外刊高翻第21课

从新冠病毒致死率看女性生存优势 

Why Are So Many More Men 

Dying from Coronavirus?

As coronavirus continues its spread across borders, oceans and continents, there is a perplexing piece of data that has so far evaded a proper explanation: It’s still early, but in almost every country that we have numbers for, more men than women are dying from the virus.

随着新冠病毒的传播不断跨越国界、海洋和大陆，有一个令人困惑的数据至今仍未能得到合理解释：虽然现在说还为时过早，但几乎在所有有数据支持的国家，死于该病毒的男性都多于女性。

Most attempts to explain this discrepancy have focused primarily on behavior, some of which are almost certainly valid. Higher rates of tobacco consumption, a reluctance to seek proper and timely medical care and even lower rates of hand-washing absolutely do play a role in who will be hit hardest.

对于这种差异的解释主要集中在行为方面，其中一些几乎肯定是正确的。抽更多烟、不愿寻求适当及时的医疗服务、不爱洗手，这些绝对会影响什么样的人受到最严重的打击。

But what is being overlooked in these explanations is that the disproportionate toll coronavirus is taking on men isn’t an anomaly. Rather, it may be a timely and high-profile demonstration of what up until recently has been an underappreciated scientific fact: When it comes to survival, men are the weaker sex.

但在这些解释中，有一点被忽视了：男性死于新冠病毒的比例高于女性并不是一种异常现象。更确切地说，它可能及时而引人瞩目地证明了一个直到最近都被低估的科学事实：在生存方面，男性是较为弱势的性别。

1. As coronavirus continues its spread across borders, oceans and  continents, … 这句话 as 放在句首，引出事实背景，翻译成中文就是随着。。。（as 后面往往跟一般现在时）

  2. spread across borders, oceans and continents.  介词 across = 跨界 ex: People move across border. 表示人移动的 跨界，从一个国家到另一个国家。 

3. evade a proper explanation = 避开了那个合理的解释，没有得到合理 的解释（就是翻译中的【正说反译，反说正译】的技巧！必须懂！） tax evasion 避税，逃税

 4. perplexing =令人困惑的，暂时还搞不清楚的，原因不明的 

5. It’s still early. 时间还尚早 但是不要一遇到「早」就用「early」，说不定可以用「young」，比如：The night is still young. 夜色尚早（准确又文艺） 扩展知识：更容易，不要一看到「容易」就是「easy」，可以用「be more  likely to do something」

 6. Die from … = 死于……疾病 

7. Discrepancy =差异 Parity = 平价/ Disparity = 不平价Ex: 区域发展不平衡 = interregional disparity Discrepancy 可以用 divide 来替换，divide 可以是名词，可以是动词 Wealth discrepancy = wealth divide 贫富差异 = the gap between  the rich and the poor.  xx divide = xx 差距，xx 鸿沟

 8. primarily on behavior = 主要在行为上 

9. valid 在这里表示「几乎肯定是正确的」，在英文中强调某个东西是合理 的（proper/ justify/ make sense） 不要一看到「正确」就用「correct」比如：在正确的领导下 = under the  strong/ effective leadership = 有效的领导/强有力的领导 

10. medical care = 医疗卫生事业， 一般在中文没有出现「服务」这个字 眼的情况下，医疗卫生用 health care medical service = 医药服务 health care and medical service =卫生与医疗服务 medi-cade = 针对穷人的/ medi-care =针对老年人的

 11. be hit hardest 受打击最严重的 be hit hardest = be hit the hardest hardest-hit 受影响，受打击最大的 ex: hardest-hit region = 受影响 最严重的区域 hit the road = 上路 hit me with the hardest one = 给我出道特别难的题 

12. take a toll on something 对……造成打击，对……造成严重影响 take a heavy toll on something/ somebodytake a devastating toll on something/ somebody 【英翻汉偷懒技巧】：但凡 A 对 B 是不好的，又找不到确切的词，就用 “影响”来翻，好事情就是产生积极影响，不好的事情就是造成什么负面 影响。汉翻英要求更高，实在不会就用「impact」，但要用动词形式， 及物不及物皆可。Ex：疫情影响 = be impacted by the pandemic

 13. disproportionate = 不成比例的， 言外意思就是过多, too many（没 有具体数据支撑的时候，可以用这个词，表示多/少得离谱） have a fair share of something 公平分享 Ex: Everybody must have a fair share of responsibility/ benefit. Ex: Beijing has more than its share of museum. 北京的博物馆远远 超出其他地方。

 14. anomaly = 异常的，反常的 normal = 正常的，常态的， 名词意思就是：常态，司空见惯的事情 something has become the normal/ norm = 某事已经成为常规了 New normal = 新常态 

15. Rather, it may be a timely and high-profile demonstration of what  up until recently has been an underappreciated scientific fact:  这句话用了「名转动，动词优先原则」 demonstration –> demonstrate， what 翻译过程中省略，这句话翻 译起来就湿湿碎了。 

16. Underappreciated = 没有引起足够重视 Appreciate = recognize = value 受到足够重视

What lies behind this female genetic superiority? It starts at the chromosomal level.

这种女性基因优势的背后是什么？答案要从染色体水平开始说起。

Biologists have long understood that XX chromosomes give females an advantage in some arenas: Having the use of a spare X in case the other is somehow defective is why females are less susceptible to disorders like color blindness, for instance.

生物学家早就知道，XX染色体在某些领域为女性带来了优势：如果另一个X染色体有缺陷，可以使用备用的X染色体，所以女性更不容易患上色盲等疾病。

If one X chromosome has genes that are better at recognizing invading viruses like Covid-19, for instance, immune cells using that X can focus on that task, while immune cells using the other X chromosome focus on, say, killing cells infected with Covid-19 instead, making the fight against the virus more efficient.

如果一条X染色体的基因能够更好地识别入侵病毒，比如说新冠病毒，使用该X染色体的免疫细胞就可以专注于这项任务；而使用另一条X染色体的免疫细胞则可以专注于杀死感染新冠病毒的细胞这类任务，从而提高对抗病毒的效率。

1.What lies behind something = what’s behind something 背后的 原因，……的原因

 2.Superiority = 优势

3. Chromosomal = 染色体的 -> noun: chromosome 染色体 

4. Arena = 竞技场 In some arenas =在某些方面/ 领域 = in some fields/ space/  domain Ex: in this domain =在这个领域 

5. Give somebody an advantage = put somebody in an advantage  position = 使某人处于优势

 6. Be susceptible to something = 容易受到（不好事情）的影响 = be  prone to = be vulnerable to = be likely to 

7. Color blindness = 色盲

 8. Invading = 入侵的， invasive = 创伤性的（入侵身体的概念） Less invasive= 微创 / More invasive= 创伤性大 （手术上） 

9. Immune cells = 免疫细胞 Be immune to something or be immune from something = 可以 置身世外的 We are in this together. You cannot be immune to this pandemic.  

10. make something more efficient = 提高效率 把……提高/改善 = make something + 形容词比较级

The cost women seem to pay for having a more aggressive immune system, one that’s better at battling both malignant cells and invading microbes, is being more prone to autoimmune diseases.

女性的免疫系统更擅长与恶性细胞和微生物的入侵作斗争，而拥有这样更加积极的免疫系统的代价，则是更容易患自身免疫性疾病。

But the understanding of these differences has the potential to fill in the gaps of knowledge that have kept us from making medical breakthroughs. Our male-centric, one-size-fits-all model of health care and the research culture that stems from it need to change. Nowhere is this urgency more apparent than the current global pandemic, as the alarming numbers of male deaths worldwide continues to climb daily.

但是，对这些差异的理解可能会填补阻碍我们取得医学突破的知识空白。我们需要改变以男性为中心、无视差异的医疗保健模式以及由此产生的研究文化。随着全球范围内令人担忧的男性死亡人数每天继续攀升，这种紧迫感在当前的全球大流行中最为明显。

1. battle something = fight something = combat something =对抗 2. malignant 恶性的 –> 反义词：benign = 良性的 

3. be prone to 更易于…… 

4. have the potential to do something = 可能会做某事，有做…的潜力 

5. fill in the gaps of something = 填补某个领域的空白

 6. male-centric = 以男性为中心的 human-centric = 以人为本 = people-oriented = people centered

 7. customer-focused = customer-centric 客户至上

 8. health care = 医疗保健，医疗卫生（就这么记就可以了，别瞎 bb!） 

9. Nowhere is this urgency more apparent than the current global  pandemic, as the alarming numbers of male deaths worldwide  continues to climb daily. 【考试高逼格赚分句式】 中文中都是事实背景在前，表态在后，英文中事实背景可前可后 句式：nowhere is something more 怎么样 than in 某个地方 = 强 调一个最高级 = the urgency is the most apparent in the pandemic Never before in history has something be so 怎么样 as it is today.  = 历史上从来没什么事情像今天这样