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DNA is the fundamental molecule the carries genetic instructions that help build the living world.
DNA是攜帶遺傳指令最基本的分子，幫助建造了生機(jī)勃勃的世界。
Humans have DNA. Pigs have DNA. Even bacteria and some viruses have DNA too.
人類有DNA。豬有DNA。甚至細(xì)菌和一些病毒都有DNA。
The genetic instructions encoded in DNA inform how our bodies develop, grow, function.
編碼在DNA中的遺傳指令，告訴我們的身體如何發(fā)育，成長(zhǎng)和發(fā)揮機(jī)能。
And in many cases, that same information can trigger disease.
而且在很多情況下，同樣的信息還能引發(fā)疾病。
Your genetic information is strung into a long and twisted molecule,
你的遺傳信息串成了一段長(zhǎng)而扭曲的分子，
the DNA double helix, that has over three billion letters, beginning to end.
即DNA雙螺旋結(jié)構(gòu)，它有著超過三十億個(gè)堿基，從開始到結(jié)束。
But the lines that carry meaningful information are usually very short -- a few dozen to several thousand letters long.
但是攜帶有意義的信息的那幾行，通常卻很短--只有幾十到幾千個(gè)字母那么長(zhǎng)。
So when we're looking to answer a question based on DNA, we actually don't need to read all those three billion letters, typically.
所以當(dāng)我們?cè)趯ふ一贒NA問題的答案時(shí)，我們實(shí)際上并不需要去讀完所有的那三十億個(gè)字。
That would be like getting hungry at night and having to flip through the whole phone book from cover to cover,
這會(huì)像在晚上覺得很餓，然后不得不翻閱整個(gè)電話簿，從頭到尾，
pausing at every line, just to find the nearest pizza joint.
一行不落，只是為了找到最近的披薩店。
Luckily, three decades ago, humans started to invent tools that can find any specific line of genetic information.
幸運(yùn)的是，三十年前，人類開始發(fā)明工具，使我們能找到任何一種特定的遺傳信息。
These DNA machines are wonderful. They can find any line in DNA.
這些DNA檢測(cè)器非常棒。它們能查找出DNA中任何一行的信息。
But once they find it, that DNA is still tiny, and surrounded by so much other DNA,
但雖然它們找到了它，DNA仍然很小，而且周圍那么多其他的DNA，
that what these machines then do is copy the target gene, and one copy piles on top of another,
那么這些機(jī)器接下來做的便是復(fù)制目標(biāo)基因，復(fù)制一份又一份，
millions and millions and millions of copies, until that gene stands out against the rest;
成千上萬(wàn)次，直到那個(gè)與眾不同的基因出現(xiàn)；
until we can visualize it, interpret it, read it, understand it, until we can answer: Does my pig have the flu?
直到我們能看見它，解釋它，讀懂它，理解它，直到我們能回答：我的豬得了流感嗎？
Or other questions buried in our own DNA: Am I at risk of cancer?
或者其他埋藏在我們自己DNA中的問題：我有患癌癥的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)嗎？
Am I of Irish descent? Is that child my son?
我有愛爾蘭血統(tǒng)嗎? 那孩子是我親生的嗎？
