神秘疾病與駱駝有關(guān)

在中東、歐洲和北非的某些地區(qū)，一種神秘的致命病毒已造成94人患病，46人死亡。一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)：單峰駱駝可能是使人感染這種新型疾病的病原。

造成這種疾病的細(xì)菌是寄生在人體肺部、喉部和鼻腔的一種病毒，科學(xué)家們最近將這種病毒引起的疾病命名為“中東呼吸系統(tǒng)綜合癥”，或簡稱MERS。

在幾名患者得了嚴(yán)重肺炎之后，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種疾病。這種病情造成肺部發(fā)炎，損傷肺部。通過鑒定該細(xì)菌的DNA，研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)該病毒與感染蝙蝠的病毒有關(guān)，但是，沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)患者曾經(jīng)接觸過蝙蝠。

現(xiàn)在研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)：中東阿曼50頭已退役的賽跑型駱駝，它們的血液內(nèi)攜帶抵抗MERS病毒的抗體?？贵w是免疫系統(tǒng)內(nèi)產(chǎn)生的蛋白質(zhì)，它們能夠識別或摧毀血液中的外來物質(zhì)，它們在血液中的存在表明它們的宿主曾經(jīng)遭遇過某些特定的外來物質(zhì)。

單峰駱駝血液中抗體的發(fā)現(xiàn)，說明這些駱駝曾經(jīng)接觸過MERS。研究者還發(fā)現(xiàn)：非洲西北海岸附近的加那利群島上的駱駝血液中也有MERS病毒抗體，只是抗體水平較低。

與病毒接觸過的駱駝沒有出現(xiàn)患病跡象，阿曼和加那利群島也都沒有報告人感染MERS的病例，但是未經(jīng)證實的報告表明，其他國家的MERS患者可能得病前曾經(jīng)接觸過駱駝或山羊。（注意斜體字的譯法）

Camels Linked to Mystery Disease

A mysterious and deadly virus has sickened 94 people - killing 46 - in parts of the Middle East， Europe and northern Africa. A new study finds that camels （the one-humped type） may have introduced the new disease to people.

The germ responsible is a virus that lives in people's lungs， throats and noses. Scientists recently named the disease it causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome， or MERS.

Scientists discovered it after a few people became sick with severe pneumonia. This condition inflames and damages lungs. After examining the germ's DNA， researchers discovered that the virus is related to some that infect bats. But no one with the disease had any known contact with bats.

Now researchers find that 50 retired racing camels from the Middle East nation of Oman carry antibodies against the MERS virus in their blood. Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system. They help identify or destroy foreign substances in the blood. They also serve as a marker of which particular foreign substance their host had encountered.

Finding antibodies in the blood of dromedary camels suggests the animals had been exposed to MERS. The researchers also found low levels of antibodies against the MERS virus in the blood of dromedary camels from the Canary Islands， off of Africa's northwest coast.

None of the exposed camels appeared sick. And neither Oman nor the Canary Islands has reported human cases of MERS. But unconfirmed reports suggest some people with MERS in other countries may have been around camels or goats before falling ill.

How Cats See The World

What does the world look like through a cat's eyes？ The basic （A） s of kitty eyes is pretty similar to what humans have， but cats vision has adapted to very different （1） p ， so the world they see looks familiar， but isn't quite the same as ours. As predators， they need to be able to sense （B） m well in very low light. To make that work， they have to sacrifice some of the finer detail and color perception that （2） h have.

Artist Nickolay Lamm， who has previously brought us visualizations（可視性圖像）of urban heat islands（熱島）， took a look at the world through kitty eyes for his latest project. Lamm consulted with ophthalmologists（眼科醫(yī)生）at the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary（獸醫(yī)的）school and a few other animal eye （3） s to create these visualizations comparing how cats see with how humans do. Some of the cat-eye facts he took into account. Humans have a 20 degree range of peripheral （C） v on each side. Cats can see 30 degrees on each side. Their visual field overall is just bigger - they see 200 （4） d compared to our 180 degrees.

Cat vision isn't so great at a （5） d . What we can see sharply from 100 feet away， they need to see at 20 feet. From what （D） r can tell， cats can see blue and yellow （6） c ， but not red， orange or brown colors. Cats can see some six to eight times better than us in the dark. Their elliptical pupils （瞳孔） can open very wide in dim light， but contract to a tiny slit to protect the sensitive retina from bright light.

（A， B， C， D FOR CROSS， 1， 2， 3， 4， 5， 6 FOR DOWN. The first letters of the absents were given）

The Government Subsidy Problem

The government pays farmers a specific fee for each row of four trees that they plant. An enterprising， but dishonest farmer found a way of planting five rows of four trees using only ten trees. How did he do it？