真相放大镜 | 不！新型冠状病毒非人工合成
自2019新冠病毒疫情出现以来，不实信息和谣言的传播速度比病毒的传播速度还要快。世界各地的科学家们以及世界卫生组织纷纷站出来，告诫大家不要听信谣言。
False information about the origins of COVID-19 is spreading faster than the virus itself so much so that experts are coming out to tell the public not to fall for conspiracy theories.
2月18日，27名知名公共卫生专家在《柳叶刀》官网上发表声明，公开谴责新冠病毒非自然起源的阴谋论。 这篇发表于《柳叶刀》网站的声明称：“我们共同强烈谴责那种认为新冠病毒病毒并非源自自然界的阴谋论。”
On February 18, 27 international public health experts decried false claims that the new coronavirus was lab manufactured. In a statement on The Lancet website, they said: "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.”
第二天 世卫组织也证实了这一说法: “没有证据表明新冠病毒病毒是实验室制造出来的，也没有证据表明它被做成某种生物武器。这种病毒来自动物。”
The next day, the World Health Organization followed suit: “There is no evidence that this virus was produced in a laboratory, and certainly no evidence that it was produced as a biological weapon. They come from the animal kingdom.”
那么谣言是怎样流传至此的呢？以下是四个网上流传甚广的关于病毒来源的谣言：
So how did we get to this point? Here are four rumors fueling online misinformation about how COVID-19 came about:
谣言之一：新冠病毒病毒是人工合成的
Rumor No.1: Virus was man-made
1月31日，印度的几名科学家在 bioRxiv网站上传了一篇未经同行评审的文章，指出新冠病毒是经HIV病毒改编而成。他们声称在病毒的蛋白质序列中发现了若干与HIV病毒相似的小片段。
A group of scientists in India suggested in a non-peer-reviewed manuscript on bioRxiv on January 31 that the new virus was engineered from HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. They claimed they had identified very short “insertions” in the virus’ protein sequence that had an “uncanny similarity” to HIV.
科学界对此做出了迅速回应。尽管该篇文章两天后被作者主动撤回，但谣言却早已开始一些网站和社交媒体上快速传播。
The backlash from the scientific community was swift. The paper was voluntarily withdrawn by its authors two days later, but it wasn’t fast enough to prevent some websites and social media accounts from circulating the erroneous findings.
谣言之二: 生化武器实验室假说
Rumor No.2: Virus could have been bio-weapon
美国参议员汤姆·科顿提出病毒来自实验室的猜测-但却无法确认。
U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton has also floated the idea of the virus coming from a lab – but he stopped short from confirming it.
他在接受福克斯电视台采访时表示： “我不是说这就是个生物武器，但我们知道中国正在研究冠状病毒，这可能是意外事故导致病毒泄漏，可能某个工作人员被感染。”
In an interview on Fox News he said：“Again that’s not saying this is a bio weapon, but we do know they’re investigating and researching coronavirus in that laboratory, could have been an accidental breach, could have been a worker that was infected. “
科顿后来在推特上对他的20多万粉丝说，这种病毒可能来源于“生物武器实验室”和“自然产生”等等多个假设。
Cotton later tweeted to his more than 207,000 followers several possible theories about the origins of the virus, ranging from "the engineered-bio weapon hypothesis" to "natural" causes.
美国媒体很快便注意到这位参议员只是在重复一个业已被揭穿的谣言。科顿开始为自己辩解，说自己只是不排除所有可能性。
U.S. media were quick to note that the senator was still repeating a debunked myth, prompting Cotton to defend himself saying he’s simply keeping all options open.
谣言之三：病毒从武汉实验室流出
Rumor No.3: Virus Leaked from Chinese Lab
1月26日，《华盛顿时报》引用了一名以色列前军事情报官的话，称病毒可能是从武汉某个实验室泄露的。但在同一篇文章内，那名情报官明确指出：“没有证据或迹象表明发生过此类事件。”
On January 26, the Washington Times ran an article that claimed the virus might have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, quoting a former Israeli military intelligence officer. But in the same piece, the same source clearly states: “There isn’t evidence or indication for such incident.”
谣言之四：谁是零号病人？
Rumor No.4: Who is “Patient Zero”?
一名叫黄燕玲的女士被错误地指为新冠病毒的“零号病人”。网传她曾就职于武汉病毒研究所，而这正好助力了有关病毒来自武汉病毒所的猜测。
A woman named Huang Yanling was falsely accused of being the “patient zero” of the new coronavirus. Claims alleged she works at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, feeding into the online buzz surrounding this facility as the incubator of the COVID-19.
2月16日，武汉病毒所发声明否认这种猜测。
The institute denied in a statement on February 16,
“黄燕玲自2015年在武汉病毒所毕业后一直在外地工作。目前她身体健康，未曾感染病毒。”
“Huang was a graduate student at the institute until 2015, when she left the province and had not returned since. Huang was in good health and had not been diagnosed with the disease.”
疫情局势变化很快，大家都在寻求慰籍。但是，新冠病毒尚有很多未知，而这种不确定性正好为阴谋论者和键盘侠提供了发挥空间。
The situation on the ground is rapidly changing and everyone is – rightfully – looking for reassurance. But there’s a lot we don’t know about the COVID-19 and this uncertainty is creating a vacuum that conspiracy theorists and online trolls are filling with bogus claims.
新冠病毒并非人造，但借机造谣者大有人在。
As far as we know now, the COVID-19 virus was not made by man – but the same cannot be said of attempts to misrepresent the reality of the virus.
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