Another Thoreau Lesson 梭羅的另一課

Robert Lee Hotz/The Wall Street Journal
June 13, 2008; Page A10
英翻中: Me
Posted: Oct. 6, 2008
===============

CONCORD, Mass. -- Following in the footsteps of Thoreau, Richard Primack stalked the wildflowers of Walden Pond, seeking in the first blooms of spring the signature of a changing climate.
Taking inventory while he walked, the Boston University biologist recorded in his water-stained field journal the appearance of pink mayflowers and lavender azaleas that brightened the pond-bank path. He plucked a sprig of wild greenbrier and ate it. Then he strode off the path through a shaded stand of pitch pine and oak, in pursuit of the yellow-eyed grass, golden ragwort and dwarf dogwood still on his checklist of first flowers.

麻州，康可 (Concord)—理查．普利馬克（Richard Primack) 追隨著梭羅 (Henry David Thoreau) 的腳步，一步一步的跟蹤著華登湖 (Walden Pond) 畔的野花，找尋各種花在春天的初現﹣那是氣候改變的象徵。粉紅色的山楂和淡紫色的杜鵑明媚了湖畔的景色；這位波士頓大學 (Boston University) 的生物學家一面走一面把所觀察到的仔細的登錄在他水漬斑斑的野外日誌上。他順手摘下一片野生的綠薔薇放入口裡吃，離開小徑，穿越一片蔭幽的多脂松樹與橡樹，去尋找黃眼草，金色的劉寄奴，和侏儒種的山茱庾﹣這些都是初春最早開花的種類，都是他計劃要一一拜訪的。

At the end of this day in late May, Dr. Primack added these notes to a unique archive he has assembled of botanical and wildlife observations that so far encompass 155 years of seasonal changes in Concord, Mass. In an effort to trace the influence of global warming, he has added his own records of the first spring blooms of common plant species around Walden Pond since 2004 to flowering times that date back to 1852.

在五月的這一天結束時， 普利馬克博士把當日所見記入他那本獨特的檔案簿裡。在這個檔案裡，他收集了麻州康可過去 155 年來在換季時節，野生動植物的觀察記錄。他從 2004 年開始記錄華登湖常見的植物在早春開花的時間。希望藉由比較自 1852 年以來春季開花的時間，能夠對全球暖化的影嚮有進一步的瞭解。

The archive is based on the voluminous notes about 700 plant species at Walden kept by 19th-century naturalist Henry David Thoreau, who made this dark azure kettle-hole pond famous through his books and essays. Thoreau died, however, before he could publish his detailed observations of local wildflowers and wildfowl.

這個檔案起始於十九世紀的博物學家梭羅。他仔細的觀察華登湖附近大約 700 種植物並留下大量的記錄。他所寫的書和許多散文使得這個蔚藍的湖聞名世界。可惜他未能在死前將他對當地野花和野禽的觀察公諸於世。

In his own way, Thoreau was an instinctive climatologist. Subtle changes in animal and plant behavior documented today in the microcosm of Walden Pond, Dr. Primack and his colleagues believe, offer a preview of seasonal shifts expected in warming urban areas across North America in the century to come.

以某個角度看來，梭羅也是氣象學家。據推測在下個世紀，橫貫北美洲，逐漸暖化的都市區將有季節上的變遷。 普利馬克等人相信目前在華登湖這個具體而微的小世界裡所觀察到的各種動植物行為上微妙的變化可以讓我們預窺那些變遷。

These changes are revealed in the earlier blooming of the wild geranium, the Pink Lady's Slipper and black cherry, among others. All told, Dr. Primack and his colleagues are monitoring the behavior of 43 plant species and 22 bird species first singled out by Thoreau. "It is the spring species that are most sensitive to climate change," he said.

野生的天竺葵，貴婦的紅拖鞋，和黑櫻的提早開花是這些變遷其中幾個例子。普利馬克等人密切的觀察梭羅當初所特別列出的 43 種植物和 22 種鳥類。他說：「春天出現的動植物對氣候變遷特別敏感。」

New England weather records suggest that the average temperature of a Concord spring has increased by approximately 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit since Thoreau's day, due to global climate change and urbanization. In response, spring flowers in Concord today are blooming on average seven days earlier than in the 1850s.

美國新英格蘭區（New England）的氣候記錄顯示，由於全球性的暖化和都市化，從梭羅的時代至今，平均氣溫已增高了華氏 4.5 度 （譯者註：約攝氏 2.5 度）。因此，現在康可的花比 1850 年代平均早了七天開花。

Yet in any one year, seasonal variations mask longer-term trends. In the spring of 2007, Concord was unusually warm; this spring it was unusually cool. In 2006, the golden ragwort first bloomed on May 26, Dr. Primack observed; this year it flowered three days earlier. "For reasons we don't understand, black cherries this year are late," he said.

但是年年的季節都不完全一樣，這些差異讓我們很難看出長期的趨勢。2007 年康可的春天出奇的暖和；今春卻出奇的涼爽。據普利馬克的觀察，金色的劉寄奴（ golden ragwort ）在2006年開花於五月26日；今年比它早了三天。他說：「不知什麼原因，今年的黑櫻花開倒是遲了。」

As diplomats and regulators debate the economics of limiting greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, many researchers have been assessing how plants and animals adapted to the 20th century's rising global average temperatures.

外交家與政府當局立法家還在辯論是否該限制造成全球暖化的溫室氣體，還在辯論其優缺點。科學家卻早已動手評估各種動植物如何適應 20 世紀全球的暖化。

For the first time last month, an international team led by NASA researchers formally linked physical and biological differences on a continental scale to human-induced climate change. In research published in Nature, the scientists pulled together findings about changes since 1970 in the behavior of 28,800 plant and animal species. "The warming world is causing impacts on physical and biological systems attributable on a global scale," reported lead researcher Cynthia Rosenzweig at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University.

以美國國家太空總署 （ NASA ）為首，成員包括各國科學家的一個團隊，於上個月首次將整個大陸生物行為和實質上的改變正式的歸疚於因人類的所作所為而產生的氣候之變化。他們在 “自然“ （Nature“) 上發表的論文中，詳列了自 1970 年來，28,800 種動植物行為上的改變。研究團隊的首席，太空總署的加德太空研究所 （ Goddard Institute for Space Studies）的 Cynthia Rosenzweig 在哥倫比亞大學 （ Columbia University）宣稱：「世界性的暖化對全球的生物造成實質上的衝擊。」

In England, plants now flower up to a month earlier than 50 years ago. Across Europe, leaves emerge an average of six days earlier than they did 30 years ago, records show.

在英格蘭，植物比 50 年前早了一個月開花。證據顯示，全歐洲皆然，樹葉比 30 年前平均早了六天萌芽。

Even so, studies based on a few decades of observations are too short to capture the cause and effect of climate change. Seeking the long view, Dr. Primack and his colleagues thought of Concord, easily the most intensively studied habitat in North America, thanks to Thoreau and the legions of amateur naturalists he inspired.

但是幾十年蒐集的證據實不足以捕捉氣候變遷的因果關係。 普利馬克團隊因此想到了康可。多虧梭羅和受他鼓舞的許多業餘博物學家，康可毫無疑問是北美洲被研究的最透徹的自然棲息地。

Long-term written records suitable for climate studies are rare in North America, but in Concord, botanists had completely catalogued the plants around Walden several times in the past century. The challenge was to find modern bird records that could be linked reliably to those kept by Thoreau.

在北美洲很難找到長期的記錄來研究氣候的變遷。但是過去這百年來，植物學家已經把華登湖附近的所有植物一遍又一遍，完完整整的科學歸類了。問題在能不能把現在的鳥類記錄連上梭羅的記錄。

Word of mouth in Concord eventually led them to Rosie Corey, a reticent, 77-year-old former grade-school teacher. She has kept unusually accurate records of local wildfowl behavior for 58 years. Elated by their find, they adopted her birding journals as a baseline for the timing of bird migrations during the past half-century.

他們在康可到處打聽，找到了 Rosie Corey 女士。她沉默寡言，芳齡77歲，原是小學老師，今已退休。過去 58 年來，她不孜不倦的記錄當地的野禽的行為；她的記錄出奇的正確。整個團隊驚喜慶幸，並採用她的觀鳥日誌做基準﹣﹣過去半個世紀候鳥遷徙的時間從此有了基準。

Seated at her dining room table, Ms. Corey opened one volume for a visitor. "It is a very dull account of my daily life, that I did laundry or that someone called me up or that I went downtown shopping -- or that I went walking and what I saw," she said. "If you have a sense of history and a sense of order, you like to keep a list."

Corey 女士坐在飯桌前，翻開一本記錄簿給訪客看。她說：「只是平鋪直述我不足為奇的日常生活，洗了衣服，有客來訪，去城裡買東西等等﹣或是出去散步看到些什麼。如果你喜歡歷史，喜歡生活中有點規律，你總會把這些事寫下來。」

She had written each entry in small letters, so that her day could fit on one page of her birder's book of hours. She supplemented entries with formal lists of bird sightings. The result aptly documented a New England life defined by borders and boundaries. As poet Robert Frost once ruminated, good fences make good neighbors. She turned down most invitations for company on her bird-walks, she said. She'd rather hike alone. "A flaw in my character, I suppose," she said.

為了要保持一天一頁的觀鳥記錄，她用小小的字體寫下她的觀察，並且每一次看到鳥的時間都正式列表而讓她的觀鳥記錄更為完整。結果呢，新英格蘭的生活由此有了恰當的定界。詩人佛洛斯特 （Robert Frost）深刻的反省說，不多管閒事的是好鄰居。有人要陪她散步觀鳥時，她總是婉拒；她寧可獨來獨往。她說：「大概是我性格上的缺陷吧。」

Outside her window, an indigo bunting was singing. An entry from Thoreau's journal came to mind: "I come home to my solitary woodland walk as the homesick go home," he wrote in January 1857. "I thus dispose of the superfluous and see things as they are, grand and beautiful."

窗外一隻靛青鳥唱著歌。我不禁想起梭羅日誌上，在1857 年一月的某天所寫的一句話：「就像思鄉的人歸鄉一般，我回到我孤獨自處的林中散步。我就此屏棄了膚淺的表象而看到了美麗壯觀的自然。」

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How Did Life on Earth Get Started? 地球上的生命是如何開始的呢？

By Brian Vastag
Posted July 24, 2008
US News and World Report Tuesday, August 12, 2008

翻譯：Me; Sep. 16/2008

On an arid outcropping of basalt in northwestern Australia, some of the oldest rocks on Earth lie exposed to the fierce sun. Formed at the bottom of an ancient ocean, this volcanic material shelters what one scientist calls the "oldest robust evidence" of life. At a scientific meeting at Rockefeller University in May, Roger Buick of the University of Washington said that the 3.5 billion-year-old rocks hold traces of carbon that once made up living organisms.

澳洲西北部，一脈玄武岩礦裸露在嚴厲的日晒下；這是地球上最老的岩石之一。它是遠古時海底火山爆發所形成的。一位科學家說它覆蓋著生命最古老及可靠的證據。今年五月在洛克菲洛大學 (Rockefeller University) 舉行的科學會議裡，華勝頓大學 (University of Washington) 的 Roger Buick 說，那片35 億年老的岩石中所含微量的碳曾是遠古生物的一部份。

Even before Buick's discovery, ample evidence indicated that life on Earth began while our 4.5 billion-year-old planet was very young. Simple organisms certainly flourished between 2 billion and 3 billion years ago, and claims of older evidence of life have periodically surfaced. But none have been universally embraced, and Buick's claim is so new that other scientists haven't fully reviewed it.

甚至在 Buick 發現這一點以前，就有充份的證據顯示生命起源時，地球還很年輕。地球如今年屆 45 億年。科學家肯定，二，三十億年前簡單的生命已經很興旺。不時還有人宣稱有更老的證據，但沒有一個被普遍的接受。Buick 的論點仍然太新，科學界尚未對它有詳細的評論。

Yet even if the geologist is right about his rocks, his discovery would leave unanswered one of life's biggest mysteries: how life actually arose. While creationists attribute that spark of life to the hand of God, scientists are convinced there's a natural explanation. Yet as close as they've come to pinning it down, some admit the particulars may never be fully resolved. Others are convinced that we're edging closer to an answer and to settling one of the oldest and most contentious questions in science and religion.

就算地質學家肯定了這片岩脈，Buick 的發現仍然無法解釋生命最大的謎題：生命到底是如何開始的。創造論者 (Creationists) 把它歸因於上帝之手點燃了生命的火花；科學界卻認定必有大自然的解釋。雖然眼見謎底就要揭曉了，有些科學家承認，其中細節可能永遠無法解決。另些些科學家則確信，一滴一點的，宗教與科學之間最古老的，最激烈的爭論，就快有結論了。

To solve the riddle of genesis, biologists, astronomers, geologists, and chemists are attacking the problem from all angles even trying to re-create life from scratch. In recent years, institutions, including Harvard University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and McMaster University in Canada, have formed "origins" institutes to probe the deepest history of life on Earth and to search for life in the heavens. "The field is going through a mini renaissance," says chemical biologist Gerald Joyce of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif.

地球上的生命是如何開始的呢？生物學家，天文學家，地質學家，和化學家各從不同的角度在探討；有些甚至嘗試要用無生命的物質去創出生命來。近年來許多研究機構， 包括哈佛大學 (Harvard University)，喬治亞理工學院 (Georgia Institute of Technology)，和加拿大的 McMaster 大學，都已成立研究 “物種起源”的研究所來探討生命最原始的歷史並搜尋地球外的生命。位於加州 La Jolla 的 “Scripps 研究所 “ 的化學生物學家 Gerald Joyce 說：「這一行，目前正經歷著一個小型的文藝復興。」

According to scientists, life began when chemistry begat biology that is, when simple molecules assembled into more complex molecules that then began to self-replicate. But rocks that might harbor traces of such genesis events simply don't exist, says Buick. During Earth's opening act, space debris and cataclysmic volcanic upheavals destroyed the evidence, like an arsonist torching his tracks. The oldest known rocks are about 4 billion years old, yet even they formed roughly half a million millenniums after our planet's surface cooled and water first pooled into shallow seas. Scientists widely suspect that life began during that long, undocumented interval.

Theories about where and how life began range from the sublime to the bizarre. One camp says that deep-sea vents known as black smokers nurtured the first life. In the late 1970s, a team of researchers from Oregon State University unexpectedly discovered whole ecosystems thriving around a hot vent on the Pacific seafloor. Such vents, where molten rock from inside the Earth's mantle heats seawater to as much as 660 degrees Fahrenheit, could have provided the energy and basic organic molecules needed to spark life.

以科學的眼光看來，當化學反應導至生物行為時﹣也就是簡單的分子聚在一起形成複雜的分子並開始自我複製之時﹣也就是生命起源之時。 Buick 說 ，可惜，可能帶有創始生命蛛絲螞跡的岩石硬是不存在。地球早期，劇烈的火山爆發和隕石的撞擊，有如縱火者放火滅跡一樣，把所有的證據都已摧毀殆盡。我們所知最古老的岩石約是 40 億年老。在這之前約五億年，地球表面已經冷化，地表的水也已聚成淺海。科學界普遍相信，生命的形成正是在這段缺乏記錄的時期。

關於生命起源的理論形形種種，有些卓越超群，有些光怪離奇。有一派說，深海裡，俗稱黑煙囪的開孔養育出了第一個生命。1970 年代後期，奧勒岡州立大學 (Oregon State University) 的一組研究人員意外的在太平洋底一個高溫的開孔發現了幾個完整而生氣勃勃的生態系統。開孔附近，地殼下的熔岩把海水加熱到幾近華氏 660 度 (譯者註：約攝氏 350 度)；由此提供了點燃生命所需的有機分子和能量。

Another camp believes that ice, not boiling water, served as the cradle of life. Even the coldest ice contains seams of liquid. These watery pockets could have acted as test tubes for the earliest organic reactions. Experiments show that units of RNA, the genetic material that was probably the forerunner to better-known DNA, spontaneously string themselves together in ice, supporting this theory.

另一派認為冰，而不是滾水，才是生命的搖籃。即使是最冷的冰也含有薄層的液態水。他們猜測最初的有機反應可能是發生在這些薄層的水中。支持這派理論的證據：實驗顯示 ＲＮＡ 的確在冰中自然的結和在一起；ＲＮＡ 這種遺傳物質可能是ＤＮＡ的前身。

Still other scientists point to the skies. They argue that meteorites carrying amino acids and other important molecules seeded Earth with the necessary ingredient for life. Supporting the idea: high concentrations of amino acids inside meteorites found on Earth and in gas clouds in space. A wilder offshoot of this theory, called panspermia, suggests that whole bacteria life itself first evolved on Mars and then hitched a ride to Earth via small pieces of the Red Planet blasted here by asteroid or comet impacts. But no life has been found on Mars, and the one claim of fossil bacteria in a Martian meteorite, made by NASA scientists in 1996, has been almost universally rejected.

還有其他科學家則把箭頭指向天空。含有胺基酸及其他重要分子的隕石把生命所需的成份下種在地球上。 支持這種觀念的證據：落在地球上的隕石及太空中的氣雲都含有高濃度的胺基酸。 Panspermia 是這派之想像力特別豐富的，他們的意見：細菌根本是發源於火星；小行星或大隕石的撞擊把火星的碎片帶到了地球。但是火星上尚未發現有生命。1996 年，美國國家太空總署 (NASA) 科學家聲稱在火星上的隕石發現細菌的化石；當今科學界普遍的不接授這個證據。

Perhaps the leading theory focuses on a much more prosaic realm: the slimy interface where the sea laps against land. If early oceans carried organic molecules and they most likely did the porous surfaces of shoreline minerals could have helped organize such building blocks into primitive structures. Eventually, these units could have replicated, forming thin films on the seashore rocks, says Robert Hazen, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution in Washington.

目前站上風的理論把注意力集中在比較平凡的地方：海水舔舐路地的那片泥濘。如果早期的海洋含帶有機分子，這個可能性很大，那麼海岸邊多孔的礦物質很可能促成那些建材形成原始的結構。到後來這些結構終於自我複製，並薄薄的覆蓋著岸上的岩石。這是 Robert Hazen 的意見；他在卡內基研究所 （ Carnegie Institution in Washington ）做研究。

Scientists favoring one or another theory have tried to boost their case by attempting to re-create the elements of life—and even life itself—from the bottom up. Such work sparked to life in 1953, when two researchers cooked up a "primordial soup" of amino acids. In their University of Chicago lab, they applied simulated lightning to a pair of flasks that contained, respectively, an oceanlike solution and an atmosphere rich in methane, water vapor, ammonia, and hydrogen. That experiment and subsequent ones showed that simple chemistry can transform nonorganic molecules into the building blocks of life.

地球上的生命是如何開始的呢？科學界有各式各樣的理論。科學家們各有偏好；為了替自己的理論提供更有力的證據，有些人嘗試從底層做起，從新創造生命的成份﹣甚至生命本身。這些嘗試在 1953 年暴出了火花：芝加哥大學 (University of Chicago) 的兩位研究人員把各種胺基酸摻在一起煮成 「原始湯」放入兩個 燒瓶；瓶中含有海水般的溶液並充滿了甲烷，水蒸氣，氨，和氫氣。然後用人造閃電去打擊它。這個實驗和往後追加的更多的實驗證明了簡單的化學反應就能把無機的分子轉變為生命的基本建材。

"The classic experiments done over a period of 50 years give us confidence that the building blocks would have been present," says Andrew Knoll, a paleontologist at Harvard University. "The big question is how do you go from there to something that can replicate itself." A pile of lumber, after all, is not a house.

哈佛大學古生物學家 Andrew Knoll 說：「過去 50 年來許多傑出的實驗確認了當初的確存在有生命的基本建材。問題在那些建材如何開始能自我複製。」必竟一堆木材離一棟房子還有一大段距離。

To understand how the transition might have occurred, a handful of scientists are striving to re-enact it in the lab. Jack Szostak of Harvard Medical School is at the forefront of this work. In his lab, researchers fill test tubes with the barest ingredients of life, then watch the elements self-assemble into what look like primitive cells, hoping that they will begin replicating. "Sooner or later, life will be made in the lab," says Joyce, who performs similar experiments.

這個轉變是如何開始的呢？有那些可能性呢？一小撮科學家正在實驗室中努力的嘗試重演這個轉變的過程。 哈佛大學醫學院的 Jack Szostak 是其中先驅。在他的實驗室裡，研究人員把生命所必需，最原始的素材放進試管中，然後看著它們自己裝配成看來像是原始細胞的東西；並期待它們能自我複製。Joyce 是另一位做類似研究的科學家。他說：「遲早人類會有能力在實驗室中造出生命來。」

While none of these primitive cells have yet "gone critical" and started to copy themselves, the research has already paid real-world dividends, including one blockbuster pharmaceutical and perhaps more to come. The drug Macugen treats macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, with a tiny snippet of the genetic molecule RNA. Since scientists like Szostak think RNA preceded DNA, they've invented ways of pushing RNA to evolve in test tubes.

雖然還無人能使這些原始細胞的雛形突破瓶頸而自我複製，但是這類的研究已經有了實質上的收獲﹣一個無比成功的新藥因之而產生，還有更多的新藥會接踵而來。 Macugen 這個藥利用一小段遺傳 RNA 來治療 macular degeneration，這種萎縮是造成老年人瞎眼主要的原因。 Szostak 及同行的科學家相信 RNA 是 DNA 的前軀，他們發明了各種辦法來迫使 或誘導RNA 在試管中演化。

Under the right conditions, that process can produce an RNA molecule that's evolutionarily "fit" for a task like treating the biological cause of macular degeneration.
Hazen says that origins-of-life experiments may also help create synthetic cells that can churn out biofuels, which would be a boon in these days of energy crunches and concerns about climate change. "Life takes things like carbon dioxide and water and makes useful compounds, including fuels," he says. "If we understand in a basic way how that's done," he adds, then scientists might be able to build a primitive, fuel-producing protocell.”

在恰當的情況下，如此的程序能造出一種 RNA分子；這種分子能演化而用來治療 macular degeneration 生物學上的病因。 Hazen 說，從事探討生命起源的各種實驗可能還會幫助我們人工合成各種細胞；從而源源不絕的造出種種的生物燃料 (biofuels)，這對當前的能源短缺和氣候改變將大有助益。 他說：「生命利用二氧化碳和水等東西製造各種複合物，燃料是其中一例。」他接著又加一句：「如果我們瞭解這種程序基本上是怎麼進行的，科學家也許就可以製造出某種原始的光細胞來製造燃料。」

Such a self-replicating system, Joyce and Szostak contend, would constitute life. And while such a feat may not exactly recapitulate how biology began, it would be example No. 2—the first being the entire panoply of plants, animals, and other organisms that now dominate our planet.

Joyce 和 Szostak 極力主張，如此的自我複製的系統就可以說是生命了。就算當初生物不見得是這樣源起的，這樣的技術也應該算是生命起源的第二個例子吧。所謂的第一個例子指的是當今遍蓋著我們這個星球的所有動植物以及所有其他的生物。

Large amount of blood can be "grown" [血液可以量造]

2008/09/08
譯自: Seattle Times; Aug. 20, 2008
作者：Karen Kaplan
譯者：陳龍夫

科學家在 星期二說他們已發明出一種方法，利用人類的胚胎幹細胞在實驗室中造出大量的血。這可能使人們往後不再需要捐血。但是專家們提醒說，雖然這是科技上顯著的進步，但是實際上要用它來代替人捐的血，還先得在幾項重要的地方有所改進。

紅血球是血液重要的成份，因為它帶氧。研究人員在科學期刊「血液」（註１）的網頁上發表了一個四步的程序，略述如何將胚胎幹細胞轉變為紅血球，而且其帶氧量不亞於正常的紅血球。

一旦能在實驗室中造血，血庫及醫院就能保證隨時都有足夠的血可用；不論所需的是少見的 AB-陰性，或是可以輸給任何人的 O--陰性的血。同時這還確保病人不致於從人捐的血中感染 Ｃ型肝炎或 HIV等疾病；美國明州大學幹細胞研究所（註２）副所長 Dan Kaufman 博士如是說。 Kaufman 本人沒有參與這種研究。

Kaufman 說：「因輸血而感染的病例越來越多，捐血的限制也越來越嚴。 一般談論胚胎幹細胞治療時，常不包括人造血。 我們應該重視它。」

專家們說，在自然環境下負責造血的是所謂的「成人幹細胞」；迄今科學家仍未能有效的控制 成人幹細胞，因此還不能派上實際用場。

這項新的研究能從單一的培養皿的胚胎幹細胞造出一兆個 (1011) 紅血球細胞—足夠裝滿兩三個收集管。

先讓幹細胞自然的進行其早期的發育，然後把它們暴露在各種蛋白質之下，由此促使一些幹細胞轉變為 紅血球細胞。

Advanced Cell Technology 的 Robert Lanza 是這項研究的主要作者。他說如此處理過的幹細胞大約有 65% 成熟到失去細胞核，因此其形狀變成像甜甜圈一樣--正如血管中流動的天然的紅血球。此研究的團隊包括在芝加哥的伊利諾大學 (University of Illinois, Chicago) 和在洛契斯特的梅約診所 (Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota) 的研究人員。他們造出了 A﹣陽性，Ａ﹣陰性， B﹣陽性，Ｂ﹣陰性，和 O﹣陽性的血。

紐約愛因斯坦醫學院 (Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York) 幹細胞生物學及再生醫學 （ stem-cell biology and regenerative medicine ）的教授 Eric Bouhassira 說這個方法的效率比起以往的要好上幾百倍。可惜大多數這樣的紅血球其血球蛋白 (globin) 是胚胎的或是胎兒的血球蛋白。血球蛋白是紅血球中攜帶氧的複合物。輸血病人所需的是成人的血球蛋白。Bouhassira 說，這樣的血是否能用來輸血仍不清楚。 Bouhassira 本人沒有參與這項研究。

Lanza 說科學家正在做進一步的實驗探討如果讓幹細胞在實驗室中有較長的時間去成熟，是否會造出更多成人的血球蛋白。

不過，即使這個方法有了顯著的改進，前途還有一個大難關。

Roger Dodd—美國紅十字會，馬理蘭州 Rockville 市， Holland 實驗室，研發部副總裁--說，在實驗室中造一個單位的血大概要花數千元美金。要用它來取代每年所輸 1400 萬品脫 （譯者注：約 658 萬公升）的血著實太貴了。他接著說：「這是一個艱巨的目標。」

----------------------------------------------------

註 1: The journal “Blood”.
註 2: 美國明州大學幹細胞研究所 University of Minnesota's Stem Cell Institute

====================================================

Scientists: Large amount of blood can be "grown"
By Karen Kaplan (Los Angeles Times)

Scientists said Tuesday they have devised a way to grow large quantities of blood in the lab using human embryonic stem cells, potentially making blood drives a relic of the past.
But experts cautioned that although it represented a significant technical advance, the new approach required several key improvements before it could be considered a realistic alternative to donor blood.

Red blood cells are a key component of blood because they carry oxygen.
The researchers outlined a four-step process for turning embryonic stem cells into red blood cells capable of carrying as much oxygen as normal blood. The procedure was published online by the journal Blood.
The ability to make blood in the lab would guarantee that hospitals and blood banks have access to an ample supply of all types of blood, including the rare AB-negative and O-negative, the universal donor.

It also would ensure that patients who get blood are never at risk of contracting diseases such as hepatitis C or HIV, which can be acquired from donor blood, said Dr. Dan Kaufman, associate director of the University of Minnesota's Stem Cell Institute, who wasn't involved in the study.

"People don't usually think about these types of cells when they talk about human embryonic-stem-cell therapy, but it is important," Kaufman said. "There's more infections all the time, and the number of donors is more and more limited."

Researchers have tried to harness the so-called adult stem cells responsible for making blood, but their methods were far too inefficient to be put to practical use, experts said.

In the new study, researchers made up to 100 billion red blood cells — enough to fill two or three collection tubes — from a single plate of embryonic stem cells.
After allowing the stem cells to begin the earliest stages of embryonic development, the researchers prompted some to grow into red blood cells by exposing them to a variety of proteins.

Up to 65 percent of the resulting cells matured to where they shed their nucleus, which allows them to take on the distinctive doughnut shape of circulating red blood cells, said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology and the study's senior author. The team, which also included researchers from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., produced blood of types A-positive, A-negative, B-positive, B-negative and O-positive.

The method was 100 times more efficient than previous efforts, said Eric Bouhassira, a professor of stem-cell biology and regenerative medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. But most of the cells had embryonic or fetal versions of globin, the compound in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Only a relative handful appeared to contain the adult globin that would be needed by patients, he said.
"Whether they would be good enough for transfusion is very unclear," said Bouhassira, who was not involved in the research.
Lanza said the researchers are conducting additional experiments to see whether the stem cells will produce more adult globin if given more time to mature in the lab.

Even with substantial improvements, the method faces another big hurdle.

Roger Dodd, vice president of research and development at the American Red Cross' Holland Laboratory in Rockville, Md., said producing blood in the lab could cost thousands of dollars a unit, far too expensive to replace the 14 million pints of red blood cells that are transfused every year.
"It's a rather ambitious goal," he said.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Seattle Times; Aug. 20, 2008

Thoreau; Walden, Economy [節約]

Source: "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau

翻譯：Me;Sep. 4, 2008

WHEN I WROTE the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. <1> At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again.

寫以下大部份的章節時，我已離群索居兩年又兩個月了。我獨居在麻州的Concord, 在Walden 湖畔的樹林中我親手蓋的屋子裡，僅靠勞力為生。周圍一哩之內沒有任何鄰居。如今我又回到文明世界寄居。

I should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent, but, considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent. Some have asked what I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if I was not afraid; and the like. Others have been curious to learn what portion of my income I devoted to charitable purposes; and some, who have large families, how many poor children I maintained. I will therefore ask those of my readers who feel no particular interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to answer some of these questions in this book. In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience.
<2> Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; for if he has lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me. Perhaps these pages are more particularly addressed to poor students. As for the rest of my readers, they will accept such portions as apply to them. I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits.

要不是鎮裡的人關心我的生活方式並詢問種種問題，我實在不應該將個人的瑣瑣碎碎強加在讀者身上。有人說我的生活方式不得當。我考屢當時的情況，卻覺其自然合宜毫無不當。有些人問我吃什麼，是否寂寞，是否害怕等等；另些人問我奉獻多少錢給慈善事業。更有那些有家累的人問我，有多少可憐的孩子靠我溫飽。因此我決定用這本書來回答這纇的問題。讀者諸君中對我不特別感興趣的就請包涵了。大多數的書常省略「我」這個第一人稱的字。我這本書卻要用第一人稱來寫；以自我為本位是這本書的特點。畢竟，一般說來，說話的人永遠是第一人稱的「我」。倘若我瞭解他人像我瞭解我自己，我當不應喋喋不休的談論自己。可惜我歷練不足，只能局限在這個話題。

此外，最重要的是，每個作家總該把他自己的生活簡單而誠摯的寫下來而不僅是敘述別人的生活；我當然也不例外。他所寫的應是他想要寄給家人描述他的生活中家人所不熟悉的種種。因為每一個誠摯的過日子的人總有某些觀點別人是不得而知的。也許我所寫的比較適合那些窮苦的學生。至於其他的讀者呢？我希望他們能擷取對他們有用的就好。希望沒有人會削足適履的照單全收。
========================================
Translation Notes:
- This is the first two paragraphs of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.

<1> “At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again. “E.B.White "borrowed" this from Thoreau, writing "At present I am a sojourner in the city again," in his “A Report in Spring" essay.
I hope my translation reflects Thoreau’s sentiment that his heart belongs to living in the woods and that his coming back to civilization was temporary.

<2> I have tremendous difficulty understanding this sentence. After much struggle, I paraphrased it into the following:

Every writer should write down his own life, instead of just writing about other people’s lives.
A writer should write his own life in a simple and sincere manner.
I am a writer; I should do the aforementioned as well. The reason of writing my own life is the following:

- The information I have about other people’s lives is second hand information. That person sent letters, from a distance place, to his relatives here. That’s how I got the information about him.
- I have no idea whether that person lives a sincere life or not.

I sent my paraphrasing to a good friend, jeffy, asking for his advice. Here’s jeffy’s paraphrasing and comments:

All writers should write an account of their own lives. They shouldn't just tell us about other people. Their account should be the sort of story you would send home to your family to describe your life in a land unknown to them. Because in a way, each person lives in a land foreign to all the rest of us.
The implication is that with such an account we can better understand the writer's viewpoint and hence understand what their writing means to us.
Does that make sense? Do you see how that is what he was saying? 19th century literature has such a different approach from what we use now!

I actually misunderstood the reason why one should write about one’s own life. I also took the words “distant land” too literally.
I actually did not capture the implication either.
I also do not quite grasp the word “sincere”.
I think I'd better leave the translation of literature to language professors. It's too difficult for me.

聯合國及其運作；前言

Title: The United Nations and How It Works; Foreword
Author: David Cushman Coyle
Library of Congress Catalog Card #55-7776

Sep. 2, 2008

聯合國及其運作
前言

In the spring of 1945 World War II was plainly drawing to a close. Millions of people had died in that war; millions more were homeless, hungry, and cold. The people of the whole world longed for a lasting peace. The victims of war devastation, and hundreds of millions who suffered grinding poverty even in peacetime, longed also for an escape from poverty, hunger, and disease. All over the world, too, wherever people lived under foreign domination or homegrown oppression, there was a growing demand for freedom and justice.

These deep desires for peace and for better conditions of life were joined in the great conference at San Francisco in the spring of 1945, when the nations combined their efforts in the organization of the United Nations.

第二次世界大戰死了數百萬人，並讓更多的人失去家園，挨餓受凍。到了１９４５年春戰事已明顯地接進尾聲，人人都引頸期待著長久的和平。那些戰爭的受害者和原本就捉襟見肘的人如今更是一貧如洗，他們都企盼著能脫離飢寒交迫和疾病纏身的煎熬。全世界不論是受異族統治或本國暴政迫害的人都呼喊著爭求自由與公義。
這些渴望與訴求於是匯成一股洪流促成各國在舊金山集會，共同籌劃創立聯合國，時為１９４５年春。

The UN was organized to deal with the quarrels between nations that might lead to war. At the same time, the UN and its many working agencies have been helping the member nations in the age long fight against human misery, injustice, and oppression.

聯和國成立的初衷在於調解國際糾紛免其演變成戰爭，並幫助其會員國對付悲慘的生活，不公正的待遇，以及暴政的迫害。

The main purposes of the United Nations are not in conflict. It is clear that peace is necessary, if the people of the world are to be free and prosperous. But peace does not come by accident; it has to be built by many kinds of action working together to provide for collective security and to remove the causes of war. United efforts to build a more prosperous world by cooperation among people of different nations and races may also help to lay the foundations for a lasting peace. People who work together against the hostile forces of nature often become friends. And finally, the united pressure of world opinion in support of human rights will in time help to reduce some of the causes of war among the peoples of the world.

如今它的主旨已不只是消極的避免爭端，更在積極的為長久的和平奠基。人人都清楚，要有自由與繁榮必先得有和平。但是和平無法不勞而獲，必得大家共同努力來解除戰端，建立共同的安全，從而才有和平。人們往往因為同舟共濟的對付自然災害而成為朋友。因此，各國家各族裔的人聯合起來，群策群力的為共同的繁榮努力也應該能促進長久的和平。此外，聯合世界輿論來呼籲人權定可及時減緩一些戰端。

The material works of the UN agencies—helping to build dams, to kill mosquitoes, to teach people to read—and its spiritual works, such as framing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, may be fully as important for peace as the great conferences and the search for a way to control the atom.

聯和國各機構做了一些實質上的工作﹣例如興水壩，滅蚊虫，以及教人閱讀。它在精神上也成積斐然；編制國際人權宣言的重要性實不亞於召開各式各樣的會議或研究如何駕馭原子。

World-wide struggles against the hostile forces of nature are easily understood by millions of people who feel baffled by the harder problems of quarreling human nature. These material works of the UN therefore serve as a background for the UN efforts to hold the conflicts of human nature below the explosion point. The UN does not pretend that it can surely persuade or force all men to work together in harmony all the time. But it can help to bring world opinion to bear on many kinds of disputes that if left to fester between enemies might break out into deadly war.

我們都了解應該團結起來對付自然災害，卻對人性的好戰束手無策。那些實質工作恰能為聯和國背書，讓它在排解糾紛時比教更有說服力。聯和國無法保證大家永遠和睦相處，但是它能鼓勵世界輿論，促進協商，以免爭端孳養擴大而導至戰爭。

The United Nations can talk about the rights of man, and by such talk can put moral pressure on nations where people are treated in ways that the world regards as wrong. The United Nations can take an interest in colonial peoples and in their progress toward independence or self-government—an interest that the governing powers cannot lightly brush aside.

當世界輿論認為某國政府對人民不人道時，聯和國可以經由討論人權而對暴政施加道德壓力。它可以關注被殖民統治的的人的福祇，它可以觀察這些人邁向自治及獨立的進展。它可以使統治者無法對這些關注置之不理。

The United Nations has been able to stop or to prevent several wars since 1945, notably in Palestine and Kashmir. In Korea the UN forces beat back the aggression. There can be, of course, no absolute guarantee that any organization on earth could surely prevent a third great war and the possible suicide of the human race. But much can be done to make that doom less likely; and much of it is being done in the United Nations.

自１９４５年來，聯合國已成功的阻遏了幾次戰爭，其中最顯著的是在巴基斯坦和克什米亞。在朝鮮半島它也打退了北韓的侵略。當然世上沒有任何機構能預防第三次大戰或人纇的另一次自殺行為，但是聯合國正從事著許多工作來降低人纇走向絕路的可能性。

In the United Nations, the human race is brought together, with all its virtues and faults, its wisdom and folly, and its good and ill will. This is not a world government. This is a world meeting to talk over the pressing dangers of our times and to hunt for the way to prosperity and world peace. It cannot rule the world by making and enforcing a world law with planes and atom bombs. But it can bring to bear the moral weight of world opinion. The recommendations of the Assembly of the United Nations may be all the more effective because they do not demand obedience but only ask a decent respect for the opinions of mankind.

在聯合國裡，各種族相處一堂；人性與生俱來的美德與惡行，智慧與愚昧，好的意圖与壞的意圖也跟著摻雜在一起。聯合國不是一個世界政府，而只是一個世界性的集會。在此大家就當前的危機進行協商並共同尋求和平與繁榮。它不能立法；它不能用武力強制執法；它不能統治世界。但是它能藉由世界輿論造成一股道德力量。聯合國大會的建議只是敦促大家適當的尊重全人纇的意見，它不強制服從。正因如此，它的建議因而更為有效。
….

Do you know?

• Only 10% of the cells in our body are human; the rest are bacteria and parasites. (Ref. "Human Wildlife by Dr. Robert Buckman)
• Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born within a few hours of each other--on Feb. 12, 1809.
• Isaac Newton (1624-1727) was born the year Galileo died.
• Albert Einstein was born the year James Maxwell (1831-1879) died.

Lost in Translation

Translate the article "語意迷失的洄瀾" by Snowbird. The article can be found at http://chensnowbird.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_20.html

介紹“Lost In Translation” by Eva Hoffman
一個流浪者的自傳：一位13歲波蘭少女跟隨父母移居加拿大，後定居美國，回顧鄉音，外語在成長中給她情境上困擾的解剖。

"Lost in Translation" by Eva Hoffman. It's an autobiography of a wanderer: a 13-year old Polish girl emigrated to Canada with her parents, then to America. Recalling her native language, comparing it to the new language, she reflected on the turmoils in her heart.

Eva 從小受到父母的呵護，不知道憂愁是什麼。1957年波蘭政府，准許波蘭境內的猶太人移居以色列。但Eva的父親夢想加拿大，花錢買通官員，全家移居加拿大。全書分成三部，第一部人間樂園： 作者回憶童年家居生活，小市鎮的人情文化，描寫流暢用字文雅，點點滴滴平凡自在，生活的樂園應該就是這樣。離別的日子近了，離情有誰能紓解呢？當她向心愛的鋼琴老師告別時，老師不捨的說：妳是一位心思細膩的少女，就像一棵精緻的植物需要呵護，不容易適應新的環境，妳將會遭受到被連根拔起的痛苦，適應的徬徨， 妳要學會保護自己。 這一席話拆穿了她偽裝的堅強，讓她淚流滿面， 她感受到從人間天堂被驅逐出去。故事進入第二部曲：放逐。

Brought up by doting parents, Eva had a carefree childhood. In 1957 Poland started to allow Polish Jews to emigrate to Israel. Eva's father bribed the authority to let them go to his dreamland, Canada, instead. The book has three sections. Section one is "The Paradise", where the author reminiscent her childhood and the friendly neighborhood of the little town. The little this and that of mundane everyday life flew smoothly in her graceful sentences. It made me wonder perhaps this was what happy life was made of. As the departure drew near her apprehension grew. She went to see her beloved piano teacher, who told her: "You are a sensitive girl. Like a delicate plant, you'll have a tough time adjusting to the new environment. You'll suffer the pain of being uprooted. You'll be lost in the dilemma of having to choose between your new and old worlds. You'll need to learn how to protect yourself." The parting words tore apart the facade of her poise and she broke down in tears--she felt she was being chased out of paradise. The story now goes to section two, "The Exodus."

Eva 認定她到了一個文化沙漠的國家：看到加拿大的曠野壯山大河，只感到眼睛刺痛心靈空虛；學英語，只是在記憶空洞的聲音，心裡懷念的是母語親切的含意，懊惱找不到一個達意的英語新字去描述她的感受。從小Eva對語言有特別的喜愛，波蘭語音調的起伏，除了親暱又有悠閒的空間讓她暇想；小時候，她時常沉浸在父母與朋友的夜談，在熱鬧氣氛中進入夢鄉：夢中，鄉音讓她微笑。為了不被同學排斥，模仿她們的穿著，臉上掛滿著笑容，應對著客套的寒暄，和同學嘻笑打成一片，卻時常警覺到她們憐憫的眼神，她失去了自在，處處是拘謹。另一方面，父親失去奮鬥的勇氣，憧憬的西方世界，並不是黃金滿地；對他們而言，生活是單調的重複，只求物質的不貧乏而已，父女兩代都徬徨在命運的十字路口。

Eva thought she arrived at a country that was a cultural desert. She saw the majestic mountains and waters, but felt only soreness to her eyes and emptiness of her soul. The sound of English was so empty, she missed the warmth of her mother tongue--the rhythm of Polish was so intimate and yet still leaves room for her imagination to roam. While a child she often fell asleep in the midst of her parents' hearty conversation with house guests. Now she would smile in her dreams where she heard the sound of her hometown. To get acceptance, she tried to dress like her friends, she wore smile on her face and chit chat politely, she mingled and frolicked with friends, but she was aware that people pitied her. She became self conscious. At the same time, her father lost the zest of life--the western world was not as rosy as he had fantasized. They were just trying to make do; they both felt lost at the cross street.

處在朋友之間她有太多的顧忌，變遷讓她早熟：看不慣同學的胡鬧卻勉為其難處在其間，有了煩惱迷失自己失去幽默。她警覺模仿偽裝建立的保護層，也是阻止她成長突破的束縛，她需要一個呼吸的空間顯露完整的自我，於是夜深時候，藉著一支筆在日記裡，她剖心開懷；經由文字，對英語，這個當初排斥的語言，有了間接的接觸感受到文化層面的交流，求知的欲望終於讓她茁壯，高中畢業時代表畢業生致詞。 此後，語言變成溝通的工具辯論的工具賴以為生的工具。大學時代，她時常在兩個世界裡掙扎，緊緊抓住根深的價值觀，捨不掉故鄉的懷念，放不開執著去擁抱新世界的刺激。對人情世故，政治時勢，甚至對美國中上等家庭生活的意識型態，都築一道牆，深怕一旦踏入這個生活圈，她會永遠改變自己。一直到大學執教幾年後的一個深夜，為了準備第二天的英語教材，她唸著 『The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock』，她欣喜聽到詩文裡的情緒，領會了詩的畫意，另一種『鄉音』在她的舌尖微笑。

She was very self conscious among friends; changes made her overly mature. She was not amused by her peers' banter, but tried hard to get along; she had lost her youthful playfulness. She was alert, she built a shield to protect herself. The shield constrained her in a cocoon. She needed a space to breath. Therefore, she chose to pick up a pen and spill her guts to her diary in deep nights. Through words, she ............

她終於有機會回到童年的樂園：眼前見到的依舊是夢中的景物，但是在童年的街道上找不到自己的影子，夢裡的鄉情是一串串空白的洄瀾；這回顧的經驗，讓她領悟到當下生活的真實可貴，而容許自己接納領養她的美國文化，從而帶領她進入人生的第三部曲：美麗新世界。
流浪是一個自我設定的心境，可以自憐一輩子是失根的蘭花，也可以自傲的融入主流。擺脫這種流浪的徬徨是生根成熟的挑戰。