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Scientists have unearthed a giant virus more than 30,000 years old from the frozen soil in a remote region of Siberia. |
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科學家在西伯利亞一個偏遠地區的凍土中挖出了一種有三萬多年歷史的巨大病毒。 |
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While this ancient virus is harmless to people, scientists behind the discovery warn that it suggests that the thawing of permafrost in polar regions, as a result of either climate change or mining, could bring threats to human health. |
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這種遠古病毒雖然對人無害，獲致這項發現的科學家卻警告，這顯示極地的永凍層因為氣候變遷或採礦而融解之後，有可能對人類健康造成威脅。 |
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The ancient virus, named Pithovirus sibericum, infects amoebas, not humans or animals. |
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這種名為西伯利亞陶罐病毒的遠古病毒會感染阿米巴原蟲，但不會感染人類或動物。 |
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It survived in the Siberian ice from a period when woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats roamed the earth. |
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這種病毒殘存於西伯利亞的冰層裡，熬過真猛瑪象與劍齒虎仍然遍布於地球上的時期。 |
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The scientists found it in the Chukotka Autonomous Region, the most northeasterly region of Russia, which lies across the Bering Strait from Alaska. |
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科學家發現這種病毒的地點是在俄國極東北端的楚科奇自治區，與阿拉斯加隔著白令海峽對望。 |
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Its discovery was reported by the researchers, from French and Russian institutions, in an article published this week by the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. |
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來自法、俄兩國機構的研究人員在本週由《美國國家科學院院刊》發表的一篇文章裡報告了這項發現。 |
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The discovery of Pithovirus "shows how incomplete our understanding of microscopic biodiversity is when it comes to exploring new environments," France's National Center for Scientific Research said. |
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陶罐病毒的發現「顯示了我們在探索新環境這方面，對於微生物多樣性的了解有多麼不完全，」法國國家科學研究中心表示。 |
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And the potentially bad news: the reemergence of other viruses "is no longer the domain of science fiction," the center said. |
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潛藏於其中的一項壞消息：其他病毒重新浮現「已不再只是科幻小說」，該中心表示。 |
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These include viruses that were long considered eradicated, such as smallpox, whose replication process is similar to that of Pithovirus, according to the scientists. |
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其中包括長久以來被認為已經滅絕的病毒，例如複製過程類似於陶罐病毒的天花，科學家們指出。 |
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"This is an indication that viruses pathogenic for human's or animals might also be preserved in old permafrost layers, including some that have caused planet-wide epidemics in the past," said Jean-Michel Claverie, one of the study's co-authors. |
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「由此可見，能夠對人類或動物致病的病毒也可能保存於古老的永凍層裡，包括一些過去曾經導致全球性傳染病的病毒，」該項研究的共同作者之一尚恩米歇爾．克拉弗里表示。 |
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