Japanese scientists had successfully cloned the ancestral bull of a luxurious brand of beef, possibly opening the way to distribute cloned beef.

日本科學家已成功複製一種可生產高檔牛肉品牌的種牛祖宗，可能為行銷複製牛肉鋪路。

At the start of the Year of the Ox, Japanese researchers announced they had kept frozen for 13 years the testicles of a bull named Yasufuku, the progenitor of the expensive Hida-gyu brand of beef in central Gifu prefecture. Yasufuku died 16 years ago. The researchers at Kinki University and Gifu's livestock research institute said they had cloned four Yasufuku calves between November 2007 and July 2008, although two of them died afterward.

牛年伊始，日本研究人員宣布，他們在日本中部岐阜縣把當地著名的高檔「飛驒牛」之父，一頭16年前死掉叫「安福」的種牛的睪丸冷凍了13年之久。近畿大學和岐阜縣畜產研究所研究員表示，他們已經在2007年11月到2008年7月之間成功複製四頭安福的後代小牛，但其中兩頭後來死亡。

"Yasufuku's testicles were frozen for a decade without any special treatment," the team said in a statement, calling it a breakthrough as specimens used for cloning are usually preserved carefully.

「安福的睪丸在未經特別處理下冷凍了10年，」研究團隊發表聲明，稱之為一大突破，因為之前用來複製的樣本通常要仔細保存。

Japan has a variety of beef marketed as high-end. Ranchers sometimes massage the animals or feed them beer while they are being raised for slaughter.

日本有數種高檔牛肉，牛農有時還在飼養宰殺牠們過程中，為牛馬殺雞或餵牠們啤酒。

A Japanese government panel is studying the safety of cloned beef and is reportedly leaning towards allowing it. US and European safety authorities last year gave the go-ahead for sales of food from cloned animals. But the Japanese researchers said that for now they planned to use cloned animals to study what kinds of gene and protein structures make tasty beef rather than applying them directly to produce food.

日本政府有個小組正在研究食用複製牛肉的安全性，據了解正傾向同意開放。歐美肉品安全主管機構去年已經同意販賣複製動物供食用。但日本研究人員表示，目前他們計畫使用複製動物研究哪種基因和蛋白質結構使牛肉比較可口，而不是直接利用牠們生產食物。

Kinki University said it also hoped to advance an ambitious long-term project -- to restore extinct animals. "Our dream is to create a mammoth, although it is a big dream," said Kazuhiro Saeki, professor at Kinki University. To revive the huge Ice Age mammal, researchers would need to find a way to implant a cell nucleus into the egg of an elephant -- the mammoth's closest modern relative -- and then implant it into an elephant's uterus.

近畿大學並表示，希望進一步提出企圖心更大的長程計畫：使絕種動物起死回生。「我們夢想複製一隻古生長毛象，雖然這是個遙不可及的大夢想，」近畿大學教授和宏佐伯說。要使這頭冰河時期的巨象復活，研究人員必須設法移植細胞核到長毛象現代近親的卵細胞裡，再移植到象的子宮裡。

In Japan, 557 cows have been cloned, as of the end of September last year. However, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has urged research institutes not to place beef from cloned cows on the market over consumer concerns. A Cabinet Office panel on food safety is now holding safety inspections on beef and milk from cloned cows, and is expected to shortly decide whether the products are suitable for human consumption.

日本到去年九月底止已經成功複製557頭牛，但由於消費者仍有疑慮，農林水產省促研究機構暫勿將複製牛的肉品放在市場上賣。日本內閣負責食品安全的小組目前仍在調查複製牛的牛肉和牛奶是否安全，短期內將裁決這些產品是否適合人類食用。

Photo above are the two successfully cloned oxen.

圖（法新社）為兩頭複製成功的飛驒牛。