何去何從

北極光

Little Jeffrey always missed his friends and neighbors， missed the days they spent together， and even wondered where they had been.

小小的杰弗里常常想起他的朋友和鄰居，懷念他們一起度過的日子，迫切地想知道他們到底去了哪里。

He missed Paul， his best friend in the kindergarten， who had plucked a large white feather from his wing for Jeffrey as a gift， because Jeffrey admired his wings. Paul promised that he would take Jeffrey to fly in the sky when he had learned how to fly. Yet， where had he gone now？

他想念保羅，他在幼兒園最好的朋友。杰弗里很羨慕他背上那雙潔白的翅膀，保羅也曾從自己的翅膀上拔下一根巨大的白色羽毛送給杰弗里當作禮物。保羅曾經答應杰弗里，等他學會飛翔，他就帶杰弗里遨游藍天。但現在，保羅去哪里了呢？

And he missed George， the strongest boy in the kindergarten， who loved sunshine. Under the sun， the chloroplasts in his skin cells would work， which made him energetic. He needed only mineral water on sunny days， and took food only in rainy days.

他也想念喬治，幼兒園里最強壯的男孩。喬治喜歡曬太陽，他皮膚里的葉綠體可以在陽光下合成葡萄糖，供給他營養。只要能曬太陽，他就不用吃飯，只要喝水就行了，他只在陰雨天需要吃飯。

Jeffreys neighbor Grace was the most beautiful girl he had never seen. Her flowing pale blonde hair， ice-blue eyes， smooth skin， delicate features， and transparent wings made her look like a fairy. She sang like a nightingale and danced like a butterfly. There were so many boys wanting to date her， and thus so many flowers laid outside her door.

杰弗里家隔壁的格蕾絲是他見過的最漂亮的姑娘。她飄逸的淡金色秀發，冰藍色的眼睛，光潔的皮膚，苗條的身材，還有她背上的透明翅膀，讓她看起來像個仙女。她歌喉像夜鶯一樣悅耳，舞姿像彩蝶一樣優雅。數不清的男孩想邀請她出去玩，她家門口總是擺滿了各種鮮花。

All were so cool， so special， and so nice. But， where had they been now？

他們都那么有趣，那么與眾不同，那么親切。但現在，他們都到哪里去了？

“They had been to another world，” said Oliver， Jeffreys father， “because their genes were much easier to mutant than ours. Cancer and leukemia arose from rays of the massive solar flare. Our family are the only survivors here， maybe the only survivors in our country. Ive tried to contact other survivors by radio， hoping to find some.”

“他們都上天堂了，”杰弗里的爸爸奧利弗說，“因為他們的基因比我們的更容易受損傷。上次太陽耀斑爆發的時候，從太陽那邊傳來的宇宙射線讓他們罹患癌癥和白血病。我們一家是這里唯一的幸存者，也許是我們國家唯一的幸存者。我試試用無線電跟其他幸存者聯絡，希望可以找到其他的幸存者。”

Jeffrey couldnt tell why father valued natural human genes so much. Jeffreys parents were both biologists with genes unmodified. So did Jeffreys genes. Jeffrey used to admire his friends and neighbors， who had special appearances and skills， while he was so plain. He was always teased by other children in the kindergarten because of his mediocrity. He had complained that his parents hadnt modified his genes like other parents.

杰弗里一直不知道爸爸為什么這么重視天然的人類基因。他爸爸媽媽都是生物學家，從沒做過基因改造。杰弗里也沒做過。杰弗里一直很羨慕他的朋友和鄰居，因為他們的外貌與眾不同，身手非凡，跟他們相比，他是那么不起眼。因為他的平凡，他總是被幼兒園里的其他小孩嘲笑。他曾經跟父母抱怨，為什么他們不像其他父母那樣，給他做基因改造。

“Most people had their genes modified nowadays， and pure natural human genes are very rare. We couldnt let natural human genes disappear. Maybe transgenic people are more intelligent， vigorous and beautiful than us， and they are more delicate than us.” It was Olivers reply. But Jeffrey hadnt understood him at all.

“現在大多數人都做基因改造了，未經改造的天然人類基因已經非常稀少了，我們不能讓天然的人類基因徹底消失。也許轉基因人類比我們更聰明，更強壯，更漂亮，但他們也比我們更加脆弱。”這就是奧利弗的回答，但杰弗里當時完全不理解他。

More than one century ago， when transgenic technology was just applied to human， only a small group of people had their genes modified slightly to root out their genetic diseases. These people were as well as normal human in essence， and these genetic modifications had no side effect for it didnt change natural genes much.

一百多年前，當轉基因技術剛剛應用在人類身上時，只有一小部分人利用轉基因技術改造少數幾個基因，治療他們的遺傳病。這些人在本質上還是普通人，而且這個程度的基因改造也沒有什么副作用。

When people found they could improve their constitutions， and have the features and characteristics they wanted by genetic modifying， genetic modifications were widely used to human. Many parents had their childrens genes modified when they were still fertilized eggs so that they wouldnt fall behind at the starting line.

但人們發現他們可以用基因改造技術改善他們的體質，讓他們擁有他們想要的外貌和能力之后，基因改造技術開始廣泛應用于人類。為了讓孩子們不“輸在起跑線上”，很多父母當自己的孩子還在母腹中的時候就讓他們進行基因改造。

Large number of genetic modifications made people more diversified， but made their genes unstable and easy to mutant， and whats worse， the damage of their DNA couldnt be self-repaired. It often happened that transgenic people had cancer and leukemia caused by ultraviolet light in sunlight and chemical substances in cosmetics ever since decades ago.

大量的基因改造讓人們變得更有特點，但也讓他們的基因變得不穩定，容易突變，更糟的是，他們的DNA一旦損傷，就無法像普通人類那樣自我修復。早在幾十年前，就經常有轉基因人類被陽光中的紫外線和日用品中的化學物質誘發癌癥和白血病。

Whats more， reproductive isolation appeared in transgenic people led to their being prevented from having children with natural people for their genes had changed too much. Therefore， transgenic people had to clone themselves to have children， excepted that they could marry another transgenic person with similar genes， which was like looking for a needle in a haystack. And the rays of solar flare last year caused almost all transgenic people to die of cancer and leukemia.

而且，因為轉基因人類已經改變了太多的基因，他們跟普通人類之間已經產生了物種隔閡，無法通婚生育。因此，轉基因人類如果想要孩子，只能靠克隆，除非他們能找到跟他們基因相似的對象，但這種可能性比大海撈針還渺茫。去年太陽耀斑爆發產生的射線讓幾乎所有的轉基因人類都死于癌癥和白血病。

Thereafter， Jeffreys parents took to learn how to use solar generator， grow vegetables， gain and chickens， angle， and purify the river water for drinking. They began to prepare rations after harvest， load food and drinking water onto their solar motor home， and readied their guns for possible beast of prey.

在那之后，杰弗里的父母開始學習怎么使用太陽能發電機，怎么種蔬菜和糧食，怎么養雞，怎么釣魚，怎么把河水凈化成飲用水。在收獲季之后，他們開始準備行李，把食物和飲用水裝上他們的太陽能房車，還帶上了槍，以防遇到猛獸。

Oliver often regretted that he started too late to contact others， for internet and telephone system were paralyzed because theres no operator. He tried to broadcast the message about their address by ham radio， yet no reply， and nobody found back.

奧利弗常常后悔沒有早點聯系其他幸存者，現在網絡和電話都不能用了，因為已經沒有人在工作。他試著用自制的無線電把他們一家的地址廣播出去，但是沒有回復，也沒有人找過來。

“Dad， where shall we leave home for？ Looking for our old friends and neighbors？”

“爸爸，我們要離家去哪里？去找我們以前的朋友和鄰居嗎？”

“No. They have left us forever. We are hoping to find some new friends， someone with natural genes like us.”

“不，他們已經永遠離開我們了。我們希望可以找到新的朋友，找到一些跟我們一樣，天然基因型的人。”

“Where are they？”

“他們在哪里？”

“I dont know. Actually， I dont even know whether there existent， but we must go searching. Maybe you would have grown up by that time. We cant let human extinct.”

“我不知道。其實，我也不知道世界上還有沒有天然的人類，但我們必須去找。也許等找到的時候，你已經長大成人了。我們不能讓人類滅絕。”

“Shall we go far away？”

“我們要走很遠嗎？”

“Yes， its a long way to go. We are like survivors drifting on the sea， with the hope of meeting our companions. I wish we could live to find them. Bring your Robinson Crusoe， which I could read you on the journey.”

“是的，這是一段漫長的旅程。我們像海難中的幸存者，在海上漂浮，希望可以遇上我們的同類。我希望我們能活到找到他們的那天。帶上你的那本《魯濱遜漂流記》，我可以在路上給你讀。”