EigoPro 1級読解 — The Predator Reborn: Phage Therapy and the Burden of an Old Idea

A century ago, before the antibiotic era eclipsed it, physicians across Europe experimented with bacteriophages—viruses that prey exclusively on bacteria—to treat infections that now seem trivial. The idea languished in the West for decades, surviving chiefly in pockets of the former Soviet bloc, until the spectre of antibiotic resistance resurrected it. As multidrug-resistant pathogens proliferate and the commercial pharmaceutical pipeline thins to a trickle, phages have acquired a fashionable urgency among clinicians once content to ignore them. Their appeal is intuitive: a phage is exquisitely specific, hunting one bacterial strain while sparing the body's beneficial flora, and it replicates only where its quarry persists, amplifying its own dose precisely at the site of infection rather than diffusing harmlessly through healthy tissue. Yet this very precision is a double-edged inheritance. A conventional drug effective against a broad swathe of species can be stockpiled and prescribed empirically, often before the culprit is even identified; a phage, by contrast, may demand bespoke matching to each patient's isolate, a laborious exercise ill-suited to regulators long accustomed to standardised, mass-produced compounds. Approval frameworks built around stable chemical molecules falter when confronted with a self-replicating biological entity whose composition shifts as it evolves. Therein lies the deeper quandary. Bacteria are not passive targets; they mount defences, and a phage that triumphs today may be thwarted tomorrow by a resistant mutant. Proponents counter that phages, being living things, co-evolve alongside their hosts, perpetually retooling their armoury in a way no static antibiotic ever can. This evolutionary arms race cuts both ways. The same mutability that promises adaptability also unsettles the predictability that medicine prizes and that the law demands of any sanctioned remedy. To harness phages responsibly, then, is not merely to revive a forgotten therapy but to reconceive the very scaffolding of drug regulation around organisms that stubbornly refuse to stand still. Whether the gatekeepers of medicine can accommodate such restlessness, rather than smothering it in protocols devised for inert chemistry, may ultimately determine whether this ancient predator earns a permanent place in the modern clinic.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

Which statement best captures the central argument of the passage?

Phage therapy was abandoned in the West purely because Soviet-era research was inaccessible to Western physicians for political reasons.
Antibiotics will inevitably be replaced by phages because resistant bacteria can no longer be treated by any chemical compound.
Phage therapy's greatest strength—its living, adaptive specificity—is also the source of the regulatory and evolutionary obstacles that complicate its modern revival.
Regulators have already redesigned their approval frameworks to accommodate self-replicating biological treatments like phages.

Phrase

this very precision is a double-edged inheritance

1級読解主旨把握論旨

⚡ひとことで

ファージの長所そのものが障害の源になるという両面性が主旨。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Phage therapy's greatest strength—its living, adaptive specificity—is also the source of the regulatory and evolutionary obstacles that complicate its modern revival.」

正解

本文は「a phage is exquisitely specific」という長所を示しつつ、「this very precision is a double-edged inheritance」と転じ、その特異性ゆえに規制と進化の両面で困難が生じると論じる。最終段でも「The same mutability that promises adaptability also unsettles the predictability」と二面性を繰り返す。よって長所が同時に障害の源になるという両義性が中心主張である。

「Phage therapy was abandoned in the West purely because Soviet-era research remained inaccessible to Western physicians for political reasons.」
= ファージが西洋で廃れたのはソ連研究へのアクセスが政治的に断たれたためという説明 ━ 本文は抗生物質時代がファージを覆い隠したから廃れたと述べ、政治的不可触性を主因とはしていない。。
「Antibiotics will inevitably be replaced by phages because resistant bacteria can no longer be treated by any chemical compound.」
= 耐性菌はもはや化学薬剤で治療できずファージが必然的に取って代わるという主張 ━ 本文はパイプラインが細っていると述べるが、化学薬剤が全く効かず代替が必然だとは断言していない。。
「Regulators have already redesigned their approval frameworks to accommodate self-replicating biological treatments like phages.」
= 規制当局がすでに自己複製する生物製剤に合わせて承認枠組みを刷新したという主張 ━ 本文は枠組みが「falter」すると述べ、刷新は未達の課題として提示しており完了していない。。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
a double-edged inheritance	両刃の遺産・長短併せ持つ継承物	Its specificity proved a double-edged inheritance for clinicians.
cut both ways	良くも悪くも作用する	The technology's flexibility cuts both ways for regulators.
mount defences	防御を講じる	Bacteria rapidly mount defences against any single therapy.
a fashionable urgency	流行りの切迫感	Climate startups have acquired a fashionable urgency.
refuse to stand still	じっとしていない・変化し続ける	Organisms that refuse to stand still defy fixed protocols.

❝例文

The reform's chief virtue was, paradoxically, its chief liability.
その改革の最大の長所は、逆説的に最大の弱点でもあった。
What made the species resilient also made it unpredictable.
その種を強靭にしたものが、同時に予測不能にもした。
Their adaptability is both a promise and a problem.
その適応力は希望であると同時に難題でもある。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨問題では「double-edged」「cuts both ways」のような両義性を示す語が筆者の核心。長所だけ・短所だけを述べる選択肢は半分しか捉えていない。

問 2

According to the passage, what revived Western interest in bacteriophages?

The growing threat of antibiotic resistance combined with a thinning pharmaceutical pipeline.
A series of breakthroughs achieved exclusively within the former Soviet bloc.
Pressure from regulators seeking cheaper alternatives to existing antibiotics.
The discovery that phages can be mass-produced as standardised chemical compounds.

Phrase

the spectre of antibiotic resistance resurrected it

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

抗生物質耐性の脅威と新薬パイプラインの枯渇が復活の契機。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「The growing threat of antibiotic resistance combined with a thinning pharmaceutical pipeline.」

正解

本文は「until the spectre of antibiotic resistance resurrected it」とし、さらに「As multidrug-resistant pathogens proliferate and the pharmaceutical pipeline thins, phages have acquired a fashionable urgency」と述べる。すなわち耐性菌の増加と新薬パイプラインの細りが復活を促した。

「A series of breakthroughs achieved exclusively within the former Soviet bloc.」
= 旧ソ連圏のみで達成された画期的研究が復活を導いたという説明 ━ 本文はソ連圏を生き残った場所として挙げるが、そこでの成果が復活の契機だとは述べていない。。
「The discovery that phages can be mass-produced as standardised chemical compounds.」
= ファージが標準化された化学物質として大量生産可能と判明したことが契機という主張 ━ 本文はファージが標準化・大量生産に不向きと述べており、この説明は逆。。
「Pressure from regulators seeking cheaper alternatives to existing antibiotics.」
= 安価な代替を求める規制当局の圧力が復活させたという主張 ━ 本文に規制当局がファージ復活を主導したとの記述はなく、むしろ規制は障害として描かれる。。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
the spectre of X	Xという亡霊・脅威	The spectre of inflation haunted the negotiations.
resurrect an idea	構想を復活させる	The crisis resurrected a long-buried proposal.
the pipeline thins	開発の流れが細る	Innovation stalls as the research pipeline thins.
pathogens proliferate	病原体が急増する	Resistant pathogens proliferate in overcrowded wards.
acquire urgency	切迫性を帯びる	The issue acquired urgency after the outbreak.

❝例文

The shortage of new drugs forced researchers to look backward.
新薬の不足が研究者を過去に目を向けさせた。
Resistance was the catalyst for reviving an abandoned method.
耐性が、放棄された手法を復活させる触媒となった。
As supply dwindled, old remedies regained attention.
供給が細るにつれ、古い治療法が再び注目を集めた。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

原因を問う設問は本文の接続表現（until / As ...）に注目。複数要因が併記される場合、一要因だけの選択肢は不完全。

問 3

Why do existing approval frameworks struggle with phages, according to the passage?

Phages are too toxic to the body's beneficial flora to pass safety standards.
Phages are chemically identical to existing antibiotics and so cannot be patented.
They were designed for fixed chemical molecules, whereas phages are self-replicating entities whose composition changes as they evolve.
Phages can only be tested in the former Soviet bloc, outside Western jurisdictions.

Phrase

a self-replicating biological entity whose composition shifts as it evolves

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

枠組みは固定的な化学分子向けで、進化で組成が変わるファージに不適合。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「They were designed for fixed chemical molecules, whereas phages are self-replicating entities whose composition changes as they evolve.」

正解

本文は「Approval frameworks built around chemical molecules falter when confronted with a self-replicating biological entity whose composition shifts as it evolves」と明言する。承認制度は標準化された化学化合物を前提とするため、自己複製し組成が変化する生物には対応しきれない。

「Phages are too toxic to the body's beneficial flora to pass safety standards.」
= ファージが有益菌に毒性が強く安全基準を通らないという説明 ━ 本文はファージが有益菌を温存する（sparing the body's beneficial flora）と述べており、毒性の話ではない。。
「Phages can only be tested in the countries of the former Soviet bloc, outside all Western regulatory jurisdictions.」
= ファージは旧ソ連圏でしか試験できず西洋の管轄外という主張 ━ 本文に試験地が西洋管轄外に限られるとの記述はない。。
「Phages are chemically identical to existing antibiotics and so cannot be patented.」
= ファージは既存抗生物質と化学的に同一で特許化できないという主張 ━ 本文はファージを化学分子と対比される生物実体と述べており、化学的同一性は否定される。。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
built around X	Xを軸に構築された	Rules built around paper records strain under digital data.
falter when confronted with	〜に直面して行き詰まる	The model falters when confronted with novel inputs.
a self-replicating entity	自己複製する実体	A self-replicating entity defies one-off testing.
composition shifts	組成が変化する	Its composition shifts with each generation.
ill-suited to	〜に不向きな	The method is ill-suited to rapid screening.

❝例文

Rules made for static products break down with living ones.
静的な製品向けの規則は、生きた製品では破綻する。
A treatment that mutates resists standardised approval.
変異する治療法は標準化された承認に馴染まない。
Regulators expect a constant formula, not a moving target.
規制当局は一定の処方を期待し、動く標的を想定しない。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

詳細把握では本文の動詞（falter / shifts）を保持した言い換えを選ぶ。本文と反対の事実（毒性・同一性）を述べる選択肢は罠。

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この単元の講義を見る 1級の単元一覧 1級の用語集

EigoPro 1級 読解 — The Predator Reborn: Phage Therapy and the Burden of an Old Idea

この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

this very precision is a double-edged inheritance

the spectre of antibiotic resistance resurrected it

a self-replicating biological entity whose composition shifts as it evolves

EigoPro 1級読解 — The Predator Reborn: Phage Therapy and the Burden of an Old Idea