经济学人精读 | 精子捐献|sperm|不育症|卵子|受孕|精子

注：以下中文译本仅供参考，并非一一对应

The sperm and egg business

Swimming freestyle

America's love of free markets extends to its fertility clinics

EVERY TIME one of America’s genetic-testing companies advertises a deal on DNA kits, Michael (not his real name) braces himself for what may follow: a message from one of his hitherto unknown offspring . Three decades ago, as a student at the University of Houston, Michael became a sperm donor; the clinic would “pull me out of retirement”, he says, every time a customer wanted to expand their family. So far, the 55-year-old knows of around 60 children (and a dozen grandchildren) he has sired in addition to the four teenagers he shares with his wife; he suspects the true number is closer to 100.

每当美国有一家基因检测公司宣传与DNA试剂盒有关的交易时，迈克尔（化名）都为可能发生的事情做好了准备：会收到一条来自他迄今未知的一个后代的信息。三十年前，作为休斯敦大学的学生，迈克尔成为了一名精子捐献者。他说，每次客户想要扩大家庭时，诊所都会“把我从退休生活中拉出来”。到目前为止，这个55岁的老人除了与妻子同住的四个少年外，还认识了大约60个孩子（和十二个孙子）。他怀疑事实上这个数字可能接近100。

fertility 表示“能生育性；可繁殖性”，反义词 infertility 意为“不育症”；形容词为 fertile 以及 infertile brace 意思是“使作准备；使防备”，常用于 brace sb/oneself for sth hitherto 指“迄今为止” offspring 表示“后代；子女” sperm 指“精子”，对应的“卵子”就是 egg sire 意思是“成为父亲”，后可直接加名词作宾语

“I could write a book,” he says, about the lifelong consequences of what had seemed, at the time, like an easy buck and an incentive to live healthily (he steered clear of heavy drinking and drugs to preserve his sperm's motility ). Several children contact him regularly. He has been surprised by how many had been led to believe the father who brought them up was their biological parent: “Sometimes they’re very angry they’ve been lied to all their lives”. He is aware of some offspring who know his identity but have not made contact, and of a Facebook group he is not part of “so they can compare notes ”. He gets a lot of cards on Father’s Day.

当谈到那时的这件事可能产生的终身后果时，他说：“我可以写一本书，”这件事既可以轻松赚钱又能激励我健康生活（他避免大量饮酒和服用药物以保持精子的活力）。几个孩子定期与他联系。令他感到惊讶的是，究竟有多少人是通过“被刻意引导”的方式才相信，抚养他们的父亲就是他们的亲生父母：“有时候他们真的很生气，他们被欺骗了一辈子”。他知道自己的一些后代虽然知道他的身份但却还未和自己取得联系。他也知道自己并不在脸书（Facebook）的那个群聊中，因此他们可以在群内互相交换意见（自由讨论）。父亲节当天，他收到了很多祝福卡片。

buck 本意是“（一）美元”，在这里 a easy buck 就表示“轻易挣钱”，类似于短语 make a fast/quick buck（轻易地赚钱） incentive 意思是“激励；刺激” steer clear of 或者是 keep/stay clear of，表示“避开；回避” motility 指“运动性” compare notes 是个短语，表示“交换意见”

An ever-increasing number of men (and women who donate eggs) will have similar experiences. Because America’s sperm- and egg-donor industry is largely unregulated, no one knows how many children have been conceived this way. But social changes mean the industry is going through a period of extraordinary and unprecedented growth. Most of the children Michael fathered were born within heterosexual marriages. Today such couples constitute a minority of clinics’ customers, in part because advances in reproductive medicine mean more couples with fertility problems are able to conceive. But there are two bigger reasons for the change: the legalisation of gay marriage and the rising number of single women who are choosing to become mothers. The majority of sperm banks’ customers today are gay couples and women without partners.

越来越多的男人（和捐卵的女人）都会有类似的经历。由于美国的精子和卵子捐献业基本上不受监管，因此没人知道以这种方式孕育了多少个孩子。但是，社会变革意味着该行业正在经历一段非同寻常且史无前例的增长期。迈克尔（Michael）的大多数后代都是在异性婚姻内生育。如今，这类夫妇已成为诊所客户的一小部分，部分原因是生殖医学的进步意味着更多有生育问题的夫妇能够受孕。但是，这一变化有两个更大的原因：同性婚姻合法化和想要成为母亲的单身女性的人数不断增加。如今，大多数精子库的客户都是同性恋伴侣和没有伴侣的女性。