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Listen to a conversation between a student and his biology professor.
听一段学生和他的生物老师的对话。
Student: Professor Landrea.
学生：你好，Landrea教授。
Professor: Hi, Dennis.
教授：你好，Dennis。
You are right on time.
你很准时。
Come on in and have a seat.
进来坐下吧。
Student: Great! Thanks.
学生：太好了！谢谢。
Professor: So like I told you in class, I just wanted to take a few minutes to meet with everyone to make sure your class presentations for next week are all in order and coming along well.
教授：就像我在课上说的，我想花几分钟时间和每个人谈谈，确定你们下周的报告进展顺利并有逻辑性。
And as you know, you are supposed to report on some area of recent research in genetics, something...you know...original.
你知道，你应该报告一些最近遗传学领域的研究，一些新颖的发现。
Student: Well, I think I found just the thing!
学生：我想我已经找到了！
It actually occurred to me a couple nights ago while I was eating dinner in the cafeteria.
事实上是在几天之前，当我在咖啡店吃晚餐时突发奇想。
Tell me professor, do you like broccoli?
告诉我教授，你喜欢吃西兰花吗？
Professor: Broccoli? You mean the vegetable broccoli?
教授：西兰花？你是说蔬菜西兰花？
Student: Yeah.
学生：是的。
Professor: Well, I guess not really.
教授：我想我不爱吃。
Student: Me neither.
学生：我也不喜欢。
I have never liked it or most other vegetables for that matter... brussels sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower...you name it.
我从来不喜欢它或许多其他蔬菜，抱子甘蓝，芦笋，菜花……凡是你想得到的。
They just taste bitter and...well...nasty to me.
它们尝起来很苦而且对我来说很恶心。
My mother always called me a picky eater.
我母亲总说我挑食。
Professor: OK...And?
教授：好的，然后呢？
Student: And so I got to wondering, I mean, I am obviously not the only person like this.
学生：所以我开始好奇，我的意思是我显然不是唯一有这种想法的人。
So is this just because of some...like trauma from our childhoods?
所以这只是因为我们童年的精神创伤？
Some bad experience we've had with some vegetables?
对于这些蔬菜，我们有过不好的经历？
Or could there be some genetic explanation for why some people are picky eaters and others aren't?
或者是不是存在基因上的解释，为什么一些人挑食，一些人不挑食？
Professor: OK. I see.
教授：好的，我明白了。
Well, I suppose it's a possibility.
我想有这个可能。
Student: Actually, it turns out it's more than a possibility.
学生：事实上，它不只是可能。
I started doing some research in the library that night and I found out that a biologist at the National Institutes of Health has been looking at that very question recently.
那天晚上我开始在图书馆搞研究，我发现国家卫生研究院的一名生物学家最近也在研究这个问题。
Professor: Well, I guess that's not too surprising.
教授：我猜这不足为奇。
And this is great stuff actually.
这其实是很好的研究。
So what's the verdict?
那么结论是什么？
Student: Well, this guy seems to have discovered a particular gene that actually makes it possible for people to taste the bitterness in certain green vegetables.
学生：这个人似乎发现了一个在某种绿色蔬菜中使人尝到苦味的特殊基因。
But people who have a mutation in that gene cannot taste the bitterness.
但是受到基因突变的人无法尝到这种苦味。
