让蚊子飞！首批转基因蚊子将“袭击”非洲村庄_公共英语阅读理解

让蚊子飞！首批转基因蚊子将“袭击”非洲村庄

非洲一个村庄嫌蚊子不够多，近日居然放飞了一万只蚊子。其实，这一万只蚊子可不是普通蚊子，而是首批转基因不育雄蚊，目标是对抗疟疾。此次放蚊还只是实验，真正厉害的“特种蚊”武器还在后头呢。

A new front has been opened up in the battle against malaria with the release of the first ever genetically modified mosquitoes in Africa.

有史以来第一批转基因蚊子将在非洲释放，开辟了抗击疟疾的新战线。

让蚊子飞！首批转基因蚊子将“袭击”非洲村庄1

Some 10,000 sterile male mosquitoes will be released in Burkina Faso, a country at the front line of the war against the disease. Last year there were 9.8m cases of malaria here, resulting in almost 4,000 deaths.

约一万只不育雄蚊将在抗击疟疾的第一线——布基纳法索释放。去年这个国家发生了980万例疟疾，造成近4000人丧生。

Malaria is the biggest killer of children under five in Africa and the most up-to-date figures show that there were 216 million malaria cases worldwide, and an estimated 445,000 malaria deaths.

疟疾是非洲5岁以下儿童的最大杀手，最新数据显示，全世界发生的疟疾病例有2.16亿，预计导致的死亡人数大44.5万。

This is the first step in a program to dramatically reduce the mosquito population in the country, and hopefully beyond. The initial release of the mosquitoes will enable researchers to gather more data about the longevity and dispersal of the insects, as well as how they interact with the natural insect population.