2022年10月25日 VOA慢速英语：你的气味会吸引蚊子

 

A new study finds that some people attract mosquitoes much more than others, and it probably involves the way they smell.
一项新的研究发现，有些人比其他人更容易吸引蚊子，这可能与它们的气味有关。
 
The researchers found that people who attract mosquitoes the most produce a lot of certain chemicals on their skin. These chemicals are connected to the scent that attracts the mosquitoes.
研究人员发现，最容易吸引蚊子的人会在皮肤上产生大量特定化学物质。这些化学物质与吸引蚊子的气味有关。
 
Leslie Vosshall is one of the authors of the study and a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University in New York. She said, "If you have high levels of this stuff on your skin, you're going to be the one at the picnic getting all the bites."
Leslie Vosshall 是该研究的作者之一，也是纽约洛克菲勒大学的神经生物学家。她说：“如果你的皮肤上这种东西含量很高，那么你将成为野餐时被所有叮咬的人。”
 
For many years, there have been a lot of ideas about who is likely to get bitten more. But those ideas have not been supported by strong evidence, Vosshall said.
多年来，关于谁更容易被咬的问题一直存在很多想法。但这些想法没有得到强有力的证据支持，Vosshall 说。
 
For the study, researchers designed an experiment to have people's scents compete against each other.
在这项研究中，研究人员设计了一个实验，让人们的气味相互竞争。
 
They asked 64 volunteers to wear stockings around their forearms to absorb, or take in, the scent from their skin. The stockings were put in separate traps at the end of a long tube. Then, dozens of mosquitoes were released.
他们要求 64 名志愿者在前臂周围穿长袜，以吸收或吸收皮肤上的气味。长筒袜被放在长管末端的单独陷阱中。然后，数十只蚊子被释放。
 
The mosquitoes came to some traps much more than others. The scientists did the experiment several times, always changing which stockings were competing against each other. At the end, they discovered a huge difference between stockings. The most attractive stocking was around 100 times more attractive to the mosquitoes than the last-place finisher.
蚊子比其他人更容易进入一些陷阱。科学家们做了几次实验，总是改变哪些长袜相互竞争。最后，他们发现了丝袜之间的巨大差异。最吸引人的长袜对蚊子的吸引力是最后一名完成者的 100 倍。
 
The experiment used a kind of mosquito that spreads diseases like yellow fever, Zika and dengue. Vosshall said she would expect similar results from other kinds of mosquitoes. But additional research needs to be done to know for sure.
该实验使用了一种传播黄热病、寨卡病毒和登革热等疾病的蚊子。Vosshall 说，她预计其他种类的蚊子也会有类似的结果。但是需要做更多的研究才能确定。
 
By testing the same people for over a year, the study showed that these big differences remain, said Matt DeGennaro, a neurogeneticist at Florida International University. He was not involved in the research.
佛罗里达国际大学的神经遗传学家 Matt DeGennaro 说，通过对同一个人进行一年多的测试，研究表明这些巨大的差异仍然存在。他没有参与这项研究。
 
"Mosquito magnets seem to remain mosquito magnets," DeGennaro said.
“蚊子磁铁似乎仍然是蚊子磁铁，”DeGennaro 说。
 
The researchers found a common factor: Mosquito magnets had high levels of certain acids on their skin. People produce them in different amounts, Vosshall said. The healthy bacteria that live on the skin eat up these acids and produce part of the way our skin smells, she said.
研究人员发现了一个共同因素：蚊子磁铁皮肤上的某些酸含量很高。Vosshall 说，人们生产它们的数量不同。她说，生活在皮肤上的健康细菌会吃掉这些酸，并产生我们皮肤气味的一部分。
 
The research could help find new ways to repel mosquitoes, said Jeff Riffell, a neurobiologist at the University of Washington who was not involved with the study. There may be ways to affect the skin bacteria and change the smell that attracts mosquitoes, he said.
没有参与这项研究的华盛顿大学神经生物学家 Jeff Riffell 说，这项研究可能有助于找到驱除蚊子的新方法。他说，可能有一些方法可以影响皮肤细菌并改变吸引蚊子的气味。
 
However, he said that would be hard to do. Researchers also did the experiment with mosquitoes whose genes were changed to damage their sense of smell. But they still flew to the same mosquito magnets.
然而，他说这很难做到。研究人员还对基因发生改变以损害其嗅觉的蚊子进行了实验。但他们仍然飞向相同的蚊子磁铁。
 
Vosshall said mosquitoes have ways to find us even if we change some conditions. "They have many backup plans to be able to find us and bite us," she said.
Vosshall 说，即使我们改变一些条件，蚊子也有办法找到我们。“他们有很多后备计划能够找到我们并咬我们，”她说。