<中英對照>Copy-cat cloning firm goes out of business 模仿跟進的複製公司倒閉

魏國金

A California company set up to clone beloved pets has gone out of business after cloning just two cats.

一家為複製心愛的寵物而成立的加州公司在僅複製兩隻貓後，已經倒閉。

A spokesman for Genetic Savings & Clone said the Sausalito, California-based company had closed and its tissue bank was being sold to livestock cloning firm ViaGen Inc., based in Austin, Texas. The company had cloned just two cats, in 2004.

基因保存複製公司的發言人說，這家位於加州梭薩利托的公司已關閉，而其動物組織銀行將售予德州奧斯丁的家畜複製公司ViaGen。該公司僅在2004年複製兩隻貓。

The Humane Society of the United States, which campaigned against the business from the start, celebrated the news. "It’s no surprise the demand for cloned pets is basically nonexistent, and we’re very pleased that Genetic Savings & Clone’s attempt to run a cloning pet store was a spectacular flop," Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society president, said in a statement.

自始便反對複製業的美國人道協會，對這項消息感到欣喜。人道協會主席帕塞爾在聲明中說︰「對複製寵物的需求，基本上並不存在，這不令人意外，而且我們對基因保存與複製公司嘗試經營複製寵物商店終歸慘敗，感到高興。」

"Rather than spending millions of dollars on developing a technology with no redeeming social purpose, those resources could be aimed at reducing pet overpopulation, including pet adoption outreach efforts and spay╱neuter education," Pacelle said.

「與其耗費數百萬美元發展沒有社會彌補作用的科技，不如將這些資源用於減少過多寵物上，包括拓展寵物收養的努力，與宣導為寵物進行閹割教育等，」帕塞爾說。

新聞辭典

copy-cat︰copycat，指抄襲者、模仿者，copy-cat cloning firm，一語雙關，既諷刺這家公司是在複製風潮下的跟進模仿者，也指這家公司複製了貓。

flop：指作品、演出、表現等失敗。The show was a complete flop; nobody enjoyed it.（那場表演完全失敗，沒有人喜歡。）

redeeming：彌補（缺陷、過失）的。a redeeming feature，可彌補其他缺陷的特點。