Blondes Headed for Extinction¹?

　　In the end, it seems it was just another dumb blond joke ? The World Health Organisation², the Geneva-based health arm of the United Nations, has insisted that despite the many media reports to the contrary, it had never conducted a study predicting the extinction of the natural blond hair gene³. Before this, there were many stories around the world citing WHO research stating that natural blondes would become extinct by 2202. Reports to that effect had appeared in recent days on CNN and ABC News and in the Daily Mail, among others. But WHO said it has never conducted research on the topic. WHO "has no knowledge of how these news reports originated but would like to stress that we have no opinion on the future existence of blondes," it said in a statement released at United Nations headquarters in New York. According to the published reports, the supposed WHO study had predicted that the last blond on earth would be in Finland, which today has the world's highest concentration of true blondes. The reports said blond hair was caused by a recessive⁴ gene, so both sides of the family have to have it to extend the shade \into\ the next generation. But too few people carry the gene to assure its long-term survival.

　　最后，看来这只不过是又一个关于金发女郎的无聊笑话--联合国的卫生分部，总部位于日内瓦的世界卫生组织坚称它从未进行过预言天然金发基因将要绝种的研究，尽管许多媒体的报道与此相反。在此之前，世界各地流传着许多这样的故事，其中引用世界卫生组织的研究宣称天然的金发女郎将在2202年之前绝迹。关于此事的报道近日出现在了许多媒体上，其中包括美国有线新闻网、美国广播公司新闻网以及《每日邮报》。但是，世界卫生组织说它从未对这一课题进行过研究。世界卫生组织在纽约的联合国总部发表了一份声明，宣布它"不知这样的新闻报道何以产生，只想强调我们对金发女郎的未来存在状况并无看法。"根据此前的报道，假想中的世界卫生组织研究预测地球上最后一个金发女郎将出现在芬兰，那是当今世上天然金发女郎密度最高的地方。报道中说金发是由一种隐性基因造成，因此只有在家庭中的双方都携带这种基因的情况下这种发色才能遗传给下一代。但是携带这种基因的人为数太少，这种特质因此无法长期存在。

　　Remarks：金色的头发没有了不要紧，因为我们有的是染发剂；我们还是关心赤红色的心何时会绝迹吧。