科学美国人60秒 SSS 2014-10-22
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：2014年Scientific American(十)月
英语课
These days, antibiotics 1 are no silver bullet. In fact, if you get them in the hospital, you may end up with an additional infection. Like the bug 2 Clostridium difficile, or C. diff—which infects more than 300,000 Americans a year and kills some 14,000. C. diff flourishes in the post-antibiotic, microbe-free landscape of your gut 3. But there is a way to stop it—a fecal transplant. That cocktail 4 of microbes from a healthy person's gut can rein 5 in a C. diff outbreak. The question is not: Eewww? It’s: What are the transplant's active ingredients?
Well, one of them appears to be a bacterium 6 called Clostridium scindens. Because in past studies, people and mice that harbored C. scindens were protected against a full-blown C. diff infection. So researchers dosed mice with the good guy, C. scindens, after a bout 7 of antibiotics. And the treatment did indeed ward 8 off C. diff, compared to a cocktail of other microbes, or nothing at all.
C. scindens makes a living by breaking down bile, the researchers say, and it's those secondary products that seem to inhibit 9 C. diff. The findings are in the journal Nature.
This work could lead to more targeted probiotic treatments. But study author Eric Pamer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center says it's worth remembering that when it comes to microbes, the sum is often greater than its parts. "In some ways I would say this is far more complex than an orchestra, in that there are many more interdependencies, and many of which we just don't understand yet, but that are starting to be illuminated 10 by ongoing 11 work." Now, at least, we know one of the featured performers.
1 antibiotics
n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )
- the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
- The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。
2 bug
n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器
- There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
- The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。
3 gut
n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏
- It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
- My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。
4 cocktail
n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物
- We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
- At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。
5 rein
n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治
- The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
- He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。
6 bacterium
n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌
- The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
- A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。
7 bout
n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛
- I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
- That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。
8 ward
n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开
- The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
- During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。
9 inhibit
vt.阻止，妨碍，抑制
- Don't let ego and greed inhibit clear thinking and hard work.不要让自我和贪婪妨碍清晰的思维和刻苦的工作。
- They passed a law to inhibit people from parking in the street.他们通过一项法令以阻止人们在街上停车。
10 illuminated
adj.被照明的；受启迪的
- Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
- the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市