VOA慢速英语(翻译+字幕+讲解):细菌可能会导致焦虑和抑郁

VOA News

A new study of mice suggests bacteria may help to cause anxiety and depression in overweight people. 一项针对老鼠的新研究表明，细菌可能会让超重人群焦虑和抑郁。

The research raises questions about whether changing organisms living inside our bodies or changes in diet could help treat these conditions. 该研究提出了这样的问题——改变体内的微生物或改变饮食是否有助于治疗（紧张或抑郁）等疾病。

A study found that one-third of the world"s population is overweight or considered obese. 的一项研究发现，全球三分之一的人口超重或被认为肥胖。

When people become obese, this changes the processes by which the body uses food to make energy, build tissue and remove waste material. 当人体超重时，会改变身体将食物转化为能量、增加组织以及排泄体内废物的流程。

Left untreated, these changes can lead to diabetes. 如果不加以治疗，这些变化可能会导致糖尿病。

Diabetes is a serious condition. It affects how your body uses blood sugar. 糖尿病是一种严重的疾病，会影响人体利用血糖的方式。

Obese people also have higher rates of anxiety and depression than other individuals. 肥胖者也比正常人更容易产生焦虑和抑郁。

Ronald Kahn studies diabetes at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. 罗纳德·卡恩（Ronald Kahn）在马萨诸塞州的哈佛医学院研究糖尿病。

He says researchers have wondered if people suffer from depression because they are obese or because of their metabolism. 他说，研究人员猜想，人们是否会因为身体肥胖或新陈代谢患上抑郁症。

And we asked the question, "Maybe the metabolic link is at least partly fueled by the microbiome," Kahn said. 卡恩说：“我们提出了这样一个问题‘也许代谢环节至少部分受到了微生物菌群的影响’。”

The microbiome is the community of bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms living in your stomach. It changes with your diet. 微生物菌群是指肠胃中的细菌、真菌及其它微生物群，它会随着你的饮食发生变化。

And Kahn says those changes may affect both body and mind. 卡恩说，这些变化可能会影响到身体和精神。

To test the theory, he and his research team fed mice a high-fat diet and studied their behavior as the animals became obese. 为了验证这一理论，他与自己的研究团队喂老鼠吃高脂肪食物，研究老鼠增肥时的行为。

In one test, they put mice in a box divided into a darkened area on one side and a light area on the other side. 在一次试验中，他们把老鼠放进一半明亮、一半黑暗的盒子内。

They found that the more nervous, anxious mice liked to spend time on the dark side. 他们发现，越紧张、焦虑的老鼠越喜欢呆在黑暗区域。

And a mouse on a high fat diet will spend more time in the dark than a mouse on a normal... diet will. So, they have more sign of anxiety, Khan said. 卡恩说到：“高脂饮食的老鼠比正常饮食的老鼠呆在黑暗区域的时间更久。因此，它们出现焦虑的迹象更多。”

The anxiety went away when the mice were given antibiotic drugs. 当给老鼠服用抗生素药物后，它们的焦虑感消失了。

The researchers said this suggests that the bacteria were helping make the mice nervous. 研究人员表示，这表明细菌会使老鼠感到紧张。

The researchers then wanted to see if they could produce the same effect by giving the same bacteria to animals raised in a bacteria-free environment, with no microbes of their own. 随后，研究人员猜想，将同样的细菌植入到在无菌环境中培养本身并无微生物的动物身上，能否产生同样的效果。

They found that it did. Microbes from obese mice made the bacteria-free mice anxious. 他们发现确实如此。肥胖小鼠体内的微生物会让无菌老鼠感到焦虑。

Microbes from obese mice given antibiotics did not. 而注射过抗生素的肥胖小鼠的微生物则不会。

It was actually quite a surprise," Khan said. "Even though we had seen some effects on metabolism in the rest of the body, 卡恩表示：“这一发现十分惊人。尽管我们在身体的其它部位看到了一些细菌对新陈代谢的影响，

I was very surprised how dramatic and how clear the effects were also on the brain and on behavior. 但令我吃惊的是，它对大脑和行为的影响也如此地显着和清晰。”

A report on the study appears in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. 这项研究的报告发表在《分子精神病学》杂志上。

Kahn noted, however, that the new study does not mean antibiotics are the cure for depression. 然而，卡恩指出，新研究并不意味着抗生素可以治疗抑郁症。

The drug kills both good and bad microbes. Also, drug misuse is making these powerful medicines less effective. 抗生素会同时杀死有益和有害的微生物。而且，滥用药物会导致这些强效药的药效降低。

Another important point, he said, is that what happens in mice does not necessarily happen in humans, or it may only happen for some people. 他指出，还有一个问题要注意，老鼠的实验效果不一定适用于人类，或者只适用于某些人群。

Gregory Simon is a mental health specialist at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Heath Research Institute. 格雷戈里·西蒙（Gregory Simon）是凯萨医疗机构华盛顿健康研究所的精神健康专家。

He said that it is also important to remember there is much more going on with people than just their microbes. 他说，影响人类的因素很多，不仅仅是微生物，这一点也要谨记在心。

The difficulty is, both of these things, depression and obesity, are complicated things that have multiple, multiple factors influencing them, Simon said. 西蒙说：“关键在于，抑郁症和肥胖症的成因十分复杂，他们受到很多种因素的影响。”

He says genetics, environment, social influences and our microbes all help shape people and their behavior. 他说，基因、环境、社会影响以及自身的微生物都会对塑造一个人和其行为产生影响。

I"m Phil Dierking. 菲尔·迪尔金为您播报。

重点解析：

1.leadto导致

Alackofprudencemayleadtofinancialproblems.

不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。

2.wastematerial废料；废物

Weshouldmakeuseofthewastematerialandreducethecostofproduction.

我们要废物利用，降低成本。

3.mentalhealth心理健康

Poorhousingandfamilystresscanaffectbothphysicalandmentalhealth.

住房条件差、家庭压力大会影响身心两方面的健康。

4.Eventhough即使

EventhoughI"mquiteareservedperson,Ilikemeetingpeople.

我虽然性格极为内敛，但喜欢和人接触。

5.Inonetest,theyputmiceinaboxdividedintoadarkenedareaononesideandalightareaontheotherside.

putinto放进

TheyhadaskedHongKongforpermissiontoputintoportthere.

他们请求香港允许他们在那里入港停留。

Thedifferencebetweensuccessfulandunsuccessfulpeopleisthatsuccessfulpeopleputintopracticethethingstheylearn

成功者与失败者的区别在于成功者能够学以致用。

6.Itaffectshowyourbodyusesbloodsugar.

bloodsugar血糖

Hungeristhebody"ssignalthatlevelsofbloodsugararetoolow.

饥饿感是身体发出的信号，表示血糖水平太低。

Ifyouskipbreakfast,yourbloodsugarlevelwilldropandyouwillprobablyfeellight-headed.

如果不吃早餐，血糖含量就会降低，你很可能会觉得晕眩。

如果觉得《VOA慢速英语(翻译+字幕+讲解):细菌可能会导致焦虑和抑郁》对你有帮助，请点赞、收藏，并留下你的观点哦！