人類離贏得"癌症戰爭"勝利的距離(1)
The latest figures show just how distant a prospect victory is right now. In the US, the lifetime risk of developing cancer is 42% in men and 38% in women, according to the American Cancer Society. The figures are even worse in the UK. According to Cancer Research UK, 54% of men and 48% of women will get cancer at some point in their lives.
最新的數據表明，人類離贏得“癌症戰爭”還有太遠的距離。根據美國癌症協會(American Cancer Society)的最新數據統計，在美國，一個男性一生中患癌症的風險是42%，女性是38%。在英國，這一數字甚至更糟。根據英國癌症研究所（Cancer Research UK）的研究，54%的男性和48%的女性會在生命中某刻罹患癌症。
And cases are on the rise. As of 2015 there are 2.5 million people in the UK living with the disease, according to Macmillan Cancer Support. This is an increase of 3% each year, or 400,000 extra cases in five years.
病例數字也在上升。麥克米倫癌症援助機構（Macmillan Cancer Support）數字顯示，2015年在英國有250萬人爲癌症患者。這個數字以每年百分之三的速度在增長，也就是說在過去的五年間新增了400,000 名癌症患者。
Figures like this show that cancer is not only extremely pervasive, but also becoming more and more common. But why will so many people develop the disease at some point in their lives?
此類數字顯示癌症不僅非常普遍，而且越來越司空見慣。但是爲什麼會有那麼多人罹患癌症呢？
To get to the answer, we must understand that cancer is an unfortunate by-product of the way evolution works. Large and complicated animals like humans are vulnerable to cancer precisely because they are large and complicated.
爲了對此有更好的解釋，我們必須明白一點，那就是癌症是人類進化過程的一個不幸的副產品。大而複雜的動物，如人類，容易受到癌症的攻擊，正是因爲他們體格龐大，機體複雜。
But even though it is evolutionary processes that have made cancer such a problem, it is also evolutionary thinking that is now leading to pioneering treatments that could stack the odds against cancer and in favour of our health.
但是即使癌症本身是進化過程導致的問題，我們依然可以用目前最先進的也是最前沿的想法去創造先進的治療手段去對付癌細胞，提高治癒癌症的概率並提升我們的健康水平。
To understand how cancer exists at all, we need to go back to a fundamental process that occurs in our bodies: cell division.
要了解癌症是如何存在的，我們需要了解發生在我們身體內的一個最基本的過程：細胞分裂。
We each started out when an egg and sperm cell met and fused. Within a few days, that egg and sperm had turned into a ball containing a few hundred cells. By the time we reach adulthood about 18 years later, those cells have divided so many more times that scientists cannot agree, even to the nearest few trillion, exactly how many cells our bodies contain.
我們每個人都始於一個卵子和精子細胞的結合。在幾天之內，這個卵子和精子就會變成一個包含有幾百個細胞的囊。隨着時間的推移，等我們到了18歲成年時，我們體內的細胞已經不斷的分裂太多太多次，以至於即使是科學家們也無法就我們人體究竟有多少細胞數量達成一致意見，即使在幾萬億數量級水平上，也無法達成一致。
Cell division in our bodies is very heavily controlled. For instance, when you were first growing your hands, some cells went through "cell suicide" – a process called apoptosis – to carve out the spaces between your fingers.
細胞分裂在身體內部是被非常嚴格控制的。舉例來說，比如我們的手第一次成形是因爲一部分細胞會通過“細胞自殺”的方式經歷一個凋亡的過程，在兩個手指中間的位置騰出空間來，從而形成手指。
Cancer is also all about cell division, but with one important difference. A cancerous cell breaks all the rules of controlled division that our other cells follow.
癌症與細胞分裂息息相關，兩者之間的重要區別在於癌細胞打破了其他細胞嚴格遵循的細胞分裂的規則。
It is like they are a different organism, says developmental biologist Timothy Weil of the University of Cambridge in the UK. "The better that cell gets at dividing faster than its neighbours and gaining nutrients, the more successful it will be as a cancer, and the more likely it will survive and grow."
“就好像他們是另外一種有機體，”英國劍橋大學的生物科學家蒂莫西.韋爾（Timothy Weil）說。“細胞分裂速度越快就容易獲得營養，也就越容易形成癌症，並且更容易存活與成長。”
Healthy cell division is marked by control and restraint, but cancerous cell division is wild, uncontrolled proliferation.
健康的細胞分裂被嚴格標記並面臨限制，但是癌細胞的分裂是野蠻、失控式的繁殖和擴散。
