近日，美国马里兰大学巴尔的摩分校（University of Maryland, Baltimore）和圣路易斯华盛顿大学（Washington University in St. Louis）研究人员的一项最新研究成果引起了全球微生物生态学界的关注。
🤔️小作业：
1. What does the term "vampiric viruses" in the article most likely refer to?
A) Viruses that feed on bacteria.
B) Viruses that attach to other viruses.
C) Viruses that transform their host's genetic material.
D) Viruses that are visible to the naked eye.
2. What does the article suggest about the future of research in the field of bacteriophages?
A) It will focus solely on satellite viruses.
B) It may reinterpret previous findings of contamination.
C) It will disprove the existence of helper viruses.
D) It is likely to decline due to lack of interest.
无注释原文：
Virus Seen Latching On To Another Virus (Like A Tiny Vampire) For First Time
From: IFLScience
For the first time ever, a virus has been observed attaching to another virus. However, the never-before-seen behavior was almost missed after it was stumbled upon in a happy accident involving some anomalous sequencing results.
“When I saw it, I was like, I can't believe this,” Tagide deCarvalho, first author of a study announcing the discovery, said in a statement. “No one has ever seen a bacteriophage – or any other virus – attach to another virus.”
The virus in question is a bacteriophage – a virus that infects bacteria – and also a satellite virus, which relies on other, “helper” viruses to complete its life cycle. Satellite viruses lean on their helpers either when building their capsids – the protein shell of a virus – or when replicating their DNA, both of which require the two viruses to be close together. Now, the new study suggests that they go a step further, getting up close and personal by latching on to their helper virus's “neck” – the place where the capsid joins the tail of the virus.
But the groundbreaking discovery almost didn't happen at all. A group of undergraduates were analyzing the sequences of bacteriophages from environmental samples when they found what they believed to be contamination in the sample. The sequence of the phage they were studying was present, but so was a smaller sequence that didn't map to anything the researchers knew.
Repeating the experiment suggested that this was no mistake, and electron microscopy imaging later revealed the presence of helper viruses, 80 percent of which had a satellite bound at the neck.
Spookily, some of the helpers that were unencumbered by satellite viruses still had remnants of past attachments at the neck, which senior author Ivan Erill likened to “bite marks”.
The researchers were also able to analyze the genomes of the vampiric viruses, as well as their helpers and hosts, finding that most satellites have a gene that enables them to integrate into the host cell's genetic material.
However, this is not universal. In one sample, the satellite, which has been named MiniFlayer, is the first known case of a satellite with no gene for integration. It, therefore, must stay close to its helper, MindFlayer, when entering a host cell, the team hypothesize.
“Attaching now made total sense,” Erill said, “because otherwise, how are you going to guarantee that you are going to enter into the cell at the same time?”
Further bioinformatics analysis hinted that this interaction between MiniFlayer and MindFlayer could be ancient, with the two co-evolving for at least 100 million years, according to Erill.
The team hope their findings will inspire future work into the unexpected phenomenon to further our understanding of it and perhaps explain some strange phage sequencing contamination.
“It's possible that a lot of the bacteriophages that people thought were contaminated were actually these satellite-helper systems,” deCarvalho added, “so now, with this paper, people might be able to recognize more of these systems.”
The study is published in The ISME Journal.
- ◆ -
注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考
含注释全文：
Virus Seen Latching On To Another Virus (Like A Tiny Vampire) For First Time
From: IFLScience
For the first time ever, a virus has been observedattachingto another virus. However, the never-before-seen behavior was almost missed after it wasstumbled uponin a happy accident involving someanomalous sequencingresults.
这是科学界首次观察到一个病毒附着在另一个病毒上的现象。但是，这种前所未有的行为差点就被遗漏了，因为它是在一次因异常测序结果而产生的意外中偶然被发现的。
attach
表示“系，绑；连接；使附着；附上；固定”，英文解释为“to fasten, join, or connect something”举个🌰：I attached a photo to my application form. 我在我的申请表上贴了一张照片。
📍补充，发邮件时，你可能就会看到“Attach a file”的说法：
其名词形式attachment则可以表示“（电子邮件的）附件”（In computing, an attachment is a file which is attached separately to a message that you send to someone.）
stumble
1）作名词，表示“犯错；失足”，英文解释为“a false step, trip, or blunder / the act of stumbling”。
2）更多情况用作动词表示“踉跄；绊脚”，英文解释为“If you stumble, you put your foot down awkwardly while you are walking or running and nearly fall over.”举个🌰：He stumbled and almost fell. 他绊了一下，差点儿摔倒。
3）表示“跌跌撞撞地走，蹒跚而行”，英文解释为“to walk in a way that does not seem controlled”举个🌰：We could hear her stumbling about/around the bedroom in the dark. 我们可以听到她摸黑在卧室里跌跌撞撞地走动。
4）固定搭配：stumble on / across / upon sth，表示“偶然发现（碰见）”，英文解释为“to find or discover something by chance and unexpectedly”，举个🌰：Researchers have stumbled across a drug that may help patients with Parkinson's disease. 研究人员偶然发现了一种药物，也许可以治疗帕金森病。
anomalous
anomalous /əˈnɒm.ə.ləs/ 表示“反常的;异常的;不规则的”，英文解释为“different from what is usual, or not in agreement with something else and therefore not satisfactory”举个🌰：The experiment yielded anomalous results. 实验产生了异常的结果。
sequence
sequence /ˈsiː.kwəns/ 作名词，表示“一连串；一系列；顺序，次序”，英文解释为“a series of related things or events, or the order in which they follow each other”举个🌰：The tasks had to be performed in a particular sequence. 这些任务必须按一定次序去执行。
作动词，表示“排序，定序”，英文解释为“the process of combining things in a particular order, or discovering the order in which they are combined”或者表示“测定DNA的序列”，英文解释为“to discover the order in which nucleotides (= chemical substances) are combined within DNA”举个🌰：Researchers sequenced the full genome of a rat. 研究者们测定了大鼠基因组的全部序列。
“When I saw it, I was like, I can't believe this,” Tagide deCarvalho, first author of a study announcing the discovery, said in a statement. “No one has ever seen abacteriophage– or any other virus – attach to another virus.”
“当我目睹这一幕时，我简直不敢相信，”发表这一研究发现的第一作者塔吉德·德卡瓦略（Tagide deCarvalho）在一份声明中表示。“从来没有人看过噬菌体或其他任何病毒附着在另一种病毒上。”
bacteriophage
bacteriophage /bækˈtɪə.ri.əʊ.feɪdʒ/ 表示“噬菌体”，英文解释为“a virus that grows and divides inside a bacterium, destroying it”
The virus in question is a bacteriophage – a virus thatinfectsbacteria – and also a satellite virus, which relies on other, “helper” viruses to complete its life cycle. Satellite viruseslean ontheir helpers either when building their capsids –theprotein shellof a virus – or whenreplicatingtheir DNA, both of which require the two viruses to be close together. Now, the new study suggests that they go a step further, getting up close and personal bylatchingon to their helper virus's “neck” – the place where the capsid joins the tail of the virus.
这种病毒是一种噬菌体 ——专门感染细菌的病毒——同时它也是一种卫星病毒（satellite virus），它依赖于其他的“辅助”病毒来完成其生命周期。卫星病毒在构建自身的衣壳（也就是病毒的蛋白质外壳）或者复制DNA时需要依赖辅助病毒，而这两个过程都要求两种病毒靠得很近。如今，这项新研究表明，它们甚至还会更进一步，紧紧抓住辅助病毒的“颈部”——即病毒的衣壳与尾部相接的部位——来进行更密切的接触。
infect
1）表示“传染”，英文解释为“To infect people, animals, or plants means to cause them to have a disease or illness.”举个🌰：A single mosquito can infect a large number of people. 一只蚊子就能传染很多人。
2）表示“使感染有害菌”，英文解释为“To infect a substance or area means to cause it to contain harmful germs or bacteria.”举个🌰：The birds infect the milk. 鸟使牛奶受污染。
3）表示“使受影响”，英文解释为“When people, places, or things are infected by a feeling or influence, it spreads to them.”举个🌰：For an instant I was infected by her fear. 一瞬间，我被她的恐惧所感染。
4）表示“使（计算机）中毒”，英文解释为“If a virus infects a computer, it damages or destroys files or programs.”举个🌰：This virus infected thousands of computers across the U.S. and Europe within days. 这种病毒几天之内就使美国和欧洲成千上万台电脑中毒。
对比：
📍如果是“人感染了疾病”，则用contract. 比如在报告“云监工”：火神山医院今天完工！一文中就提到：The Chinese city of Wuhan is building a hospital in just a few days, to treat patients suspected of contracting the coronavirus.
lean on sb/sth
表示“依靠，凭借”，英文解释为“to use someone or something to help you, especially in a difficult situation”举个🌰：He's always had his big brother to lean on. 他总是依靠他大哥。
protein
表示“蛋白质”，英文解释为“one of the many substances found in food such as meat, cheese, fish, or eggs, that is necessary for the body to grow and be strong”。
shell
1）表示“（任何物体的）外壳，壳体”，英文解释为“any structure that forms a hard outer frame”如：the body shell of a car 车身外壳；
2）表示“（人的）表面性格，表面人格，表面感情，外表”，英文解释为“the outer layer of sb's personality; how they seem to be or feel”举个🌰：She had developed a shell of indifference. 她养成一副冷漠的外表。
replicate
表示“使复现；重复；复制”，英文解释为“to make or do something again in exactly the same way”举个🌰：Researchers tried many times to replicate the original experiment. 研究者们作了很多次努力，试图重复这一实验。
latch
latch /lætʃ/ onto sth 1）表示“与…发生联系，与…产生关联”，英文解释为“to become connected to something”举个🌰：The antibodies work by latching onto proteins on the surfaces of the viruses and bacteria. 抗体通过与病毒和细菌表面的蛋白质结合而发挥作用。
2）表示“对…产生浓厚的兴趣”，英文解释为“to become interested in an idea, story, or activity, and to start to use it”举个🌰：Unfortunately the press have already latched onto the story. 遗憾的是报纸已经盯上这件事了。
But thegroundbreakingdiscovery almost didn't happen at all. A group ofundergraduateswere analyzing the sequences of bacteriophages from environmental samples when they found what they believed to becontaminationin the sample. The sequence of thephagethey were studying was present, but so was a smaller sequence that didn't map to anything the researchers knew.
然而，这一划时代的发现差点就错过了。当一群本科生在分析环境样本中的噬菌体序列时，他们发现了可能是样本污染的迹象。他们所研究的噬菌体序列确实存在，但同时还出现了一个小的、无法对应已知序列的片段。
groundbreaking
表示“开辟新天地的，独创的，开拓性的，里程碑性的”，英文解释为“You use groundbreaking to describe things which you think are significant because they provide new and positive ideas, and influence the way people think about things.” 如：groundbreaking research 开拓性的研究。
类似的：
📍pioneering /ˌpaɪəˈnɪə.rɪŋ/ 表示“先驱性的，开创性的”，英文解释为“using ideas and methods that have never been used before”如：pioneering techniques 创新技术。
📍seminal 表示“（对以后的发展）影响深远的，有重大意义的；（文章、书等）开创性的，有重大影响的”，英文解释为“a seminal article, book etc is important, and influences the way things develop in the future formal”，如：a seminal study 开创性研究，a seminal work/article 有巨大影响的著作/文章。
undergraduate
undergraduate /ˌʌn.dəˈɡrædʒ.u.ət/ 表示“大学本科生”，英文解释为“a student who is studying for their first degree at a college or university”
contamination
contamination /kənˌtæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/表示“污染，玷污；污染物”，英文解释为“something that contaminates”；contaminate作动词，表示“污染；弄脏”，英文解释为“to make a substance or place dirty or no longer pure by adding a substance that is dangerous or carries disease”举个🌰：The drinking water has become contaminated with lead. 饮用水被铅污染了。
phage
phage /feɪdʒ/ ，同bacteriophage，表示“噬菌体”
Repeating the experiment suggested that this was no mistake, and electronmicroscopyimaging later revealed the presence of helper viruses, 80 percent of which had a satelliteboundat the neck.
重复实验表明这不是错误，而随后的电子显微镜成像揭示了辅助病毒的存在，其中80%的病毒颈部均附着有卫星病毒。
microscopy
microscopy /maɪˈkrɒs.kə.pi/ 表示“显微镜学（显微镜的使用、设计或生产）”，英文解释为“the use, design, or production of microscopes”举个🌰：Microscopy is an invaluable technique for studying the structure of cells. 显微镜学是细胞结构研究的一项宝贵的技术。
bind
1）表示“装订（书籍）；把…装订成册”，英文解释为“When a book is bound, the pages are joined together and the cover is put on.”举个🌰：Each volume is bound in bright-coloured cloth. 每一册都用颜色鲜亮的布料装订。
2）表示“捆绑；捆扎”，英文解释为“to tie something tightly or to fasten something”举个🌰：They bound the packages with brightly coloured ribbon. 他们用鲜艳的彩带把包裹扎了起来。
3）表示“使团结；使联合”，英文解释为“to unite people”举个🌰：The things that bind them together are greater than their differences. 将他们团结在一起的力量胜过他们的分歧。
🎬电影《指环王1：护戒使者》（The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring）中的台词提到：His life force is bound to the Ring, and the Ring survived. 他的生命与这魔戒是一体的 而魔戒仍然幸存。
Spookily, some of the helpers that wereunencumberedby satellite viruses still hadremnantsof past attachments at the neck, which senior author Ivan Erill likened to “bite marks”.
诡异的是，一些未被卫星病毒缠绕的辅助病毒颈部仍有过去附着的痕迹，资深作者伊万·埃里尔（Ivan Erill）将其形容为“咬痕”。
spookily
spooky的变形，spookily /ˈspuː.kəl.i/表示“幽灵一般的；有鬼一样的；令人毛骨悚然的”，英文解释为“in a way that is strange and sometimes frightening”
unencumbered
unencumbered /ˌʌn.ɪnˈkʌm.bəd/ 表示“不受妨碍的，没有阻碍的”，英文解释为“without something making it difficult for you to do something”
remnant
remnant /ˈrem.nənt/ 表示“残余（部分）；剩余（部分）；零头；零料”，英文解释为“a small piece or amount of something that is left from a larger original piece or amount”如：the remnants of last night's meal 昨晚的剩饭。
The researchers were also able to analyze thegenomesof thevampiricviruses, as well as their helpers and hosts, finding that most satellites have a gene that enables them tointegrateinto the host cell's genetic material.
研究人员还分析了这些像吸血鬼一样的病毒及其辅助病毒和宿主的基因组，发现大部分卫星病毒都含有一个特定的基因，这个基因让它们能够整合到宿主细胞的遗传物质当中。
genome
genome /ˈdʒiː.noʊm/ 表示“基因组，染色体组”，英文解释为“the complete set of genetic material of a human, animal, plant, or other living thing”
vampiric
表示“吸血鬼的”，英文解释为“Having the traits of a vampire.”
📍vampire /ˈvæm.paɪər/ 表示“（故事中的）吸血鬼”，英文解释为“(in stories) a dead person who comes back to life and sucks blood from other people at night”
integrate
integrate /ˈɪn.tɪ.ɡreɪt/ 1）表示“使合并，使成为一体”，英文解释为“to combine two or more things in order to become more effective”举个🌰：You need to integrate exercise into your normal life. 你必须让锻炼成为你日常生活的一部分。
2）表示“（使）融入（某社会或群体）；（使）成为一体”，英文解释为“to mix with and join society or a group of people, often changing to suit their way of life, habits, and customs”举个🌰：He seems to find it difficult to integrate socially. 他似乎觉得很难与别人打成一片。
However, this is not universal. In one sample, the satellite, which has been named MiniFlayer, is the first known case of a satellite with no gene for integration. It, therefore, must stay close to its helper, MindFlayer, when entering a host cell, the teamhypothesize.
不过，并非所有的情况都是这样。在一个样本中，被命名为MiniFlayer的卫星病毒是已知首个没有整合基因的例子。因此，研究团队推测，这种卫星病毒在进入宿主细胞时，必须紧贴其辅助病毒MindFlayer。
hypothesize
hypothesize /haɪˈpɒθ.ə.saɪz/ 表示“假设，假定”，英文解释为“to give a possible but not yet proved explanation for something”举个🌰：There's no point hypothesizing about how the accident happened, since we'll never really know. 假定事故是如何发生的没有任何意义，因为我们永远也不会知道真实情况是怎样的。
“Attaching now made total sense,” Erill said, “because otherwise, how are you going to guarantee that you are going to enter into the cell at the same time?”
“这种附着行为现在看来完全说得通了，”埃里尔说，“否则，它们怎么保证能同时进入细胞呢？”
Further bioinformatics analysishintedthat this interaction between MiniFlayer and MindFlayer could be ancient, with the two co-evolving for at least 100 million years, according to Erill.
生物信息学的进一步分析表明，MiniFlayer和MindFlayer之间的相互作用可能源远流长，根据埃里尔的研究，两者至少已经共同进化了一亿年之久。
hint
hint /hɪnt/ 表示“暗示，提示，示意”，英文解释为“something that you say or do that shows what you think or want, usually in a way that is not direct”举个🌰：He's dropped (= given) several hints to the boss that he'll quit if he doesn't get a promotion. 他已经向老板暗示了好几次，如果不获得升职他就会辞职。
The team hope their findings will inspire future work into the unexpected phenomenon to further our understanding of it and perhaps explain some strange phage sequencing contamination.
研究团队希望他们的发现能激发对这种意外现象的进一步研究，以加深我们对其的理解，或许还能解释一些奇怪的噬菌体测序污染现象。
“It's possible that a lot of the bacteriophages that people thought were contaminated were actually these satellite-helper systems,” deCarvalho added, “so now, with this paper, people might be able to recognize more of these systems.”
“很可能许多此前被认为是受污染的噬菌体实际上属于这类卫星-辅助系统，”德卡瓦略补充道，“因此，这篇论文可能帮助人们发现更多这类系统。”
The study is published in The ISME Journal.
这项研究发表在《国际微生物生态学会杂志》（The ISME Journal）上。
- 词汇盘点 -
attach、 stumble、 anomalous、 sequence、 bacteriophage、 infect、 lean on sb/sth、 protein、 shell、 replicate、 latch、 groundbreaking、 undergraduate、 contamination、 phage、 microscopy、 bind、 spookily、 unencumbered、 remnant、 genome、 vampiric、 integrate、 hypothesize、 hint
- 词汇助记 By ChatGPT -
An undergraduate, unencumbered by contamination fears, stumbled upon an anomalous sequence in bacteriophage research. Using microscopy, he found a vampiric phage, spookily attaching its protein shell to cells, replicating by latching onto the genome. This groundbreaking discovery hinted at how phages integrate, a hint that led to hypothesizing new binding methods.
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