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Smoking and Cancer
吸烟与癌症——绰绰有余的胡说
如果你是一个烟民，你很可能不计其数地听过这句话——吸烟有害健康，你可能在年轻时就因此死于癌症。即使不完全相同，你也可能听过相类似的话。传达的意思都相同——通常的观点是吸烟与肺癌间有直接联系。为什么不呢？毕竟，我们都知道吸烟有害健康，而且烟民们知道这玩意不容易戒了。
我现在并不是在此倡导吸烟，但是我们确实要好好想想。有许多老资格的烟民们吸了大半辈子的烟却仍然活到高龄，还有人可能只是轻度或适度的烟民却得了肺癌。只是为什么呢？
哈佛医学院一份新调查给出了一个解释。根据霍华德莱文博士的说法：新研究表明，不同基因种类的人患肺癌和烟瘾的概率是不同的。从父母中的一位遗传到变种基因的人患肺癌的概率比常人多30%。从父母双亲那里都遗传到变种基因的人概率升至80%。另一份研究发现，拥有这些基因的人更容易患烟瘾，多吸烟。三份不同的研究发现这都与15号染色体的变种有关。这些发现出版在《自然与自然遗传学》杂志上。
简言之，仅仅吸烟与得肺癌之间是不能简单划等号的。这里还有一个决定性因素——个人的基因。这个发现当然不是你继续吸烟的借口，但是它对于那些没有此类基因的烟民们而言是个好兆头。
If you are a smoker, you’ve probably heard this line so many times you cannot even begin to count it – smoking is bad, you’ll probably die of cancer at a young age. Maybe you’ve been told something along those lines, not exactly the same words. The idea is the same though – the general belief is that there is a direct correlation between smoking and lung cancer. And why not? After all, we all know that smoking is not good for the health. Then again, smokers know that it is not that easy to quit.
Now I am not advocating smoking here but here’s something to think about. There are people who are heavy smokers for most of their lives and yet live to a ripe age. Then again, there are people who maybe light or moderate smokers and develop lung cancer. So what gives?
A new study at the Harvard Medical School offers an explanation. According to Dr. Howard Levine:
Different versions of genes increase the risk of both lung cancer and smoking addiction, according to the new research. Smokers who get the gene variants from one parent have a 30% greater risk of lung cancer. The risk goes up 80% for smokers who get the genes from both parents. Another study found that people with these genes get addicted more easily and smoke more. Three different studies found the variant genes on chromosome 15. They were published in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics.
In short, there is more to the equation than simply smoking and lung cancer. There is a determining factor as well – one’s genes. This finding is certainly not an excuse to keep on smoking but it does bode well for those who may not have those genes as well.
[责编：朱静]
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