導(dǎo)讀：從古至今，長壽甚至是永生，一直都是不少人追求的終極目標(biāo)。而近日科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，長生不老的秘訣或許能在一種“不會老”的動(dòng)物身上找到……

From the stories of ancient Greece to science fiction movies, immortality has long been something that humans have talked about.
從古希臘故事到科幻電影，永生一直以來都是人們談?wù)摰脑掝}。

We’re often told that the secret to a longer life is down to eating a healthy diet and taking regular exercise.
我們經(jīng)常聽說長壽的秘訣在于健康的飲食和有規(guī)律的鍛煉。

Yet according to a Google-owned company, the answer could lie in an unusual-lookingrodent called the naked mole rat.
然而谷歌旗下的一家公司卻認(rèn)為，（長壽）的答案在一種長相奇特的嚙齒類動(dòng)物——裸鼢鼠的身上。

Calico, a company co-founded by Google in 2013, says it wants to figure out why our body ages, calling it the “most fundamental unsolved problem in biology” , by studying the strange creature, whose DNA shares an 85 percent similarity to humans’.
Calico是谷歌于2013年合作創(chuàng)立的一家公司。該公司表示，裸鼢鼠的DNA與人類有85%的相似性，他們希望通過研究這種奇特的生物，找出我們身體變老的原因，并稱之為“生物學(xué)中最根本的未解之謎?！?br />

Native to East Africa, the animal looks like a baby mouse, with pink, wrinkly skin and large teeth.
這種動(dòng)物原產(chǎn)于東非，長得很像小老鼠，有著粉色褶皺皮膚以及巨大的牙齒。

It can survive for years in harsh conditions in underground tunnels, and lives for around 30 years, more than five times longer than mice.
它能在地下隧道的嚴(yán)酷環(huán)境中生存數(shù)年，壽命在30年左右，超出一般老鼠壽命的5倍。

The amazing animal’s body can even create oxygen “l(fā)ike a plant” if it’s placed in conditions without air, and is highly resistant to cancer.
如果這種奇妙的動(dòng)物身處于沒有空氣的環(huán)境中，它的身體甚至還能“像植物一樣”創(chuàng)造氧氣，而且對癌癥有很強(qiáng)的抵抗力。

So how will this help humans live longer?
所以這些特點(diǎn)要如何幫助人類變得更長壽呢？

According to a 2014 study by researchers at the American Friends of Tel Aviv University in New York, the naked mole rat’s body contains high levels of a protein which scientists believe is what keeps it from aging.
紐約的以色列特拉維夫大學(xué)美國之友的研究人員2014年發(fā)布的一份研究顯示，裸鼢鼠的身體中含有一種高水平的蛋白質(zhì)，科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為這種蛋白質(zhì)是裸鼢鼠永葆活力不變老的原因。

Unlike humans, as naked mole rats grow older, their bodies don’t grow weak and their brain functions don’t worsen, meaning that elderly naked mole rats are still as strong as younger ones.
和人類不同的是，隨著裸鼢鼠變老，它們的身體不會變得虛弱，大腦功能也不會退化，這意味著年老的裸鼢鼠仍和和年輕的裸鼢鼠一樣健壯。

“There’s still a lot we can learn from extremely long-lived animals,” Rochelle Buffenstein, a professor at the University of Texas, US, wrote in a study on naked mole rats.
“我們還有很多東西要向那些特別長壽的動(dòng)物學(xué)習(xí)，”美國德克薩斯州大學(xué)教授譯成中文在一份裸鼢鼠的研究報(bào)告中寫道。

She added that studying the animal may allow us to “evaluate whether nature – through millions of years of evolutionary experimentation – has already evolved the best way to delay the aging process.”
她補(bǔ)充道，研究這種動(dòng)物或許讓我們能夠“評估大自然是否在經(jīng)過了數(shù)百萬年的進(jìn)化實(shí)驗(yàn)后，已經(jīng)進(jìn)化出了延緩衰老的最佳方式?！?/span>

源自:21英語網(wǎng)