抽烟与肺癌都是基因惹的祸?

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It’s one of the greatest medical mysteries. Why does a person who never smoked a single cigarette end up with lung cancer? While another person who smokes for decades remains cancer-free. The answer may be buried deep inside our genetic make-up.

Three separate teams of researchers found a genetic variation that increases the risk of lung cancer. One team of researchers found that if you have the variant and smoke, you are also more likely to smoke more cigarettes a day than a smoker without the variant. Is this a gene that makes you smoke?

This gene doesn’t make you more likely to begin to smoke, but if you smoke, you smoke more.

The authors of the study disagree whether the increased risk of lung cancer is because those with the gene variation may smoke more or if it's the genetic variation itself that leads to cancer. This study is so important because we are going to be able to understand those genetic differences. And in the future then, we can do a better job of preventing those from starting to smoke and helping those who started to smoke to quit.

Further studies of the variant could unravel more mysteries like why some people's attempt to kick the habit always ends up in smoke. For Good Morning America, Sharon Alfonce ABC news, New York.

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WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. unravel : verb

If you unravel a mystery or puzzle, or if it unravels, it gradually becomes clearer and you can work out the answer to it.

2. kick : verb

If you kick a habit, you stop doing something that is bad for you and that you find difficult to stop doing. (INFORMAL)

3. in a flash : phrase

If you say that something happens in a flash, you mean that it happens suddenly and lasts only a very short time.

4. come up : phrasal verb

If something is coming up, it is about to happen or take place.

5. giveaway : n-count

A giveaway is something that a company or organization gives to someone, usually in order to encourage people to buy a particular product.