男性灭绝 The extinction of men

Hello and welcome to Six-Minute English from BBC Learning English, I’m Neil and with me today is Rosie.
欢迎来到6分钟BBC英语学习栏目。
Hi there.
大家好。
Well, today we’re talking about men.
今天我们将聊聊男性。
That sounds interesting.
这个话题听起来很有趣。
It is very interesting especially if you’re a man because it seems we’ve hadour existence extended.
这个话题很有趣，尤其如果你是男性的话，因为似乎我们将存在延伸了。
I’m sorry?
啥意思？
Well, some previous scientific research had suggested that the Ychromosome, which is responsible for men’s sex organs and hormones, isrotting away!
以前一些科学研究表明决定男性性器官和男性荷尔蒙的是Y染色体，这是错误的！
Oh dear.Are you going to make it till the end of the programme, Neil?
哦， 天啊。你能否让它撑到本节目的结尾呢，尼尔？
Ah yes – even the most pessimistic findings suggested that men had 100thousand years left, so I think 6 minutes is ok!Before we get into this story though, I have a quiz question for you, Rosie.Are you ready?
是的，即使是最悲观的发现也显示男性10万余年后才会灭亡，所以我想6分钟足够了！在我们进入这个故事之前，我有一个问题要问你，罗西。准备好了吗？
Yes, I am.
是的
It’s a simple question.What is the ratio of men to women in the world?Is it a) Equal – so 100 males to every 100 females. Is it b) 101 males to every 100 females. c) 100 males to every 105 females.
这是个简单问题。那么到底世界上男人对女人的比例是什么？是A)100男人对100女人。或者B)101男人对100女人。C)100男人对105女人。
Well, I have absolutely no idea.So, I am going to guess and I am going to say c) 100 males to every 105 females.
我不知道。那么我会猜C)100男人对105女人。
OK, we’ll find out at the end of the programme.
那么，我会在节目最后公布答案。
So, tell me more about this new research into the possible extinction of men.
那么，请告诉我更多关于男性灭绝可能性的研究。
Well it now seems that men can breathe a sigh of relief.Scientists compared the decline in the male human’s Y chromosome – remember that’sthe thing that’s responsible for deciding the sex of a child – with that of therhesus monkey.
现在，似乎男性们放松地喘了一口气。决定孩子性别的是X和Y染色体，科学家将男性“Y染色体”缺失程度与猿“Y”染色体的缺失程度做比较。
OK. That’s the monkey that we separated from 25 million years ago.
好吧。这种猿2500万年是人类的祖先。
That’s right. And their conclusion was that the Y chromosome is depleted butit’s still got all of the vital bits.
的确。他们的结论是Y染色体已被废弃，但仍然有全部的重要信息。
Lucky you! Here’s Jennifer Hughes from the Whitehead Institute in CambridgeMassachusetts. She was in charge of the research:I think that the odds of the Y losing any more genes are pretty slim. It appears that it’sbeen stable for 25 million years and that is a good indication that’s it going to be stable for many many millions of years to come and the genes that remain on the Y probably have very important functions and therefore natural selection is doing a very good job ofpreserving those genes.
你很庆幸吧！有请马萨诸塞州剑桥城怀特黑德研究院的詹妮弗休斯从。她负责这项研究：我认为染色体丢失更多基因的可能性很小。2500万年来它呈现出稳定状态，这可以很好的证实它在接下来的几百万年里仍旧稳定，而且Y染色体上保留的基因十分重要，因此自然选择在筛选基因过程中十分出色。
She said the odds of the Y chromosome losing any more genes are prettyslim – meaning it’s unlikely. Genes are the parts of cells which have the information which passes characteristics from a parent to a child.
她指出Y染色体丢失基因的概率很小，几乎不太可能。基因是细胞中携带家长遗传给孩子的信息的载体。
So it sounds like us males are safe for many millions of years to come.
所以，这听起来男性在数百万年内还是安全的。
She also added that natural selection is doing a very good job of preservingthe genes.
她还补充说，自然选择在保护基因过程中做的十分出色。
Natural selection is the way animals die when they are weak or living inunsuitable surroundings. Meanwhile the stronger ones continue to live. Let’s have another listen to that interview with Jennifer Hughes, who’s in charge of the research:I think that the odds of the Y losing any more genes are pretty slim.It appears that it’s been stable for 25 million years and that is a good indication that’s it going to be stable for many many millions of years to come and the genes that remain on the Y probably have very important functions and therefore natural selection is doing a very good job of preserving those genes.
自然选择是动物如果弱势或生活环境不合适就会被淘汰的方式。与此同时，强者继续生存。让我们听听负责这项研究的詹妮弗休斯的讲解:我认为Y染色体丢失更多基因的概率很小。2500万年来它呈现出稳定状态，这可以很好的证实它在接下来的几百万年里仍旧稳定，而且Y染色体上保留的基因十分重要，因此自然选择在筛选基因过程中十分出色。
Now here’s an interesting fact, Rosie. Did you know that men’s sex chromosomes are not as sophisticated as female ones?
罗西，这个事实非常有趣。你知不知道男性的染色体不像女性的一样复杂呢？
No I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t come as a surprise to me!
不，我不知道，但我并不觉得很惊讶！
I thought you might say that. But you know what – I’m happy having less sophisticated chromosomes if it means men continue to live for a little longer.Now there’s only one way to end this programme, Rosie, and that is toimagine a world without men.
我认为你应该提到过它。但你知道吗，如果较为简单的染色体意味着男性可以活的更长久我很高兴可以拥有它。现在只有一个方法结束节目，罗西，那就是想象一下没有男人的世界。
OK, well for a start more would get done.
是的，开始精彩就需要做很多后续工作。
Are you suggesting that men are lazy?
你是在暗示男人很懒？
Well, they can be. My boyfriend, for example, had never used a washing machine until he was 30 years old.
是的，他们会是这样子。例如我男朋友，直到30岁才开始使用洗衣机。
Right, well we’re getting into stereotypes here! So how about this one - if there were only women in the world, you’d never get into the bathroom.
好吧，我们现在的谈论太有成见了！那么谈这个方面吧，如果世界上只有女人，你就永远不会走进浴室。
OK, I’ll give you that one. I agree that women do spend longer in the bathroom than men.
好吧，我和你谈论这个。我认为女性在浴室里花费的时间要比男性多很多。
And who’s going to catch spiders and mice for you?
那是谁为了你抓捕蜘蛛和老鼠呢？
Ah, now that is absolutely not true! My boyfriend is terrified of mice. In fact he ran away from one in the kitchen just last night.
哦，这对我来说绝对不正确！我男朋友害怕老鼠。事实上，昨晚由于厨房有老鼠他逃了出来。
Well, to be honest, I don’t really like mice either, I must say. But what about lifting heavy things? I am always expected to do heavy lifting, which I hate by the way.
老实说，我必须说我也不喜欢老鼠。那搬运重物呢？总是有人让我帮忙搬运重物，但我讨厌这种工作。
Yes I confess that men are useful for that. And also for opening jars with the lids too tightly screwed on. And on a more serious note, I think there would probably be far fewer wars if there were only women. I think women would be more likely to talk problems over than resort to violence.
我承认在这方面男人是有用的。在开固定的太紧的罐头方面也很有用。但我想指出，我认为如果只有女人或许会有更少的战争。我认为女性更倾向于谈论问题而不是采取暴力。
Well you might be right there but it’s difficult to say because most of theworld’s leaders are men of course. OK Rosie, this entertaining debate must come to an end. We need an answer to the question.I asked what the ratio is of men to women in the world. Is it a) Equal – so for every 100 males there are 100 females.b) 101 males to every 100 females.c) 100 males to every 105 females.What did you say?
你也许是正确的，但很难说，因为世界上大多数领导人当然都是男性。好吧罗西，这个有趣的话题该有个了结了。我们需要回答问题。我的问题是，世界上的男女比例是多少，是A)100男人对100女，B)101男人对100女人，C)100男人对105女人。你的答案是什么？
I said c) 100 males to every 105 females
我选择的是C)100男人对105女人。
And you were completely wrong. It’s 101 males to every 100 females. Do join us again for more 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. Bye for now!
你是错误的。答案是101男人对100女人。请继续收听我们的6分钟英语节目。再见！
Bye bye!
再见！