【经济学人】定制个有着最佳基因配置的娃——好看、聪...

九月美语

A new type of genetic profiling promises cleverer, better-looking children
一种新的基因识别技术有望让孩子们变得更聪明、更好看
What could possibly go wrong?
可能会出什么问题？
genetic /dʒə'nɛtɪk/ adj.基因的，遗传的
profiling资料搜集
promise 给人以…的希望”,“有望…”,“使…有可能”
go wrong出错，发生故障

Debateabout using science to create “bespoke” human beings of one sort or anotherusually revolves around the ideas of geneticengineering and cloning. People worry about these for two reasons. One ispractical. The tinkering involved couldend up harming the resulting individual. The other is a more visceral dislike ofinterfering with the process of reproduction, perhaps best encapsulated in thephrase “playing God”.
通过科学创造各样“定制”人的争论通常围绕着基因工程和克隆的思想展开。人们的担心主要有两个原因。一个是实际的。其中的修修补补可能最终会伤害到被修补的那个人。另一个原因是出于本能地不喜欢干扰生殖过程，或者最好概括成不喜欢“扮演上帝”。

bespoke /bɪ'spok/ adj. 定做的，定制的
tinker v.修修补补
visceral adj. /'vɪsərəl/[common]发自肺腑的，出于本能的

There is,however, a third way that the genetic dice which are thrown at the beginning ofhuman life might be loaded—and it does not involve any risky tinkering. It is a twist on thewell-established procedure of in vitro fertilisation (ivf). The twist would be to decide, on the basisof their dna, which of a group of available embryos should be implantedand brought to term.

但是，还有第三种方式，即在人类生命诞生之初就抛出的基因骰子可能被加载，而且不涉及到任何危险的修补。这是的成熟的体外授精过程的一个转折点。这个转折点在于人们可以根据他们的DNA，决定在可用的胚胎中哪些应该被植入并保留到足月。

twist n. 转折点，意外的/始料未及的变化

The result would be a child optimised with the best-availablegenetic profile for a long and healthy life. And this is not science fiction.Two American firms have been working on the idea for some time, and one of themis now implementing it.

结果将是，一个拥有最佳基因配置优化的儿童，有一个长久健康的人生。这不是科学小说。两个美国公司已经研究这个想法有一段时间了，其中一个正在实施。

Single-nucleotide polymorphism (snp, or “snip”) profiling, asthe technique is called, promises healthier offspring—a clear good. It may alsoprovide a way to upgrade things only tangentially associated withhealth, such as height and, more controversially, intelligence. Moreover, it isa technique that could be applied generation on generation, to improvegrandchildren and great-grandchildren still further.
这项被称为单核苷酸多态性分析（简称snp或者snip）的技术有望得到更健康的后代，这显然是有益的。它也可能提供了一种方式来提升那些与健康无关的指标，比如身高，和更有争议的智力。而且，这项技术可以代代相传，进一步提高孙辈和曾孙辈的各项指标。
l  tangentially/tæn'dʒenʃəli/ adv.无关的。
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