近日，《科學》雜志在線報道稱，劍橋大學的科學家們通過使用兩種干細胞以及一個三維支架，成功地創造出了一個能夠自行組裝的結構，其發育和構造非常接近自然的小鼠胚胎。科學家的研究目的并非制造怪胎，而是為了探究人類的早期發育、妊娠失敗和遺傳缺陷。

Artificial human life could soon be grown from scratch in the lab, after scientists successfully created a mammal embryo using only stem cells.
在科學家成功利用干細胞培育出哺乳動物胚胎后，人工制造的人類胚胎很快也將能夠被培育出來。

Cambridge University mixed two kinds of mouse stem cells and placed them on a 3D scaffold. After four days of growth in a tank of chemicals designed to mimic conditions inside the womb, the cells formed the structure of a living mouse embryo.
劍橋大學研究人員將兩種小鼠干細胞混合并放置在一個三維支架上，在模仿子宮內條件的有化學物質的容器內長了四天，細胞形成了存活的小鼠胚胎結構。

The breakthrough has been described as a ‘masterpiece’ in bioengineering, which could eventually allow scientists to grow artificial human embryos in the lab without the need for a sperm or an egg.
這一突破被稱為生物工程中的“杰作”，科學家們最終將可以在不需要精子或卵子的前提下，在實驗室里培育出人工胚胎。

Growing embryos would help researchers to study the very early stages of human life so they could understand why so many pregnancies fail, but is likely to prove controversial and raise ethical questions about what constitutes human life.
培育人工胚胎將有助于研究人員研究人類活動最早的階段，去探索很多人懷孕失敗的原因，但此舉有可能引發爭議，并提出什么構成了人類生命的倫理問題。

Currently scientists can carry out experiments on leftover embryos from IVF treatments, but they are in short supply and must be destroyed after 14 days. Scientists say that being able to create unlimited numbers of artificial embryos in the lab could speed up research while potentially removing some of the ethical boundaries.
目前科學家能使用試管受精中的剩余胚胎繼續實驗，但供不應求，并在14天后就必須被摧毀。科學家們說，在實驗室中創造無限數量的人工胚胎可加快研究，但與此同時可能跨越了一些倫理界限。

“We think that it will be possible to mimic a lot of the developmental events occurring before 14 days using human stem cells," said Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at Cambridge, who led the research.
“我們認為，可以使用人類干細胞來模仿14天內的發展變化。”研究帶頭人、劍橋大學生理發展和神經科學系的Magdalena Zernicka Goetz教授說。

"We are very optimistic that this will allow us to study key events of this critical stage of human development without actually having to work on (IVF) embryos. Knowing how development normally occurs will allow us to understand why it so often goes wrong."
“這個研究將使我們不需要研究（人工授精）胚胎，就能研究人類發展重要階段的關鍵事件。知道如何正常發育才會讓我們明白，它經常出錯的原因所在。我們對此很樂觀。”

Britain is currently leading the world in fertility research, and last year a group at the Francis Crick Institute was granted permission to genetically modify human embryos, the first time in the world such a procedure had been approved by regulators.
英國目前的生育研究世界領先。2016年，弗蘭西斯克里克學院一個研究小組被批準進行基因改造的人類胚胎繁殖實驗，這是世界上首次獲得監管機構批準的實驗。

However such work raises important ethical questions about the sanctity of human life and whether it should be manipulated or created in the lab at all.
然而這樣的研究引發了關于人類生命的尊嚴和人類生命是否應該被操縱或在實驗室里創造的重要倫理問題。

Critics warn that allowing embryos to be grown for science opens the door to designer babies and genetically modified humans.
批評人士警告說，允許胚胎生長用于科學研究打開了訂制嬰兒和人類基因改造的大門。

英文來源：每日電訊報
翻譯：王鈺（中國日報網愛新聞iNews譯者）
編審：yaning