托福阅读材料之手机究竟致癌吗？

If you haven't already gotten whiplash  from the ongoing cellphone-cancer debate, a freshly released scientific review might just do the trick.

手机的电磁波到底会不会致癌？这个问题科学界多年来一直整理不出个答案来。不过，最近，一项新的研究结果可能会使答案变得明朗一些。

In the paper, a panel  of experts from Britain, Sweden and the US conducted a thorough survey of previous studies, before concluding that existing literature is "increasingly against" the theory that cellphone use causes brain tumors in adults.

一篇来自英国、瑞典、美国的导师的研究中，发现现有的文献已经逐步倾向于手机“不会”对成年人致癌。

The researchers also questioned the biological mechanisms underpinning  this hypothesis , while acknowledging  some lingering  uncertainties, since data on childhood tumors and longer-term research are still lacking.

同时，导师们也对手机电磁波致癌假说背后的生物机制存疑。他们表示目前在手机对儿童的影响这方面资料不足，而且手机这种产品毕竟普级的时间还不长，因此缺乏长时间累积的数据。

The results come just a few weeks after the World Health Organization released its own literature review, in which it claimed that cell phones should be considered "potentially carcinogenic ." But Anthony Swerdlow, a professor at Britain's Institute of Cancer Research and leader of the most recent investigation, said his group's work doesn't necessarily contradict  the WHO, since the latter was simply seeking to evaluate cancer risks according to its own "pre-set classification  system" -- under which things like pickled vegetables and coffee are also considered "potentially carcinogenic."

但就在数周前，世界卫生组织（WHO）才将手机定为有潜在的致癌性（potentially carcinogenic）。英国一家癌症研究机构的导师 Antony Swerdlow 则认为，导师们的研究结果与WHO的设定并没有冲突，因为 WHO 有自已的一套判定方式，在 WHO 看来，酸菜和咖啡也同样是“有潜在的致癌性”的。

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the debate will die down anytime soon, though Swerdlow expects more definitive conclusions within the next few years -- assuming, of course, that all of our brains haven't turned to oatmeal  by then.

悲剧的是，这并不代表“手机是否致癌”的争论会马上结束。Swerdlow期待更多准确的有关手机是否致癌的数据——事实上全世界正在用手机的人都是白老鼠 ：只要过大约过了几十年，再回头来分析使用手机的人的脑癌发病率，数据应该就准确了。