雅思阅读时间：比尔盖茨捐400万，研究蚊子自相残杀

根据媒体报道，比尔盖茨这400万美元将捐赠给一家英国生物技术公司，用于研究一种“新型雄蚊”。

这类雄蚊子会被基因改造，之后再释放到自然中。它们在野外跟携带疟疾甚至寨卡病毒的雌蚊子交配后，会让雌蚊子的后代体内存在一种自我限制基因，让它们在成年前死亡，这样就不会咬人了，以此来遏制疟疾等。（注：只有雌蚊子吸血）
 
虽然这个计划听起来很不错，还是引发了一些担忧。有人觉得根本不能广泛推广；有人担心蚊子会“变异”；还有人担心蚊子真灭绝了会不会影响生态平衡。
 
不过，目前来说这一切都还只是一种设想，能不能起效还得看后期发展。
 
说完这个计划，再来说说比尔盖茨为什么要来捐款灭蚊子。其实比尔盖茨这些年来已经数次捐款对抗蚊子，这次的400万美金也只是“洒洒水”~要问为什么这样做？因为他对蚊子可以说是“积怨已久”↓
 
双语阅读
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is pouring $4 million into a project to create killer mosquitoes that destroy each other through sex.
微软创始人比尔·盖茨正在向一个项目投入400万美元，该项目旨在创造出能够通过交配消灭其他蚊子的杀手蚊子。
 
It's a bold bid to curb malaria, a deadly disease typically transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes.
这是一个遏制疟疾的大胆的尝试，这种致命的疾病通常通过受感染蚊子的叮咬传播。
 
Gates will use funds from his own charity organization – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – to eradicate malaria “within a generation.”
盖茨将利用他自己的慈善组织——比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会——在不到一代人的时间里根除疟疾。

The plan is to create genetically-modified male mosquitoes that mate with their female counterparts in the wild.
该计划是为了创造出基因改良的雄蚊，能在野外与雌性蚊子交配。
 
Only female mosquitoes bite so Gates' army of gene-engineered male mosquitoes would be safe to humans.
只有雌性蚊子会叮咬，所以盖茨的基因工程的雄性蚊子对人类是安全的。
 
What's important is that these male mosquitoes contain a self-limiting gene that gets passed onto female mates.
重要的是，这些雄性蚊子含有一种自我限制的基因，会传播给雌性伴侣。
 
When the females give birth, their offspring will die before adulthood thanks to the gene.
当雌性动物分娩时，它们的后代在成年之前就会因基因问题而死亡。
 
Mosquitoes only start biting people once they're adults, so given enough time, the danger of blood-sucking female mosquitoes could be eradicated.
蚊子只有在成年后才开始叮咬人类，所以只要有足够的时间，就可以消除吸血雌蚊的危险。
 
This means it would be possible to stem the spread of malaria through mosquito bites.
这意味着有可能通过蚊虫叮咬阻止疟疾的传播。
 
They're developed by a UK company called Oxitec, which has dubbed the creations “Friendly Mosquitos” — although their female mates may disagree.
它们是由一家名为Oxitec的英国公司研发的，该公司称这种蚊子为“友好的蚊子”——尽管它们的雌性伴侣可能不同意这种说法。
 
Oxitec has already created gene-engineered mosquitoes to deal with the Zika virus.
Oxitec已经制造了基因工程蚊子来对付寨卡病毒。
 
In some areas, the wild populations of Aedes aegypti (the mosquito that carries Zika) have been reduced by 90 percent.
在一些地区，埃及伊蚊(携带寨卡病毒的蚊子)的野生种群数量减少了90%。
 
However, not everyone is happy about the prospect of genetically-modified mosquitoes being used to prematurely terminate their offspring.
然而，并不是所有人都对转基因蚊子被用于提前终止其后代的前景感到高兴。
 
Oxitec's work has been heavily criticized by Friends of the Earth, a charity dedicated to protecting the environment.
Oxitec的工作受到了致力于保护环境的慈善组织“地球之友”的严厉批评。
 
But Bill Gates is a long-time supporter of Oxitec's work.
但是比尔·盖茨是Oxitec的工作的长期支持者。