返老還童:中年兄弟得怪病變回嬰兒
They're being called the "Benjamin Button" brothers—a reference to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the 2008 movie in which Brad Pitt plays a man who ages in reverse。
他們被稱爲“本傑明·巴頓”兄弟—這樣稱呼的依據來自2008年的電影《返老還童》。該電影由布拉德·皮特主演，劇中男子演繹了返老還童的人生經歷。
Matthew Clark, 39, of Lincoln, England and his brother Michael Clark, 42, last year were reportedly given a vague diagnosis of terminal leukodystrophy. The brothers' particular version of the disorder caused them to lose the ability to think and behave as adults, The Telegraph reported。
每日電訊報在去年報道稱，39歲的馬修·克拉克和他42歲的哥哥邁克爾·克拉克被初步診斷爲腦白質病變晚期。兄弟倆這種特殊病變會使他們失去像成人般思考和行爲表現的能力。
After a phase of throwing temper tantrums and watching cartoons, the brothers have gradually lost the ability to talk and walk, leaving them crawling around their parents' home。
他們發脾氣，也看動畫片。一段時間後，這對兄弟倆漸漸失去了談話和走路的能力，只好留他們在父母親家裏任由他們四處爬行。
The two men still look their age, albeit with a disarming air of innocence about them, but they are beginning to exhibit physical signs of their regression back into childhood。
這對雙胞胎兄弟看起來還是年紀如常，但是他們的身上卻散發出明顯的童真和幼稚。他們的日常行爲已經有跡象表明他們的身體退化至孩童時期的狀態。
For their parents, Christine and Anthony Clark, it is heartbreaking. “There are no words to describe how we feel. It’s devastating,” says Mr Clark, the man who watched both of his sons grow up and marry, who looked on proudly as Michael joined the RAF and Matthew became a father himself。
對於他們的父母克拉克夫婦來說，這樣的消息無疑令人心碎。“我無法描述我們現在的感受，太讓人絕望了”。安東尼·克拉克這樣說。這位父親曾經眼看着自己的兒子長大成人成家立業，邁克爾加入英國皇家空軍，馬修自己也成了父親，這些曾經都讓他很自豪。
“It’s a devastating disease," the men's father, Anthony Clark, told The Telegraph. "Both of them are very childlike now。”
“這是一種可怕的疾病，現在他們倆的表現就像小孩子一樣。”克拉克先生對每日電訊報如是說。
Neither paper indicated which form of leukodystrophy the men have—there are about 40 known types of the largely genetic brain cell-damaging disorder—or who diagnosed the brothers。
不管是媒體還是爲兄弟倆診斷的人都沒有指明他們患的是哪一類型的腦白質病變—可知的關於大腦細胞損傷性病變大約就有40種。
Is it really possible for adults to revert to a childlike state? Experts in the U.S. told The Huffington Post that it is—though it occurs very rarely。
返老還童真的可能嗎？美國專家對赫芬頓郵報的記者說，它確實存在，儘管這樣的現象很罕見。
"'Leukodystrophy' is a term used for progressive disorders that causes damage or deterioration to the white matter of the brain," Dr. Robert Marion, chief of genetics and developmental medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, told The Huffington Post。
“腦白質病變是一個專業術語，它是一種引發腦白質損害和衰變的漸進式病變。”來自紐約市愛因斯坦醫學院遺傳學和發展醫學科室的主任羅伯特·馬裏恩博士這樣對赫芬頓郵報的記者說。
Dr. Marion, who said he had no specific knowledge of the brothers, added that the disorder they reportedly have is hereditary and that the mental deterioration happens gradually。
馬裏恩博士說他對兄弟倆的情況還並不完全瞭解，此外他還補充說，他們患有的病變是遺傳性的，而且大腦智力在逐漸衰變。
There are infantile, juvenile and adult forms of leukodystrophy. As for cases that apparently arise in adulthood, Dr. Marion said, "It’s possible that nobody has really noticed it until its gotten so bad that it's reached this level of detection. They reach adulthood or later adolescence and they’ve attained everything they could, then start having neurological symptoms. They can have dementia, they start losing their memory or their ability to ’ll lose their ability to walk, wind up wheelchair-bound."
腦白質病變分幼兒期、青少年期和成年期。對於出現在成年期的許多案例來說，馬裏恩博士表示，“常見的情況是沒人會真的留意到它的存在直到它惡化到了能被察覺的程度。病變到了成年期或是青少年期的最後時期時，影響的範圍就放大了，然後開始出現神經系統方面的症狀。他們中有的人會患上癡呆症，他們開始出現失憶現象，或是失去了行動能力……他們會失去走路的能力，依靠輪椅行走。”
