Viruses--The aliens among us

Viruses cause pandemics. They also shape the world

HUMANS THINK of themselves as the world’s apex predators. Hence the silence of sabre-tooth tigers, the absence of moas from New Zealand and the long list of endangered megafauna. But SARS-CoV-2 shows how people can also end up as prey. Viruses have caused a litany of modern pandemics, from covid-19, to HIV/AIDS to the influenza outbreak in 1918-20, which killed many more people than the first world war. Before that, the colonisation of the Americas by Europeans was abetted—and perhaps made possible—by epidemics of smallpox, measles and influenza brought unwittingly by the invaders, which annihilated many of the original inhabitants.

apex  n.  /ˈeɪpeks/ 顶点；尖端    predator  n /ˈprɛdətə/ [动] 捕食者；[动] 食肉动物；掠夺者

apex predators: 顶端猎食者    sabre-tooth tiger：剑齿虎   

sabre n.   /ˈseɪbə(r)/（弯刃）军刀，马刀；（击剑运动用的）佩剑

moa n.  /ˈməʊə/ 恐鸟（曾发现于新西兰，不能飞行，已灭绝）

fauna  n. /ˈfɔːnə/动物群、动物系  Megafauna：mega-fauna 巨型动物

prey    /preɪ/n. 猎物；受害者，牺牲品；（情绪易受伤的）脆弱的人；掠夺品；v. 捕食；伤害；折磨，困扰   end up as prey：最终成为猎物

be/fall ˈprey to sth：(1) ( of an animal 动物 ) to be killed and eaten by another animal or bird 被捕食；成为猎物； (2) ( of a person 人 ) to be harmed or affected by sth bad 受害；受坏影响

litany n.  /ˈlɪtəni/ 冗长而枯燥的陈述；连祷   a litany of：一连串

Colonisation /,kɔlənai'zeiʃən/殖民地化；集群现象

abet v. /əˈbet/教唆；唆使；煽动；怂恿

Smallpox  /ˈsmɔːlpɒks/ n 天花     Measles  n. /ˈmiːzlz/ 麻疹

unwittingly  adv. /ʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/ 糊里糊涂地；茫然；无意地

annihilate /əˈnaɪəˌleɪt/vt. 歼灭；战胜；废止vi. 湮灭；湮没

The influence of viruses on life on Earth, though, goes far beyond the past and present tragedies of a single species, however pressing they seem.Though the study of viruses began as an investigation into what appeared to be a strange subset of pathogens, recent research puts them at the heart of an explanation of the strategies of genes, both selfish and otherwise.

Subset ： sub-set 分组；小组；子集     Pathogen  n. /ˈpæθədʒən/ 病原体

The influence of viruses on life on Earth, though, goes far beyond the past and present tragedies of a single species, however pressing they seem. （然而，病毒对地球生命的影响远超单个物种过去和现在的悲剧，无论他们（指物种悲剧）看起来多么不容忽视。）

Viruses are unimaginably varied and ubiquitous. And it is becoming clear just how much they have shaped the evolution of all organisms since the very beginnings of life. In this, they demonstrate the blind, pitiless power of natural selection at its most dramatic. And—for one group of brainy bipedal mammals that viruses helped create—they also present a heady mix of threat and opportunity.

Ubiquitous: adj. /juːˈbɪkwɪtəs/ 似乎无所不在的；十分普遍的• the ubiquitous bicycles of university towns 大学城里处处可见的自行车

Organism  /ˈɔːɡənɪzəm/ 有机体；生物体；微生物   

bipedal  adj. /ˌbaɪˈpiːdl/  ( 动物 ) 双足行走的；两腿行走的

mammal /ˈmæməl/ 哺乳动物  bipedal mammals :两足哺乳动物

Heady  adj. /ˈhedi/  

1. 强烈作用于感官的；使兴奋的；使有信心的 •the heady days of youth 令人陶醉的年轻时代 •the heady scent of hot spices 辣味调料的刺鼻气味 •a heady mixture of desire and fear 既期待又害怕的复杂心情

2.[ not before noun ] ( of a person 人 ) excited in a way that makes you do things without worrying about the possible results 冲动；冒失 •She felt heady with success. 成功使她得意忘形。

Viruses are best thought of as packages of genetic material that exploit another organism’s metabolism in order to reproduce. They are parasites of the purest kind: they borrow everything from the host except the genetic code that makes them what they are. They strip down life itself to the bare essentials of information and its replication. If the abundance of viruses is anything to go by, that is a very successful strategy indeed.

Metabolism   /məˈtæbəlɪzəm/ 新陈代谢     Parasite /ˈpærəˌsaɪt/  寄生虫  

 strip down：剥开、脱去

They strip down life itself to the bare essentials of information and its replication. Up主觉得这句话很有诗意，但是我翻译不出来英文表达的氛围--他们（指病毒）剥开生命的面纱露出赤裸的本质只有信息及其不断地复制。

The world is teeming with them. One analysis of seawater found 200,000 different viral species, and it was not setting out to be comprehensive. Other research suggests that a single litre of seawater may contain more than 100bn virus particles, and a kilo of dried soil ten times that number. Altogether, according to calculations on the back of a very big envelope, the world might contain 1031 of the things—that is ten followed by 30 zeros, far outnumbering all other forms of life on the planet.

Teeming  adj. /ˈtiːmɪŋ/  present in large numbers; full of people, animals, etc. that are moving around 大量的；充满（移动着的人、动物等）的；拥挤的

viral adj.   /ˈvaɪrəl/  like or caused by a virus 病毒的；病毒性的；病毒引起的• a viral infection 病毒性感染 • a viral email传播病毒邮件

the back of a very big envelope：（指估计或者计划）最粗略的一类

Push the envelope/the edge of the envelope: 接近或者达到极致

原文：经济学人2020年9月刊