罗马队需要取得连胜，才能保持竞争力

　　第28篇：BBC新闻～乳香和癌症

　　The gift given by the wise men to the baby Jesus probably came across the deserts from Oman. The BBC's Jeremy Howell visits the country to ask whether a commodity that was once worth its weight in gold could be reborn as a treatment for cancer.Oman's Land of Frankincense is an 11-hour drive southwards from the capital, Muscat.Most of the journey is through Arabia's Empty Quarter - hundreds of kilometres of flat, dun-coloured desert. Just when you are starting to think this is the only scenery you will ever see again, the Dhofar mountains appear in the distance.

　　圣经中记载，智者为了把乳香作为礼物给予婴儿耶稣，穿越了整个阿曼的沙漠。

　　英国广播公司的杰里米·豪威尔亲赴阿曼，询问曾经其价值媲美黄金的乳香（乳香按重量价值与黄金重量价值相等），是否可以作为癌症重生的治疗方案。

　　盛产乳香的阿曼的土地并不宽广，从最南方开车到首都马斯喀特，需要11个小时的车程。大部分的车程就是通过阿拉伯的空白区，上百公里的暗褐色沙漠。当你开云开始想这是不是只是唯一的风景时，佐法尔山脉就出现在远处的视线里。

　　On the other side are green valleys, with cows grazing in them. The Dhofar region catches the tail-end of India's summer monsoons, and they make this the most verdant place on the Arabian peninsula.Warm winters and showery summers are the perfect conditions for the Boswellia sacra tree to produce the sap called frankincense. These trees grow wild in Dhofar. A tour guide, Mohammed Al-Shahri took me to Wadi Dawkah, a valley 20 km inland from the main city of Salalah, to see a forest of them."The records show that frankincense was produced here as far back as 7,000 BC," he says. He produces an army knife. He used to be a member of the Sultan's Special Forces. With a practised flick, he cuts a strip of bark from the trunk of one of the Boswellia sacra trees. Pinpricks of milky-white sap appear on the wood and, very slowly, start to ooze out.

　　另一边是绿色的山谷，有奶牛在放牧。在佐法尔地区正好遇到印度夏季风的尾部，这是阿拉伯半岛最绿色葱葱的时节。温暖的冬季和阵雨不断的夏季都是乳香圣树产生乳香树脂最好的季节，这些树遍布佐法尔地区，导游穆罕默德带我去Wadi Dawkah，

　　冬季和夏季阵雨最青翠的地方是完美的条件，乳香萨克拉树，产生所谓的乳香的汁液。这些树在佐法尔横生。一个导游，穆罕默德·Shahri带我去旺地Dawkah，谷内陆塞拉莱主城20公里处，看到他开云体育官网们的森林。“的记录显示，乳香是这里生产的，早在公元前7000年”他说。他产生一个瑞士军刀。他曾经是苏丹的特种部队的一员。随着熟练的一抖，他切开树皮从乳香萨克拉树种之一的树干带。的乳白色汁液抽血出现在木头和，非常缓慢，开始渗出。

　　Boswellia sacra produces the highest-quality frankincense

　　神圣的乳香树生产最高品质的乳香。

　　"This is the first cut. But you don't gather this sap," he says. "It releases whatever impurities are in the wood. The farmers return after two or three weeks and make a second, and a third, cut. Then the sap comes out yellow, or bright green, or brown or even black. They take this."Shortly afterwards, a frankincense farmer arrives in a pick-up truck. He is white-bearded, wearing a brown thobe and the traditional Omani, paisley-patterned turban.He is 67-year-old Salem Mohammed from the Gidad family. Most of the Boswellia sacra trees grow on public land, but custom dictates that each forest is given to one of the local families to farm, and Wadi Dawkah is his turf Camel train。He has an old, black, iron chisel with which he gouges out clumps of dried frankincense."We learnt about frankincense from our forefathers and they learnt it from theirs" he says. "The practice has been passed down through the generations. We exported the frankincense, and that's how the families in Dhofar made their livings."

　　“第一次切开乳香树皮，你们不会收集这种汁液，”他说。 “它会释放木头里面的不知名的杂质。所以当地的农民会两、三个星期后返回，并在乳香树皮上切第二个和第三个切口，这个时候渗出的汁液是黄色或亮绿色，或褐色甚至黑色。他们就会开始收集这样的汁液。”不久之后，当地依靠乳香生存的农民会开着一辆小卡车。他有着白胡子，穿着一件棕色大袍和传统的阿曼服，上面有佩斯利图案的头巾。他是67岁的穆罕默德·萨利姆，来自名为Gidad的家庭。大部分的神圣乳香树木生长在公共的土地上，但习惯使然，每个森林都是一个当地的家庭农场。乳香树自然保护区Wadi Dawkah是他骆驼队的势力范围，他曾凿出一个很旧的，黑色的，像铁一样的干干的乳香团块。“我们从我们的祖先了解到乳香，他们从他们祖先那里了解的”，他说。 “出口乳香就是佐法尔家庭如何谋生的手段，这种做法一直流传至后代，。”

　　And what an export trade it was. Frankincense was sent by camel train to Egypt, and from there to Europe. It was shipped from the ancient port of Sumharan to Persia, India and China. Religions adopted frankincense as a burnt offering.That is why, according to Matthew's Gospel in the Bible, the Wise Men brought it as a gift to the infant Jesus. Gold:开云体育下载 for a king. Frankincense: for God. Myrrh: to embalm Jesus' body after death.The Roman Empire coveted the frankincense trade. In the first century BCE, Augustus Caesar sent 10,000 troops to invade what the Romans called Arabia Felix to find the source of frankincense and to control its production. The legions, marching from Yemen, were driven back by the heat and the aridity of the desert. They never found their Eldorado.Oman's frankincense trade went into decline three centuries ago, when Portugal fought Oman for dominance of the sea routes in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans.

　　塞勒姆穆罕默德说：“年轻人喜欢在石油公司或政府发展事业。”

　　而乳香的出口贸易是如何进行的呢？乳香由骆驼队运输到埃及，并从那里运到欧洲。它是从当地的古港Sumharan运到波斯、印度和中国。宗教把乳香用作燔祭，这就是为什么在马太福音在圣经中，有智慧的人把它作为礼物送给婴儿耶稣。金是为国王服务的。乳香是为上帝服务的。没药：使耶稣的死亡后的身体保持不腐。罗马帝国觊觎乳香贸易。在公元前一世纪，罗马大帝派出10000人的部队入侵阿拉伯费利克斯Arabia Felix，试图寻找乳香的来源并控制其生产。这些军队来自也门，被高温和干旱的沙漠击退，所以他们从来没有发现理想中的乳香源地。在三个世纪前，当葡萄牙为了保持在印度洋和太平洋的海上航线而进攻阿曼时，乳香贸易量开始下降。

　　注1：燔祭（希伯来语: olah，英语：burnt offering或whole offering）是《旧约圣经·利未记:》中提到的第一种祭物，需要将所献上的整只祭牲完全烧在祭坛上，全部经火烧成灰。 这种祭不可为任何人留下一点肉，被认为是最好的一种祭[1]，也是犹太教允许非犹太人到圣殿献上的一种祭。

　　Salalah's Haffa souk: The place to buy Omani brands such as Royal Hougari

　　塞拉莱的哈法集市：购买阿曼品牌的地方，如Royal Hougari

　　Nowadays, hardly any Omani frankincense is exported. Partly, this is because bulk buyers, such as the Roman Catholic Church, buy cheaper Somalian varieties. Partly, it is because Omanis now produce so little."Years ago, 20 families farmed frankincense in this area," says Salem Mohammed Gidad. "But the younger generation can get well-paid jobs in the government and the oil companies, with pensions. Now, only three people still produce frankincense around here. The trade is really, really tiny!"Cancer hope，But immunologist Mahmoud Suhail is hoping to open a new chapter in the history of frankincense.Scientists have observed that there is some agent within frankincense which stops cancer spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves down. He is trying to find out what this is.

　　如今，几乎没有乳香是阿曼出口。有一些原因是因为有大买家，如罗马天主教，购买比较便宜的索马里品种的乳香。有一些原因是因为阿曼的乳香现在生产的少。”几年前，在这个地区有20个家庭种植乳香。“塞勒姆穆罕默德说”但年轻的一代在政府和石油公司能得到高薪的工作，包括养老金。现在，只有三个人仍然在这里生产乳香。贸易量是真的真的很小！”但是癌症免疫学家艾哈迈迪希望打开乳香的历史新篇章，科学家们观察到，有一些贸易的代理人在使用乳香后，癌症停止了扩散，导致癌细胞消失了。他是想知道这到底是怎么回事。

　　The Catholic church mostly buys Somalian frankincense

　　天主教会大多购买索马里乳香

　　"Cancer starts when the DNA code within the cell's nucleus becomes corrupted," he says. "It seems frankincense has a re-set function. It can tell the cell what the right DNA code should be."Frankincense separates the 'brain' of the cancerous cell - the nucleus - from the 'body' - the cytoplasm, and closes down the nucleus to stop it reproducing corrupted DNA codes."Working with frankincense could revolutionise the treatment of cancer. Currently, with chemotherapy, doctors blast the area around a tumour to kill the cancer, but that also kills healthy cells, and weakens the patient. Treatment with frankincense could eradicate the cancerous cells alone and let the others live.The task now is to isolate the agent within frankincense which, apparently, works this wonder. Some ingredients of frankincense are allergenic, so you cannot give a patient the whole thing.

　　“当细胞的细胞核内的DNA代码被破坏时，癌症就开始了，”他说。 “看起来乳香有一个重新设置功能一样，可以告诉细胞正确的DNA代码应该是什么样。”乳香分离癌细胞的细胞核和细胞质，就像把“大脑”和“身体”分开，关闭细胞核并阻止它复制损坏的DNA密码。“乳香可以彻底改变癌症的治疗方式，通常在化疗时，医生摧毁肿瘤周围区域来杀死癌细胞，但也杀死健康细胞，并病人变得很虚弱。仅仅用乳香做治疗就可完全消灭癌细胞，让其他的健康细胞不被损害。.目前的任务是辨别乳香，哪些乳香是有神奇功能的。因为乳香的某些成分容易让人过敏，所以你不要看到是乳香就把它给病人使用。

　　FRANKINCENSE FACTS

　　乳香的小知识

　　Boswellia sacra grows in Oman, Yemen and Somalia

　　神圣乳香生长于阿曼，也门和索马里

　　Other Boswellia species grow in Africa and India

　　其他的乳香品种生长于南非和印度

　　The tree may have been named after John Boswell, the uncle of Samuel Johnson's biographer

　　这棵树可能被命名为约翰博斯韦尔，塞缪尔·约翰逊的传记作家的叔叔

　　In ancient Egypt frankincense was thought to be sweat of the gods

　　在古埃及乳香被认为是神的汗水

　　Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal

　　资料来源：药学杂志

　　Dr Suhail (who is originally from Iraq) has teamed up with medical scientists from the University of Oklahoma for the task。In his laboratory in Salalah, he extracts the essential oil from locally produced frankincense. Then, he separates the oil into its constituent agents, such as Boswellic acid."There are 17 active agents in frankincense essential oil," says Dr Suhail. "We are using a process of elimination. We have cancer sufferers - for example, a horse in South Africa - and we are giving them tiny doses of each agent until we find the one which works.""Some scientists think Boswellic acid is the key ingredient. But I think this is wrong. Many other essential oils - like oil from sandalwood - contain Boswellic acid, but they don't have this effect on cancer cells. So we are starting afresh."

　　SUHAIL博士（来自伊拉克）与来自俄克拉荷马大学在塞拉莱的合作这个项目。在他的塞拉莱的实验室里，他从当地出产的乳香中提取的精油。然后，他分离乳香精油的成分，如乳香酸。“乳香精油中有17种有效成分，”SUHAIL博士。 “我们使用的是排除法，我们有癌症患者，如在南非一匹马，我们给他们微小的剂量每剂，直到我们找到了是哪一种有效成分在起作用。”有一些科学家认为，乳香酸是关键因素，但我认为这是不对的。许多其他精油，像从檀香精油也含有乳香酸，但它们不具有对癌细胞的这种效果。因此，我们的研究是全新的。

　　The trials will take months to conduct and whatever results come out of them will take longer still to be verified. But this is a blink of the eye in the history of frankincense.Nine thousand years ago, Omanis gathered it and burnt it for its curative and cleansing properties. It could be a key to the medical science of tomorrow.

　　本次试验将需要几个月的时间，无论出来的是什么结果，它都需要更长的时间来验证。但是，这是乳香漫长历史上很短的时间，就像眨眼一样短暂。九千年前，阿曼人把乳香聚集在一起并焚烧，因为它可以治病并具有清洁特质。这可能是未来医学科学的一个关键。

　　Jeremy Howell reports for Middle East Business Report on BBC World News.

　　杰里米·豪威尔中东商业报告，来自BBC世界新闻。

　　翻译: TANIA唐露（文章的名称Max做了修改）

　　配图: 精油侠Max