Cloned Beef: It's What's For Dinner 可隆牛肉:晚餐哦

!----随便翻译来大家看看,挺不错的科学小知识.如果翻译的不好,不要笑话我.

Irina Polejaeva has the secret to the perfect steak, but is America ready for her recipe?
Irina Polejaeva有生产完美牛肉的秘诀, 但是美国人已经准备好接受这个配方了么?

What if you could carve off a chunk of the most succulent slab of steak you’ve ever eaten, clone a bull from it, then produce weeks of identically delectable dinners? Irina Polejaeva, chief embryologist at ViaGen, a livestock-cloning lab in Austin, Texas, aims to bring cloned beef to the American dinner table within the next few years. Since 2005, ViaGen has cloned half a dozen cows from strips of beef, a procedure that enables the company to test the quality of the meat before bringing it back to life. Clones would head to a breeder, and their offspring would go into a chain of feedlots, slaughterhouses and, finally, your burger. But first, the Food and Drug Administration must rule on the safety of cloned meat, a decision that could make or break the most controversial idea in the food industry since the transgenic tomato.

如果你切一块你吃过的最鲜美的牛肉, 然后可隆一头牛,再然后烹制出好几个星期都一样美味的晚餐会怎么样? Irina Polejaeva,Viagen(一家在austin, Texas的牲畜可隆实验室)首席干细胞学家, 打算在几年之内把可隆牛肉放上美国人的餐桌. 2005年以来, Viagen已经从牛肉条可隆了半打的牛, 这样公司就可以在把它们复活前先检查肉的质量.可隆会先产生种牛,他们生的小牛会通过到一系列的饲养厂,屠宰厂,最后,变成你的汉堡. 不过,食品药品管理局必须指定出可隆肉的安全规定, 这将会变成,甚至打破,从转基因西红柿以来食品工业里最收争议的概念.

Why clone from dead animals?
It’s hard to evaluate whether a live animal will produce great meat. Meat is graded on quality and yield; to be outstanding in both is very rare: 1 in 8,000 animals. We’re duplicating the best animals—those that carry the most desirable traits.

为什么从死动物上可隆呢?
很难知道是否一头活着的动物的肉很鲜美. 肉类是按照品质和产出分级的. 2个指标都非常出色是很罕见的, 一般是8000头动物里有一头. 我们在复制最好的动物,也就是那些具有最符合指标的动物.

So if a beef inspector says, “Wow, this is a gorgeous piece of meat,” he can send a sample to a lab and make a clone?
Yes, we can certainly do that. The procedure is basically the same as it is with a live animal, except the tissue sample has to be taken within 48 hours of death.

那么,如果一个肉检员说:" 哇,这是一块好的不能再好的肉了!" 他就可以把样品送到实验室, 然后可隆出来?
是的,我们肯定可以做到这点.整个可隆过程将和从活体上取的样品一样,只是样品组织需要在死后48小时内取得.

Why do you think some people find the idea of eating cloned meat alarming?
People are unfamiliar with the technology. It’s misperception and lack of information.

你为什么觉得有些人会认为可隆肉的概念很令人担忧呢?
人们不了解可隆技术. 这是因为误解和缺少必要的信息.

No need to panic over a cloned burger?
From the scientific point of view, there’s no doubt that cloned beef is safe to eat. The FDA has reviewed hundreds of studies on this. There’s no reason to believe that meat coming from clones or their progeny is any different from traditional products.

那就不必要对可隆汉堡担心咯?
从科学家的角度上,完全不必要担心吃可隆肉. FDA已经收到了很多这样的研究. 完全没有理由相信可隆肉,或者可隆动物后代的肉和传统的肉是不一样的.

Can clones really be as healthy as naturally born animals? Case in point: Dolly the sheep. She died young, right?
Yes, but she lived indoors and didn’t have the typical life of a sheep. Several clone mates of Dolly are approaching nine years old and doing fine.

可隆真的能和自然动物一样健康么? 比如,多利羊就在很小的时候死掉了,不是么?
对,但是她完全生活在室内,没有过和普通的羊一样的生活. 其他几个和多利羊完全一样的可隆已经快9岁了,而且很健康.

One study on cloned pigs showed that 5 out of 10 died due to birth defects.
A lot of birth defects are related to poor technique. Our people are doing this three to four times per week, not a couple times per semester. The efficiency has to be high or it won’t work economically.

一项研究指出10只可隆猪里, 5只都死于出生缺陷.
很多出生缺陷的产生是因为技术差. 我们的人每个星期重复3到4次同样的技术,而不是半年就几次. 我们必须要有高效率,要不然从经济学角度就不合适了.

How much does it cost to clone a cow?
Around $15,000, versus $2,000 to produce a naturally bred animal. But the quality of the clone should be a surer bet.

可隆一头牛多少钱呢?
大概15.000美金,相比之下自然交配的动物只要2000美金,但是可隆肉的质量是非常可以保证的.

Ever taste cloned cow?
Not yet. The cows are very young, and we plan to use them for breeding. But I’d love to have the chance to taste it. I’d have a good rib eye. That would be great.

你尝过可隆肉的味道么?
还没有. 这些牛还很小,而且我们打算用他们配种. 不过我到真希望有机会尝试一下. 我很想点一个牛里脊,那味道一定非常鲜美.