watson from his desktop. These bases provide the genetic code; just as a four-letter alphabet could spell out words, the sequence of the four kinds of bases along the length of the DNA molecule spells out the information stored in genes.
DNA（脫氧核糖核酸）的分子是一種雙螺旋結(jié)構(gòu)，酷似一架沿縱向扭曲的梯子。每個(gè)“橫檔”由兩個(gè)堿基組成，它們搭配的原則是華生在書桌旁突然想到的。這些堿基的組合便構(gòu)成了基因代碼。正如一個(gè)四個(gè)字母組成的字母表可以拼寫出單詞一樣，這些沿DNA分子伸展方向由四種不同堿基排成的序列清楚地表達(dá)了基因所貯存的遺傳信息。
★along its length, “沿著它延伸的方向”。 Jump out at Watson, 擬人的說法，可以翻譯為“突然想出”。Spell out, “to make perfectly clear and understandable,使十分清楚明白”：The government has so far refused to spell out its policies.政府到目前為止拒絕解釋其政策。
The finding unleashed a torrent of research into DNA that's still going on, both to understand how it works and to put it to use. Many of today's scientific headlines — the deciphering of the DNA of humans and other species, the transplanting of genes into animals and crops to change their traits, the use of gene therapy to treat disease, the DNA evidence that exonerates people imprisoned unjustly — ultimately came from the double helix discovery.
這一發(fā)現(xiàn)導(dǎo)致了大量有關(guān)DNA的、目前仍在進(jìn)行的研究， 這些研究致力于理解DNA的活動(dòng)機(jī)理以及如何應(yīng)用對(duì)它的認(rèn)識(shí)。許多今日科學(xué)界的熱門話題，諸如人類和其他物種的DNA密碼*，將基因移植到動(dòng)物或植物體內(nèi)以改變其生物特征，應(yīng)用基因療法治療疾病以及依靠DNA證據(jù)使被錯(cuò)誤監(jiān)禁的人恢復(fù)清白，都最終源自雙螺旋分子結(jié)構(gòu)的發(fā)現(xiàn)。
★unleash, “釋放，發(fā)動(dòng)”，和前面的ignite, set off意思接近。Decipher, “解讀，破譯”，其近義詞有decode, break, crack, cryptanalyze, decrypt等，它的反義詞是cipher, “將…寫成密碼”。 Exonerate, “免除（對(duì)某人的）責(zé)備，決定（某人）無罪”：The report on the accident exonerates the company from any responsibility. 這次事故的報(bào)告確定該公司無須負(fù)任何責(zé)任。
The DNA story is far from over. Scientists are still working out the details of how DNA is replicated so quickly and accurately — an astonishing feat, since each human cell contains billions of base pairs lined up along nearly six feet of DNA, all packed into a nucleus only one-twentieth the width of a human hair.
DNA的故事遠(yuǎn)未結(jié)束。科學(xué)家們還在努力查明DNA快速精確復(fù)制的奧秘。DNA的復(fù)制是一項(xiàng)驚人的活動(dòng)，之所以這么說，是因?yàn)槊總€(gè)人體細(xì)胞內(nèi)有數(shù)十億的堿基對(duì)排列在近六英尺長(zhǎng)的DNA分子上，而所有這些物質(zhì)都緊密分布在只有人類頭發(fā)二十分之一寬度的細(xì)胞核中。
★feat, “業(yè)績(jī)，功績(jī)”：a remarkable feat of engineering, 一項(xiàng)了不起的工程業(yè)績(jī)。 Line up, “排列，派布”，還表示“組織，準(zhǔn)備好”，如：We've lined up Pavarotti for the main role in the opera. 我們邀請(qǐng)了帕瓦羅蒂在歌劇中擔(dān)任主角。 又lineup, 陣容，陣形： a candidate with an impressive lineup of endorsements，一位具有大量支持者的候選人。