雙胞胎總是隔代出現?

Really?
The Claim: Twins Always Skip a Generation (原文連結)

這篇文章來自NYT的Health中的一個系列,標題總是以"Really?The Claim:....."來帶出主題,有點像那種日本節目專門問生活中不易被發現的小常識或傳聞,然後以Facts帶出正解.我個人覺得相當有趣.
這篇從科學的角度來解釋傳說中雙胞胎會隔代出現的現象是否存在?

People with twins in their extended families may wonder whether a crib for two is in their future, too.
家族中有雙胞胎的人不知道他們以後會不會也要用到雙人用的娃娃床.

這邊插進一個在說話跟翻譯的時候,我個人覺得可以注意的就是wonder這個字,先看下定義
If you wonder about something, you think about it, either because it interests you and you want to know more about it, or because you are worried or suspicious about it.
有時候在句子中有"不知道"三個字的時候我們會直覺的用I don't know, we don't know ...這類的某些時候語意很接近,但是有時候其實要表達的意思用wonder這個字表達可能會更接近我們要表達的意思
比較下面兩個句子
I wondered what that noise was...
I didn't know what that noise was...
這兩句乍看好像都表達我不知道那是什麼噪音,但是前一個句子除了有不知道外還帶有猜測的語氣.可以試試在會話中練習使用這個字.在看電影或是美劇時也可以注意一下,通常說I wonder....除了表示自己不知道的狀態還會帶出質疑詢問對方的語氣.

According to conventional wisdom, twins not only run in families, but they also — for some strange reason — always skip at least one generation. It is a claim that is widely repeated, but only partly true.
說實話這傳說我第一次聽見,還蠻有趣倒是,傳統智慧應該是根據觀察跟經驗法則吧!雙胞胎總是跳過最少一代,不過只有部分正確.
"According to conventional wisdom"很類似中文中常說根據老祖宗流傳下來的智慧;這裡提供個最近我們文學課常用的用語,在文字還沒發明不發達或是非正式記載的場合,我們所謂的口耳相傳可以說"According to oral tradition".

Scientists have known for some time that there is a gene that can predispose women to hyperovulation, or releasing two or more eggs in a single menstrual cycle. When both eggs are fertilized, the resulting siblings are fraternal twins. Because this gene can be passed on, the tendency to have fraternal twins can in fact run in families.
這裡用了幾個比較技術的字,科學家已經知道有時候有個基因會讓女人容易在一次經期排出兩個或以上的卵子,當兩個卵子都受精會產生異卵雙胞胎,這個基因可能會傳下去,事實上的確有些家庭容易誕生異卵雙胞胎,看到hyperovulation應該大家都跟我一樣先嚇了一跳吧,不過報紙不是專業教科書,後面馬上就給了解釋,並不影響繼續向下讀.

Identical twins, on the other hand, result from one fertilized egg randomly splitting in two, creating two siblings with identical DNA. Because there is no known gene that influences this process, it is considered a mere coincidence when one extended family has multiple sets of identical twins.
同卵雙胞胎,來自於一個受精卵隨機的分裂成兩個,於是生出兩個DNA完全相同的小孩,因為沒有已知的基因對這個過程有影響,一個家族有多對同卵雙胞胎的情形被看作是個巧合.不具數據上的意義.
sibling:One of two or more individuals having one or both parents in common; a brother or sister.雖然有點正式的字,不過自我介紹或是介紹別人家族成員時除了說brothers and sisters外有另外的選擇,比方說
His siblings are mostly in their early twenties... 他的兄弟姐妹大多都20出頭
fertilized egg 受精卵,這個字我總會聯想到另一個字 fertile提供給大家參考,這個字的英文有一部分解釋念起來蠻有趣節錄在下面
1.Land or soil that is fertile is able to support the growth of a large number of strong healthy plants.
...fertile soil.
2.A person or animal that is fertile is able to reproduce and have babies or young.
The operation cannot be reversed to make her fertile again.
是土地呢,就是種得出東西來肥沃的,是人呢就是生得出來的,我個人覺得蠻有趣,不過把妹別用這個笑話,第一題材不太好,第二如果對方單字量跟對英語冷笑話感受度很低,那你馬上就會跟geek畫上等號.
Doctors will tell you that pregnancy is the only sure test for fertility.醫生會跟你說祇有懷孕才是百分之百準的測試你會不會生.
infertility, 不孕infertile不孕症

這裡我在雞婆的多補充一個字
mere:You use mere to emphasize how unimportant or inadequate something is, in comparison to the general situation you are describing.
這個字是不重要不足夠的意思,在我們這篇文章裡也點出那些特例不足以列入考慮,這個字特別在哪呢?它沒有比較級,而它的最高級merest其實只是更強調這個多不重要,也不會拿來當做比較.所以不要寫 The merest of....這種句子.文法上也許是對的,不過句子本身不太正確.

The notion that twins always skip a generation is also a myth. The illusion may have arisen because men who inherit the gene from their mothers are unaffected by it ( they do not ovulate), but can still pass it on to their daughters, who, in turn, will have an increased likelihood of conceiving twins.
雙胞胎總是跳一代還是個迷思.有個可能的解釋指向男人從母親繼承了這個基因並不影響(兄弟,我們不排卵,真的),但是還是可以把這個基因傳給他們的女兒,這樣跳了一代又很有機會懷雙胞胎了.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Twins can run in families, but do not necessarily bypass generations.

結論有可能有些家族容易懷雙胞胎,不過不需要隔代.

大家可以觀察看看認識的人中是否也有這種情形.看看就好不必太認真.
希望這種題材可以給大家帶來些娛樂,下次介紹熱水澡是否影響男性雄風的那篇.

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