外刊阅读冲刺练习：外因遗传与压力新生儿蓝调曲.doc

在线学英语 体验请申请： HYPERLINK /ielts/xd.html /ielts/xd.html 洛基英语，中国在线英语教育领导品牌 Science and Technology Epigenetics and stress Baby blues 　　科技 外因遗传与压力 新生儿蓝调曲 　　A mothers stress while she is pregnant can have a long-lasting effect on her childrens genes 　　母亲孕期压力过大会对孩子的基因造成长期影响 　　RESEARCHERS have known for years that children whose mothers were chronically stressed during pregnancy—by famine, anxiety, the death of a relative or marital discord, for instance—show higher-than-normal rates of various psychological and behavioural disorders when they are adults. 　　研究人员多年前就发现，如果母亲在怀孕期间长期遭受因饥饿，焦虑，亲友死亡或婚姻不幸等引起的过大压力，她们的孩子成年后出现各种心理疾病和行为问题的几率会高于平均几率。 　　They have also known for a long time that those brought up in abusive environments often turn out to be abusive themselves. 　　研究人员也早知道，在受虐环境下成长起来的孩子长大后往往本身也有施虐倾向。 　　The second of these observations is usually put down to learning.The reason for the first has remained unclear. 　　人们通常把后面的这个发现归咎于盲目效仿，而头一个发现的原因却仍旧模糊不清。 　　A study just published by Axel Meyer, Thomas Elbert and their colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany, however, points to a phenomenon called epigenetics as the likely answer. 　　然而，德国康士坦茨大学的Axel Meyer, Thomas Elbert以及他们的同侪们最近发表的研究报告指出，一种被称为外因遗传的现象很有可能就是这个问题的答案。 　　And if Drs Meyer and Elbert are right, it also suggests an alternative explanation for the inheritance of abusiveness. 　　如果Meyer和Elbert博士的结论是正确的，那它也为施虐遗传现象做出了另一个解释。 　　Epigenetics is a type of gene regulation that can be passed from a cell to its daughters. The most common mechanism is methylation. 　　外因遗传是一种可以传给下一代细胞的基因调控过程， 　　This attaches methyl groups (a carbon atom and three hydrogens) to either adenine or cytosine, 　　最常见的方式是通过甲基化作用来完成，该作用可以让甲基(由一个碳原子和三个氢原子组成)附着于腺嘌呤或胞嘧啶上。 　　two of the four chemical bases that form the alphabet of DNA, depending on the gene involved. 　　腺嘌呤和胞嘧啶是DNA四大成分其中之二，而到底附着于哪一个则取决于具体的基因。 　　The consequence is to inactivate the gene being methylated. 　　甲基化作用将使甲基化的基因失去活性。 　　In the case of stress, previous studies have suggested that