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科学美国人60秒:浅肤色变异出现在独立于欧洲的亚洲

时间:2019-11-04 11:52:00 来源:可可英语编辑:aimee 可可英语APP下载 | 可可官方微信:ikekenet

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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

In Latin America, Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans have intermixed for centuries.
数个世纪以来，美洲原住民、非洲人和欧洲人在拉丁美洲混合居住。

So, a few years back, researchers sought to learn more about the ancestry of more than 7,300 people from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
因此，几年前，研究人设法进一步了解来自巴西、智利、哥伦比亚、墨西哥和秘鲁的7300多人的血统。

The volunteers provided DNA samples. And they also answered the question: what do you think your background is?
志愿者提供了DNA样本。他们也回答了这个问题：你认为自己的血统背景是什么样的？

Turns out that what they thought—that is, their predicted ancestry—
结果表明，他们的想法——也就是他们预想的血统——

told a different story than their genes did—with skin color a key factor.
与其基因得出的结果并不一致——这里以肤色为关键因素。

"Their predicted ancestry is actually very well correlated with their skin color,
“他们预想的血统实际上与其肤色密切相关，

but poorly correlated with their actual genetic ancestry.
但与他们真正的遗传血统相差甚远。

So that showed us people are actually trying to predict their whole ancestry by just looking at their skin color,
因此，这表明人们实际上是仅看肤色来预测自己的整个血统，

which is a pretty crude thing to do, but that's how the attitude is in Latin America."
这是非常鲁莽的做法，但这就是拉丁美洲人的态度。”

Kaustubh Adhikari, who studies human genetics at University College London.
在伦敦大学学院研究人类基因的考斯塔布·阿德希卡里说到。

In particular, lighter-skinned volunteers tended to overestimate their European ancestry
特别是，肤色较浅的志愿者往往会高估自己的欧洲血统，

whereas darker-skinned subjects overestimated their Native American or African backgrounds.
而肤色较深的志愿者则会高估自己的美洲原住民或非洲背景。

Now a new study by Adhikari and his colleagues offers a reason for the mismatch.
现在，阿德希卡里及其同事进行的一项新研究提出了这种错配的原因。

The skin color data and the DNA sequences led the researchers to identify a genetic variant for lighter skin that arose in Asia 20- to 30-thousand years ago.
依据肤色数据和DNA序列，研究人员找到了一种导致较浅肤色的基因变体，这种变体在2万到3万年前出现。

That event appears to be independent of the evolution of lighter skin in Europe.
这一事件似乎与欧洲较浅肤色的进化无关。

What's it all mean? Well, light skin color in Latin Americans could still reflect European ancestry.
这是什么意思？拉丁美洲的浅肤色仍能反映出欧洲血统。

But it could also indicate Native American ancestry—
但其同时也能代表美洲原住民血统——

by way of the original Asian immigrants carrying the trait
携带这种特征的最初亚洲移民，

who crossed the temporary Beringia land bridge into what's now Alaska and became the first Americans.
跨过临时的白令陆桥，进入现在的阿拉斯加，成为第一代美洲人。

The researchers were also able to show
研究人员还能证明，

that this gene variant for lighter skin pigmentation is more prevalent in parts of Asia that do not get much sunlight—
这种较浅肤色的基因变异，在日照较少的亚洲地区更为普遍，

indicating a possible way this genetic variant could have been selected for.
这表明这种基因变异原本是被选择的可能方式。

The new study is in the journal Nature Communications.
这项新研究发表在《自然通讯》期刊上。

Adhikari says the findings could help modify Latin Americans' social views.
阿德希卡里说，这项研究有助于修改拉丁美洲人的社会观点。

"We know for example there's a big socioeconomic stratification in Latin America,
“比如，我们知道拉丁美洲存在巨大的社会经济阶层，

and that correlates, because of the history of colonization, to people's European ancestry.
基于殖民历史，这一分层与人们的欧洲血统相关。

And a proxy of European ancestry is often taken to be light skin color.
而且欧洲血统的代表通常被认为是浅肤色。

So what we are trying to show is that such a blind attitude to social aspects is also wrong genetically,
因此我们正在试图说明的是，对社会方面的这种盲目态度从基因角度来说也是错误的，

that there's also big variation of skin color from the native side that such kinds of simplistic attitudes would be ignoring."
原住民在肤色方面发生了巨大的变异，这种简单的观点往往会忽略这一点。”

A reminder that ancestry, like so much else, is more than skin deep.
这提醒我们，血统和其他很多事一样，并不是那么肤浅。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

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重点讲解：
1. correlate with 相互关联；极为相似；
Obesity correlates with increased risk for hypertension and stroke.
肥胖会增加高血压和中风发作的几率0LyKrb;h|^3。
2. in particular 尤其；特别；
The situation in Ethiopia in particular is worrying.
埃塞俄比亚的局势尤其令人担忧*jP(tou=r,。
3. be independent of 相互独立的；彼此不关联的；
Your questions should be independent of each other.
你的问题应该彼此无关2B3umtpwC[%4h|2z_*C。
4. by way of 采用…方法；通过；
I teach psychology by way of a range of traditional lectures, practicals and tutorials.
我采用传统授课与实践和指导相结合的方式教授心理学UVLJ5)+.h]^jt(NPi_2V。

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重点单词		查看全部解释
traditional	[trə'diʃənəl]	想一想再看 adj. 传统的
variation	[.vɛəri'eiʃən]	想一想再看 n. 变化，变动，变种，变奏曲
identify	[ai'dentifai]	想一想再看 vt. 识别，认明，鉴定 vi. 认同，感同身
social	['səuʃəl]	想一想再看 adj. 社会的，社交的 n. 社交聚会
hypertension	[.haipə'tenʃən]	想一想再看 n. 高血压，过度紧张	联想记忆 X 单词hypertension 联想记忆： hyper超过，太多+tension紧张→过度紧张；高血压
genetically	[dʒe'netikəli]	想一想再看 adv. 遗传(基因)方面
overestimate	[.əuvə'esti.meit]	想一想再看 vt. 过高评价，过高出价 n. 估计过高，评
independent	[indi'pendənt]	想一想再看 adj. 独立的，自主的，有主见的 n. 独立	联想记忆 X 单词independent 联想记忆： in不+(de加强+pend=hang悬挂+able→可靠的)→独立的
factor	['fæktə]	想一想再看 n. 因素，因子 vt. 把 ... 因素包括	联想记忆 X 单词factor 联想记忆： fact做，制作+or→促使人做的东西→要素；动力
indicate	['indikeit]	想一想再看 v. 显示，象征，指示 v. 指明，表明	联想记忆 X 单词indicate 联想记忆： in进入+dicate→说进去→指示，指明；表示