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AlejandroAlvarado_2016X-_研究新物种，解决老问题_
For the past few years, 在过去几年,
I've been spending my summers in the marine biological laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 我的夏天都在马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔区的 海洋生态研究室度过。
marine:adj.海的;海产的;海生的;海船的;n.(尤指美国或英国皇家)海军陆战队士兵; biological:adj.生物学的;生物的;与生命过程有关的;加酶的;n.[药]生物制品; laboratory:n.实验室,研究室;
And there, what I've been doing is essentially renting a boat. 我在那里租了一条船,
essentially:adv.本质上;本来;
What I would like to do is ask you to come on a boat ride with me tonight. 我想邀请各位 今晚和我一起去乘船。
So, we ride off from Eel Pond into Vineyard Sound, right off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, equipped with a drone to ide ntify potential spots from which to peer into the > At lantic . 我们从鳗池出发,前往葡萄园海湾, 地点就在玛莎葡萄园旁的海岸, 我们装置了一台无人机 用来观察大西洋中潜在的地点。
Pond:n.池塘;水池(尤指人工的);v.把…挖成池塘;堵(溪流)水成池; Vineyard:n.(为酿酒而种植的)葡萄园;酿酒厂; potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的;
Earlier, I was going to say into the depths of the Atlantic, but we don't have to go too deep to reach the unknown. 之前,我会说要进入大西洋的深处才找的到, 但是我们不需要到那麽深的地方就能发现未知的生物。
Here, barely two miles away from what is arguably the greatest marine biology lab in the world, we lower a simple plankton net into the water and bring up to the surface things that humanity rarely pays any attention to, and oftentimes has never seen before. 就在这里, 离可以说是世界上最棒的海洋生物实验室仅仅两英里处的地方。 我们放下一张简易的浮游生物采集网, 然后再把它拉上来, 如此就可以找到这些人类很少会注意到的生物, 而且常常是从来没有见过的生物。
barely:adv.仅仅,勉强;几乎不;公开地;贫乏地; arguably:v.可论证地; biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; plankton:n.浮游生物(总称); humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科; rarely:adv.很少地;难得;罕有地; oftentimes:adv.时常地;
Here's one of the organisms that we caught in our net. 这是其中一个我们用网捕捉到的生物。
organisms:n.[生物]生物体(organism的复数);[生物]有机体;
This is a jellyfish . 牠是一只水母。
jellyfish:n.水母;[无脊椎]海蜇;软弱无能的人;
But look closely, and living inside of this animal is another organism that is very likely entirely new to science. 但仔细看, 居住在这只动物体内的是另一个有机体。 对科学界来说很可能
A complete new species . 是一个全新的物种。
species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
Or how about this other transparent beauty with a beating heart, asexually growing on top of its head, progeny that will move on to reproduce sexually. 或是再来看看这只透明、 有着一颗跳动心脏的美丽生物, 牠可以在自己的头部顶端进行无性繁殖, 但牠的后代却可以进行有性繁殖。
transparent:adj.透明的;显然的;坦率的;易懂的; asexually:adv.无性地;无性生殖地; progeny:n.子孙;后裔;成果; reproduce:v.繁殖;复制;再现;生育;
Let me say that again: this animal is growing asexually on top of its head, progeny that is going to reproduce sexually in the next generation. 请让我再重复一次: 这种动物可以在头部顶端进行无性繁殖, 而牠的子代将成为有性繁殖的后代。
A weird jellyfish? 很怪的水母,是吧？
weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神;
Not quite. 不完全是。
This is an ascidian . 这是海鞘。
ascidian:n.海鞘类;
This is a group of animals that now we know we share extensive genomic ancestry with, and it is perhaps the closest invertebrate species to our own. 这一群生物 我们现在知道牠们和我们有着大量共同的基因体, 牠们也许是目前与我们最近亲的无脊椎动物。
extensive:adj.广泛的;大量的;广阔的; genomic:adj.基因组的;染色体的; ancestry:n.祖先;血统; invertebrate:adj.无脊椎的;无骨气的;n.无脊椎动物;无骨气的人;
Meet your cousin, 见见你的表亲,
Thalia democratica. 双尾萨利亚。
for Thalia, but let me tell you, these animals are profoundly related to us in ways that we're just beginning to understand. 没有留一个座位给牠, 但我告诉各位, 这些动物和我们息息相关, 我们才刚开始明白这层关系。
profoundly:adv.深刻地;深深地;极度地;
So, next time you hear anybody derisively telling you that this type of research is a simple fishing expedition , 所以,下次你听到任何人嘲笑地告诉你, 这类的研究不过是一种简单的捕捞旅程,
derisively:adv.嘲弄地;嘲笑地; fishing expedition:审前盘问;非法调查;
I hope that you'll remember the trip that we just took. 我希望各位能记住我们刚刚所体验的历程。
Today, many of the biological sciences only see value in studying deeper what we already know — in mapping already-discovered continents . 如今,许多生物方面的研究 只着重在我们已知的事物上, 模仿绘制已发现的旧大陆。
continents:n.[地理]大陆,大洲(continent复数);
But some of us are much more interested in the unknown. 但是我们之中的一些人对于未知的事物更感兴趣。
We want to discover completely new continents, and gaze at magnificent vistas of ignorance . 我们想要探索全新的大陆 并聚焦未知世界的华丽远景。
gaze:v.凝视;注视;盯着;n.凝视;注视; magnificent:adj.高尚的;壮丽的;华丽的;宏伟的; vistas:n.远景,狭长的街景;展望;回顾; ignorance:n.无知,愚昧;不知,不懂;
We crave the experience of being completely baffled by something we've never seen before. 我们渴望拥有 被前所未见的事物所迷惑的体验。
crave:v.渴望;恳求; baffled:adj.带有挡板的;v.阻碍;使迷惑(baffle的过去式);
And yes, I agree there's a lot of little ego satisfaction in being able to say, "Hey, I was the first one to discover that." 是的,我承认, 能够说出这句话真的会满爽的: 「嘿,我是第一个发现的。」
ego:n.自我;自负;自我意识; satisfaction:n.满意,满足;赔偿;乐事;赎罪;
But this is not a self-aggrandizing enterprise, because in this type of discovery research, if you don't feel like a complete idiot most of the time, you're just not sciencing hard enough. 但这领域没那么好混, 因为在这类探索性研究中, 如果你没有经常觉得自己是个大笨蛋的话, 你还不够科学狂热。
idiot:n.笨蛋,傻瓜;白痴;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So every summer I bring onto the deck of this little boat of ours more and more things that we know very little about. 每年夏天,我都会给这艘小船的甲板 带来愈来愈多我们几乎一无所知的东西。
deck:n.甲板;舱面;层面;一副(为52张);v.装饰;打扮;布置;用力击倒;
I would like tonight to tell you a story about life that rarely gets told in an environment like this. 今晚我想告诉各位一个有关生命的故事, 一个极少会在这样场合中提起的故事。
From the vantage point of our 21st-century biological laboratories , we have begun to illuminate many mysteries of life with knowledge. 21 世纪生物实验室的有利之处就是, 我们开始运用知识点亮许多神秘的生命。
vantage point:n.(观察事物的)有利地点;(尤指考虑旧时事物的)有利时刻; laboratories:n.实验室;(laboratory的复数) illuminate:照明;照亮;照射;解释;使容光焕发;
We sense that after centuries of scientific research, we're beginning to make significant inroads into understanding some of the most fundamental principles of life. 我们感觉到,在做了几个世纪的科学研究后, 我们开始对一些 生命最基本原则的理解有了重大进展。
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; significant:adj.重大的;有效的;有意义的;值得注意的;意味深长的;n.象征;有意义的事物; inroads:n.损害;得手;侵犯;消耗(inroad的复数);v.消耗;侵犯(inroad的三单形式); fundamental:n.基础; adj.十分重大的; principles:n.原则;主义;本质;政策;(principle的复数)
Our collective optimism is reflected by the growth of biotechnology across the globe, striving to utilize scientific knowledge to cure human diseases . 全球生物技术的增长反映出我们这个领域全体欣欣向榮的现象。 大家致力于利用科学知识来治疗人类的疾病。
collective:adj.集体的;共同的;集合的;集体主义的;n.集团;集合体;集合名词; optimism:n.乐观;乐观主义; reflected:adj.反射的;得自他人的;v.反射;思考;(reflect的过去式和过去分词) biotechnology:n.[生物]生物技术;[生物]生物工艺学; striving:n.努力;奋斗;v.努力;奋斗;力争;力求;(strive的现在分词) utilize:v.利用;运用;使用;应用; diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类;
Things like cancer , aging, degenerative diseases; these are but some of the undesirables we wish to tame . 像癌症、衰老、退化性疾病; 这些都是我们不想要、希望能克服的疾病。
cancer:n.癌症;恶性肿瘤; degenerative:adj.退化的;变质的;退步的; undesirables:n.不良分子;不受欢迎的人(undesirable的复数形式); tame:adj.养驯的;驯服的;平淡无奇的;枯燥乏味的;v.驯化;驯服;使易于控制;
I often wonder: 我经常在想:
Why is it that we are having so much trouble trying to solve the problem of cancer? 为什麽我们在尝试治疗癌症的过程中 会遇到这么多麻烦？
Is it that we're trying to solve the problem of cancer, and not trying to understand life? 会不会是因为我们只想解决癌症的问题, 却不愿意尝试了解生命的奥义呢？
Life on this planet shares a common origin , and I can summarize 3.5 billion years of the history of life on this planet in a single slide. 这个星球上的生命有共同的起源, 而我可以在一张投影片上总结出这个星球上35 亿年的生命历史。
origin:n.起源;起因;源头;出身; summarize:v.总结;概述;概括;归纳;
What you see here are representatives of all known species in our planet. 各位现在看到的是我们星球上所有已知物种的代表。
representatives:n.代表;众议院(representative的复数形式);
In this immensity of life and biodiversity , we occupy a rather unremarkable position. 在这广大的生命和生物多样性之中, 我们人类只占据了一个不那麽明显的位置。
immensity:n.巨大;无限;广大; biodiversity:n.生物多样性; occupy:v.占据,占领;居住;使忙碌; unremarkable:adj.平凡的;不显著的;不值得注意的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Homo sapiens . 智人。
Homo sapiens:n.智人(现代人类);
The last of our kind. 最新的人类物种。
And though I don't really want to disparage at all the accomplishments of our species, as much as we wish it to be so and often pretend that it is, we are not the measure of all things. 虽然我不是真的想要轻视 我们人类物种的成就, 即使人类希望可以占据所有的成就并经常自以为是, 我们仍然不是所有事情的衡量标准,
disparage:vt.蔑视;毁谤; accomplishments:n.成就;成绩;才艺;技艺;完成;(accomplishment的复数)
We are, however, the measurers of many things. 但我们是许多事情的衡量者。
We relentlessly quantify , analyze and compare , and some of this is absolutely invaluable and indeed necessary. 我们不屈不挠地量化、分析、和比较, 这当中有些的确是无价且必要的。
relentlessly:adv.残酷地,无情地; quantify:vt.量化;为…定量;确定数量;vi.量化;定量; analyze:v.对…进行分析,分解(等于analyse); compare:v.比较;对比;n.比较; absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地; invaluable:adj.无价的;非常贵重的;
But this emphasis today on forcing biological research to specialize and to produce practical outcomes is actually restricting our ability to interrogate life to unacceptably narrow confines and unsatisfying depths. 但如今,这样强调生物研究专精化 及要有实际成果产出的这种方式, 实际上会限制我们审视生命的能力, 并限制我们在狭隘的范围做着深度不够的研究。
emphasis:n.强调;重视;重要性;(对某个词或短语的)强调; specialize:vi.专门从事;专攻;专门研究(或从事) practical:adj.实际的;真实的;客观存在的;n.实习课;实践课; outcomes:n.结果;成果;后果;出路;(outcome的复数) restricting:n.整形,限制;扼流;v.限制(restrict的ing形式); interrogate:v.讯问;审问;盘问;查询; unacceptably:不能接受地; narrow:adj.狭窄的; v.使窄小; n.峡谷; (场所,物品等的)狭窄部分; confines:n.范围;界限;疆界(confine的复数);v.限制;禁闭(confine的三单形式); unsatisfying:adj.无法令人满足的;v.不满意;不安心(unsatisfy的ing形式);
We are measuring an astonishingly narrow sliver of life, and hoping that those numbers will save all of our lives. 人类现在研究的生物只占地球生命中的一小部分, 却冀望这样狭隘的数量将来可以拯救我们的生命。
astonishingly:adv.令人惊讶地;
How narrow do you ask? 你问我,有多狭隘？
Well, let me give you a number. 让我给各位一个数字。
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently estimated that about 95 percent of our oceans remain unexplored . 国家海洋和大气管理局最近估计 我们大约还有 95％ 的海洋尚未探索。
Oceanic:adj.海洋的;海洋产出的;在海洋中生活的;广阔无垠的; Atmospheric:adj.大气的,大气层的; recently:adv.最近;新近; estimated:adj.估计的;预计的;估算的; unexplored:adj.[地质]未勘查过的;
Now let that sink in for a second. 让我们沉思一下,
95 percent of our oceans remain unexplored. 还有 95％ 的海洋尚未探索。
I think it's very safe to say that we don't even know how much about life we do not know. 几乎可以这么说, 我们甚至对未知生命的数量根本也一无所知。
So, it's not surprising that every week in my field we begin to see the addition of more and more new species to this amazing tree of life. 所以,不必感到惊讶,因为每个礼拜 这个领域都有新的物种, 增加到这棵令人惊叹的生命之树上。
addition:n.添加;[数]加法;增加物;
This one for example — discovered earlier this summer, new to science, and now occupying its lonely branch in our family tree . 举个例子, 今年初夏才发现的, 这个科学界的新物种, 现在占据了我们生命之树的一个分支。
occupying:v.占用;使用;居住;占领;占据;(occupy的现在分词) family tree:n.家谱;谱系图;
What is even more tragic is that we know about a bunch of other species of animals out there, but their biology remains sorely under-studied. 可惜的是, 我们知道那么多的物种, 但我们对牠们生物学方面的了解却只停留在研究阶段。
tragic:adj.悲剧的;悲痛的,不幸的; a bunch of:一群;一束;一堆; sorely:adv.疼痛地;非常;剧烈地;
I'm sure some of you have heard about the fact that a starfish can actually regenerate its arm after it's lost. 我确定各位都有听过一个事实, 海星可以在失去触手之后再长出来。
starfish:n.海星; regenerate:vt.使再生;革新;vi.再生;革新;adj.再生的;革新的;
But some of you might not know that the arm itself can actually regenerate a complete starfish. 但是你们或许不知道 一只触手也可以重新长出一只完整的海星。
And there are animals out there that do truly astounding things. 还有许多动物可以完成更多令人惊讶的事。
astounding:adj.令人震惊的;使大吃一惊的;v.使震惊;使大惊;(astound的现在分词)
I'm almost willing to bet that many of you have never heard of the flatworm , Schmidtea mediterranea. 我甚至愿意打赌 你们大概从未听过淡水涡虫这种扁虫。
bet:n.打赌;赌注;预计;估计;v.下赌注(于);用…打赌;敢说;八成儿; flatworm:n.[无脊椎]扁虫;[无脊椎]扁形虫(等于platyhelminth);
This little guy right here does things that essentially just blow my mind. 这只小家伙 可以做出我完全无法想像的事。
You can grab one of these animals and cut it into 18 different fragments , and each and every one of those fragments will go on to regenerate a complete animal in under two weeks. 你可以挑一只来并把牠切成十八段, 而每一段都能生成另一个完整的生物。 只要两个礼拜的时间。
grab:v.攫取;霸占;将…深深吸引;n.攫取;霸占;夺取之物; fragments:n.碎片(fragment的复数);片断;[计]分段;v.破碎(fragment的三单形式);打碎;
18 heads, 18 bodies, 18 mysteries. 18 个头、18 个身体、18 个秘密。
For the past decade and a half or so, 在过去 15 年以来,
I've been trying to figure out how these little dudes do what they do, and how they pull this magic trick off. 我一直在努力搞清楚这些小家伙是如何做到的, 牠们是如何变出这个魔术的。
dudes:花花公子;纨绔子弟;哥们(dude的名词复数);
But like all good magicians, they're not really releasing their secrets readily to me. 但就像所有的优秀魔术师一样, 他们不会把秘密全告诉你。
releasing:n.释放;松释动作;脱扣释放;v.释放;排放;(release的现在分词); readily:adv.容易地;乐意地;无困难地;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So here we are, after 20 years of essentially studying these animals, genome mapping, chin scratching , and thousands of amputations and thousands of regenerations, we still don't fully understand how these animals do what they do. 所以, 在对这些生物做了 20 年基础研究后, 我们绘制了无数的基因图、抓了无数次的下巴思索、 经过了数千次的切割、数千次的再生后, 我们还是不能完全明白这些动物是如何做到的。
genome:n.基因组;染色体组; scratching:v.划伤;擦伤;刮痕;(scratch的现在分词) amputations:n.截肢(术),切断(术);删除,削减;(amputation的复数)
Each planarian an ocean unto itself, full of unknowns. 每一支涡虫本身, 都是一个充满着未知的大海。
planarian:n.真涡虫;三肠涡虫;adj.真涡虫的;三肠涡虫的; unto:prep.到,直到;向(等于to);
One of the common characteristics of all of these animals I've been talking to you about is that they did not appear to have received the memo that they need to behave according to the rules 我对你们提到的这些动物 牠们有一个共同的特性, 就是牠们的行为 并不符合实验室备忘录上记载的规律,
characteristics:n.特征;特点;品质;(characteristic的复数) memo:n.备忘录; behave:v.表现;(机器等)运转;举止端正;(事物)起某种作用; according to:根据,据说;
that we have derived from a handful of randomly selected animals that currently populate the vast majority of biomedical laboratories across the world. 也就是我们随机筛选出来的生物, 占据在世界各地 生物医学实验室里的行为备忘录。
derived:adj.导出的;衍生的,派生的;v.得到;推断(derive的过去分词);由…而来; randomly:adv.随便地,任意地;无目的,胡乱地;未加计划地; currently:adv.当前;一般地; populate:vt.居住于;构成人口;移民于;殖民于; majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: biomedical:adj.生物医学的;
Meet our Nobel Prize winners. 见见我们的诺贝尔得奖者们,
Nobel Prize:n.诺贝尔奖;
Seven species, essentially, that have produced for us the brunt of our understanding of biological behavior today. 基本上,就这七个物种 冲击了我们当今对于 生物行为的基本理解。
brunt:n.冲击;主要冲力;
This little guy right here — three Nobel Prizes in 12 years. 这个小家伙── 在 12 年内拿到三次诺贝尔奖。
And yet, after all the attention they have garnered , and all the knowledge they have generated , as well as the lion's share of the funding , here we are standing [before] the same litany of intractable problems and many new challenges. 然而,在牠们获得所有的关注 并产出很多知识后, 并获得超大量的研究资金, 大家仍要面对冗长难对付的问题 以及新的挑战。
garnered:v.获得,得到,收集(信息、支持等);(garner的过去分词和过去式) generated:v.产生;引起;(generate的过去式和过去分词) as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且; funding:n.基金;资金;提供资金;v.为…提供资金;拨款给;(fund的现在分词) litany:n.冗长而枯燥的陈述;连祷; intractable:adj.棘手的;难治的;倔强的;不听话的;
And that's because, unfortunately , these seven animals essentially correspond to 0.0009 percent of all of the species that inhabit the planet. 那是因为很不幸, 这七种物种基本上只占了 我们星球上所有物种的百分之 0.0009。
unfortunately:adv.不幸地; correspond:vi.符合,一致;相应;通信; inhabit:v.居住在;栖居于;
So I'm beginning to suspect that our specialization is beginning to impede our progress at best, and at worst, is leading us astray . 所以我开始怀疑 虽然我们的专精化有好的一面,但也阻碍了我们的进步, 最糟糕的就是会令我们迷失方向。
suspect:n.犯罪嫌疑人;v.怀疑;不信任;adj.可疑的; specialization:n.专门化;特殊化;特化作用; impede:v.阻碍;妨碍;阻止; astray:adv.误入歧途地;迷途地;迷路;adj.迷路的;离开正道的;不对头的;
That's because life on this planet and its history is the history of rule breakers. 那是因为这个星球的生命和历史 就是一段规则破坏者的历史。
Life started on the face of this planet as single-cell organisms, swimming for millions of years in the ocean, until one of those creatures decided, "I'm going to do things differently today; 地球的生命起源于单细胞生物, 牠们在海洋中畅游了数百万年, 直到其中一个生物决定, 「我今天要做一些不一样的事;
creatures:n.生物;动物;(具有某种特征的)人(creature的复数)
today I would like to invent something called multicellularity , and I'm going to do this." 今天我要发明一种叫做多细胞的东西, 而且我一定会做得到。」
multicellularity:n.多细胞;
And I'm sure it wasn't a popular decision at the time — 我很确定这样的决定当时不是很受欢迎——
(Laughter) （笑声）
but somehow , it managed to do it. 但无论如何,牠成功了。
somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地;
And then, multicellular organisms began to populate all these ancestral oceans, and they thrived . 然后,多细胞有机体开始 在海洋中繁殖, 并且兴旺起来。
ancestral:adj.祖先的;祖传的; thrived:v.兴盛,繁荣(thrive的过去式和过去分词形式);
And we have them here today. 所以我们今天才有机会讨论讨牠们。
Land masses began to emerge from the surface of the oceans, and another creature thought, "Hey, that looks like a really nice piece of real estate . 之后土地开始出现,从海洋表面冒出, 然后另一个生物在想, 「嘿,这块地看起来不错。
masses:n.民众;大量(mass的复数);包块;v.集中;聚集(mass的三单形式); emerge:v.浮现;显现;暴露;露出真相; real estate:n.房地产;不动产;
I'd like to move there." 我想搬到那里。」
'"Are you crazy? 「你疯了吗？
You're going to desiccate out there. Nothing can live out of water." 在那里你会渴死的,任何东西没有水都活不了的。」
desiccate:vi.变干;vt.使干;干贮;
But life found a way, and there are organisms now that live on land. 但生命自己会找出路, 然后就有了现在生活在陆地上的生物。
Once on land, they may have looked up into the sky and said, "It would be nice to go to the clouds,I'm going to fly." 一旦到了陆地,牠们可能会望着天空说: 「如果能在天空飞就好了,我想要飞。」
'"You can't break the law of gravity, there's no way you can fly." 「你不可能打破地心引力的定律,你根本不可能飞。」
And yet, nature has invented — multiple and independent times — ways to fly. 然而,大自然的力量已经创造出 各式各样不同的 飞行方式。
multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数; independent:adj.独立的; n.无党派议员(或候选人等);
I love to study these animals that break the rules, because every time they break a rule, they invent something new that made it possible for us to be able to be here today. 我特别喜欢研究这些打破规则的动物, 因为每次牠们打破一个规则,牠们就发明了新的东西, 很有可能就是这些因素造就了今日的我们。
These animals did not get the memo. 这些动物没有备忘录,
They break the rules. 牠们直接打破规则。
So if we're going to study animals that break the rules, shouldn't how we study them also break the rules? 所以,如果我们要研究打破规则的动物, 我们研究的方法不应该也打破吗？
I think we need to renew our spirit of exploration . 我认为我们需要更新我们的探险精神。
renew:v.重新开始;中止后继续;重复强调;延长; exploration:n.探索;勘探;探险;[医]探查术;
Rather than bring nature into our laboratories and interrogate it there, we need to bring our science into the majestic laboratory that is nature, and there, with our modern technological armamentarium , interrogate every new form of life we find, and any new biological attribute that we may find. 比起把自然搬回我们的实验室 在那裏做研究, 我们更应该把我们的研究 放回大自然,这个最宏伟的实验室, 在那裏,运用我们的现代科学设备, 仔细研究每一种我们发现的新形式生命、 每一种我们新发现的生物属性,
majestic:adj.庄严的;宏伟的; technological:adj.技术[工程](上)的;因工艺技术高度发展而引起的; armamentarium:n.全部设备;医疗设备; attribute:n.属性;象征;v.把…归因于;认为…属于;认为某人(某物)具有某种特性;
We actually need to bring all of our intelligence to becoming stupid again — clueless [before] the immensity of the unknown. 我们真的要把我们的智慧打掉重练, 再变笨一次, 在未知的生物前虚心求教。
intelligence:n.智力;智慧;才智;(尤指关于敌国的)情报; clueless:adj.无线索的;愚蠢的;
Because after all, science is not really about knowledge. 因为毕竟, 科学讲究的不仅是知识,
Science is about ignorance. 更强调的是我们未知的领域。
That's what we do. 这才是我们要做的。
Once, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea ..." 安托万．圣埃克苏佩里（小王子作者）曾写道, 「如果你要造一艘船, 不是让人们去收集木材, 也不要分配任务和工作给他们, 而是引发他们对无尽大海的渴望……」
drum:n.鼓; v.打鼓; assign:v.指定;指派;转让;分派;n.[法]受让人; endless:adj.无止境的;连续的;环状的;漫无目的的;
As a scientist and a teacher, 作为一个科学家和老师,
I like to paraphrase this to read that we scientists need to teach our students to long for the endless immensity of the sea that is our ignorance. 我想把这句话解读成这样: 我们科学家需要教导学生 去追寻那无穷无尽的大海, 那里才是我们无知的领域。
paraphrase:n.释义;解释;意译;vt.释义;
We Homo sapiens are the only species we know of that is driven to scientific inquiry . 我们智人是地球上唯一一个 已知会追寻科学知识的物种。
inquiry:n.询问;查询;打听;调查;
We, like all other species on this planet, are inextricably woven into the history of life on this planet. 我们就像这颗星球上其他物种一样, 密不可分地编织着这颗星球上生命的历史。
inextricably:adv.逃不掉地;解不开地;解决不了地; woven:v.编织;交织(weave的过去分词);编造;adj.织物的;n.机织织物;
And I think I'm a little wrong when I say that life is a mystery, because I think that life is actually an open secret that has been beckoning our species for millennia to understand it. 当我说生命是一个谜,我有点错了, 因为我认为生命其实是一个众人皆知的秘密, 几千年来,一直在召唤我们的物种去了解它。
beckoning:adj.引诱人的;令人心动的;v.招手(beckon的现在分词); millennia:n.千年期(millennium的复数);一千年;千年庆典;太平盛世;
So I ask you: 所以我呼吁各位:
Aren't we the best chance that life has to know itself? 我们现在不正是处于了解生命的最佳机会点上吗？
And if so, what the heck are we waiting for? 如果是, 我们还在等什么？
heck:n.(英口)同"hell",表示略微烦恼或吃惊;
Thank you. 谢谢各位！
(Applause) （掌声）