本文為自譯，僅供參考，水平實在有限。 A small study uses genetic engineering with the goal of curbing vast stray feline populations. curb-控制 stray feline-流浪貓 一項小型研究利用基因工程來控制大量流浪貓群體。 For all the cats who share our homes as companion animals, there is a vast shadow world of strays — a sprawling and fast-breeding crowd. sprawling-蔓延的 雖說一些貓和我們共享家園，陪伴在我們左右，但還有一個在陰影世界中的、龐大的流浪貓群體，它們野蠻生長、迅速繁殖。 Their lives are plagued by the threat of infectious diseases,predators and fast-moving cars. And they are major predators themselves,hunting down millions of birds and small mammals annually. plague-困擾 他們的生活受到傳染病的威脅，捕食者的和快速移動的汽車的困擾。它們自己也是主要的捕食者，其每年追捕數(shù)百萬只鳥類與小型哺乳動物。 In the United States, volunteers are especially active in trapping the cats, bringing them to clinics to get surgically sterilized, and then returning them to their colonies. But controlling stray cat populations is costly and logistically cumbersome.Many communities, especially in countries outside the United States and Europe, lack the veterinary and economic resources to coordinate such efforts. sterilize-消毒 cumbersome-麻煩的 veterinary-獸醫(yī)的 在美國，志愿者們特別積極地誘捕這些貓，把它們帶到診所進(jìn)行手術(shù)消毒，然后讓他們回到他們的群體。但是控制著流浪貓人口成本昂貴，而且在后勤上也很麻煩。特別是在美國和歐洲以外的國家的許多社區(qū)，缺乏獸醫(yī)儲備和經(jīng)濟資源來協(xié)調(diào)。 "Coming up with an alternative to surgery has been a goal for a lot of people for decades,and there just hasn't been anything else that's proven to be effective,"said William Swanson,an expert in animal research. “幾十年來，找到一種替代手術(shù)的方法一直是很多人的目標(biāo)，但沒有任何其他方法被證明是有效的?！眲游镅芯繉＜彝に雇f。 Such a method might finally be on the horizon. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, a single shot of a gene therapy prevented pregnancy in cats for at least two years. The study was extremely small:Six female cats that received the gene therapy shot were compared to three who did not. 這樣一種方法可能最終即將出現(xiàn)。在《自然》雜志上發(fā)表的一項研究中一種基因療法可以至少在兩年的時間內(nèi)防止貓懷孕。這項研究的規(guī)模非常小--實驗內(nèi)容是6只接受了基因治療的母貓與3只沒有接受基因治療的母貓進(jìn)行了比較。 Researchers are also testing the therapy in kittens, which can be treated starting at eight weeks of age, as well as in dogs, which also have enormous stray populations, particularly in other countries. 研究人員還在小貓身上測試了這種療法，小貓可以在8周大時就開始治療，而且也應(yīng)用在狗身上，尤其是在其他國家，狗也有大量的流浪群體。 Researchers cautioned that much more research would be needed to test the preliminary findings. And if larger studies confirm that the treatment —the first gene therapy developed specifically for animals— is safe and effective over a cat's lifetime, controlling cat populations won't require the surgical expertise of veterinarians. 研究人員提醒說，還需要更多的研究來檢驗這些初步發(fā)現(xiàn)。如果更大規(guī)模的研究證實了這種治療方法（第一個專門為動物開發(fā)的基因療法），其在貓的整個一生中都安全有效的，如此以來控制貓的數(shù)量就不需要獸醫(yī)的專業(yè)外科知識了。 They also cautioned that there was still much to learn from a larger study,such as how long the shot lasts, whether it is as safe as it seems,and what proportion of cats it will actually protect from pregnancy,because it probably won't be 100 percent. 他們還提醒說，還有很多東西需要通過更大規(guī)模的研究去了解，比如這種疫苗能持續(xù)多長時間，它是否像看起來的那樣安全，以及它究竟能保護(hù)多大比例的貓不懷孕，因為其作用效力很可能不是百分之百。