螞蟻能嗅出癌癥

安徽 周艷霞

科學家發(fā)現，螞蟻的鼻子比狗還靈敏。只需短時間的訓練，螞蟻就能迅速識別人體中的癌細胞，甚至還能區(qū)分不同的癌細胞。

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1Ants have the ability to sniff（嗅）out cancerous cells in humans, a new study has discovered, suggesting they could be used for cancer diagnosis in the future.Researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) discovered that the ant species Formica fusca(絲光褐林蟻)has a well-developed sense of smell.

2It was able to tell cancerous cells from healthy cells in humans, thanks to their sense of smell, limited trials discovered. But more clinical tests must be carried out before they can be used in clinical settings like hospitals,the team said.

3They suggested that in the future, ants could turn out to be better than dogs when it comes to locating cancerous cells in humans. To conduct their research, the scientists performed tests with 36 ants, smelling cells in a laboratory setting. First, the specialists exposed the ants to the smell of a sample (樣本) of cancerous human cells. This odor was then associated with a reward of sugar solution. In a second step, the researchers exposed the ants to two different smells. One was a new smell and the second was the smell of cancerous cells.

4Once this test was successful,the researchers exposed the ants to different cancerous cells. As such, the scientists found that ants could tell cancerous from healthy cells and could tell two cancerous lines apart.

5This first study showed that ants have high potential, are capable of learning very quickly,at lower cost,and are efficient.

6This isn't the first time that scientists have used the animal sense of smell to locate cancerous cells. Dogs' noses are well suited for medical diagnosis. However, training them to do so requires several months to a year. On the other hand, insects can be easily reared(養(yǎng)殖) in controlled conditions; they are inexpensive and hundreds of individuals can be conditioned with very few trials,the researchers pointed out.

7The approach can potentially be adapted to a range of other complex smell detection tasks including the detection of narcotics, explosives, spoiled food, or other diseases, including malaria,infections,and diabetes.

Reading Check

Choose the best answers according to the text

Language Study

Ⅰ.Analyze the difficult sentence in the text

Ants have the ability to sniff out cancerous cells in humans, a new study has discovered, suggesting they could be used for cancer diagnosis in the future. 一項新研究發(fā)現，螞蟻能嗅出人體內的癌細胞，這表明螞蟻未來可用于對癌癥的診斷。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，句中Ants have the ability to sniff out cancerous cells in humans 是賓語從句，作謂語動詞has discovered 的賓語；suggesting...是現在分詞作伴隨狀語，they could be used for cancer diagnosis in the future 也是賓語從句，作suggesting的賓語。

Ⅱ.Memorize some text-centered chunks

sniff out 發(fā)現；嗅出

sense of smell 嗅覺

tell from 辨別

thanks to 幸虧

carry out 實施；執(zhí)行；實行

turn out（以某種方式）發(fā)生；最后是；結果是

be associated with 與……有關

be suited for 適合于……

on the other hand 另一方面

point out 指出；指明

be adapted to 適合于；適應