美國東部時(shí)間2016年5月26日是哈佛的第365個(gè)畢業(yè)日,在這次的畢業(yè)典禮上,來自中國湖南的生物系博士生畢業(yè)生何江作為代表做了畢業(yè)典禮演講。每年哈佛畢業(yè)典禮都會(huì)有三位學(xué)生做演講,而今年,著名導(dǎo)演史蒂芬·斯皮爾伯格作為今年的特邀嘉賓登臺(tái)演講。

何江是中國大陸首位登上該演講臺(tái)的學(xué)生。作為一名從湖南農(nóng)村長(zhǎng)大的生物學(xué)博士生,何江用他的親身經(jīng)歷——被蜘蛛咬傷的往事講起,說明知識(shí)傳播、知識(shí)分布資源平衡的重要性。在演講過程中,他面帶微笑、鎮(zhèn)定自若,向世界展示了中國學(xué)子的風(fēng)采。

以下為演講全文:

When I was in middle school, a poisonous?spider bit my right hand. I ran to my mom for help—but instead of taking me to a doctor, my mom set my hand on fire.After wrapping my hand with?several layers of cotton, then soaking it in wine, she put a chopstick into my mouth,and ignited the cotton.?
在我上中學(xué)的時(shí)候,一只有毒蜘蛛咬傷了我的右手,我去找母親幫忙,但是她沒有找醫(yī)生,卻把我的手放在火上面。她用酒浸過的棉紗繞著我的手纏了好幾層之后,在我的嘴里放了一根筷子,然后點(diǎn)燃了棉紗。

語言點(diǎn)解析

Poisonous表示有毒的;惡毒的;討厭的。例句:A lot of poisonous waste water comes from that chemical factory. 那個(gè)化工廠排出大量有毒的廢水。

Heat quickly penetrated the cotton and began to roast my hand. The searing pain made me want to scream, but the chopstick prevented it. All I could do was watch my hand burn - one minute, then two minutes –until mom put out the fire.
棉紗上的溫度很快上來了,我的手也開始發(fā)燙。這股灼痛讓我想要大叫,不過我嘴里含著的筷子讓我叫不出來。我唯一能做的就是看著我的手骨,一分鐘過去了,兩分鐘過去了,直到母親熄滅火。

You see, the part of China I grew up in was a rural village, and at that time pre-industrial. When I was born, my village had no cars, no telephones, no electricity, not even running water. And we certainly didn’t have access to modern medical resources.?
所以你看到,我是在中國的一個(gè)小山村里成長(zhǎng)的,在那個(gè)時(shí)候,并不發(fā)達(dá)。在我出生的那個(gè)年代,我們村沒車、沒電話、也沒電,甚至都沒有自來水!且理所當(dāng)然地,我沒有接觸現(xiàn)代醫(yī)療資源的辦法。

There was no doctor my mother could bring me to see about my spider bite.For those who study biology, you may have grasped the science behind my mom’s cure: heat deactivates proteins, and a spider’s venom is simply a form of protein. It’s cool?how that folk remedy?actually incorporates basic biochemistry, isn’t it?
當(dāng)我被蜘蛛咬傷時(shí),并沒有醫(yī)生可以來治療我。對(duì)于學(xué)生物學(xué)的人來說,你也許能找到我母親治愈背后所包含的科學(xué)原理:熱量能夠讓蛋白質(zhì)失活,而蜘蛛的毒液都是蛋白質(zhì)組成的。將這個(gè)土方子和生物化學(xué)基礎(chǔ)聯(lián)系起來很神奇,不是嗎?

語言點(diǎn)解析

Folk remedy表示偏方。例句:The active component, willow bark, was used as a folk remedy as long ago as the 5th century BC. 它來自早在公元前五世紀(jì)就被用于民間配方的柳樹皮,是這種樹皮的一種有效成分。

But I am a PhD student in biochemistry at Harvard, I now know that better, less painful and less risky treatments existed. So I can’t help but ask myself, why I didn’t receive one?at the time?
不過我現(xiàn)在是一個(gè)在哈佛學(xué)習(xí)生物化學(xué)的博士生,我現(xiàn)在知道了一個(gè)更好的、不那么痛、危險(xiǎn)系數(shù)更小的治療方法。所以,我忍不住問我自己,為什么那個(gè)時(shí)候我不能接受更好的治療嗎?

Fifteen years have passed since that incident. I am happy to report that my hand is fine. But this question lingers, and I continue to be troubled by the unequal distribution of scientific knowledge throughout the world.
距離那個(gè)事故發(fā)生已經(jīng)十五年了,我很高興地告訴你們:我的手現(xiàn)在恢復(fù)地很好。不過這個(gè)問題在我心里縈繞了很久,我也時(shí)常會(huì)被科學(xué)知識(shí)分布的不均衡問題所困擾。

語言點(diǎn)解析

Linger表示:徘徊;茍延殘喘;緩慢度過。例句:The girl lingered by the lake until it was dark. 女孩在湖畔一直徘徊到天黑。

We have learned to edit the human genome and unlock many secrets of how cancer progresses. We can manipulate neuronal activity literally with the switch of a light. Each year brings more advances in biomedical research-exciting, transformative accomplishments.
我們?cè)鴮W(xué)習(xí)過如何編輯人類基因譜,揭示了許多關(guān)于癌癥的秘密。我們能夠輕松地操控神經(jīng)元的活動(dòng)。生物醫(yī)藥研究每年都會(huì)有很多進(jìn)步和令人振奮的變革、成就。

Yet, despite the knowledge we have amassed, we haven’t been so successful in deploying it to where it’s needed most. According to the World Bank, twelve percent of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day.
雖然我們?nèi)〉昧撕芏喑删?,但是我們卻不能將這些成就傳遞到最需要它的地方。據(jù)世界銀行統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)表明,世界人口的12%一天的生活費(fèi)不到2美元。

Malnutrition kills more than 3 million children annually. Three hundred million people?are afflicted by malaria globally. All over the world, we constantly see these problems of poverty, illness, and lack of resources impeding the flow of scientific information.
每年都有三百萬的兒童死于營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良。全球有三億的人收到瘧疾的影響。在全世界,我們能看到無數(shù)的貧困問題,病痛問題以及資源匱乏導(dǎo)致科學(xué)信息不流通的問題。

Lifesaving knowledge we take for granted?in the modern world is often unavailable in these underdeveloped regions.And in far too many places, people are still essentially trying to cure a spider bite with fire.
救生知識(shí)在現(xiàn)代化的世界是理所當(dāng)然的,不過在經(jīng)濟(jì)欠發(fā)達(dá)地區(qū)卻是高不可及的。所以,在許許多多地方,人們還是用火來治療蜘蛛的咬傷。

語言點(diǎn)解析

Take it for granted表示:認(rèn)為理所當(dāng)然;視為當(dāng)然;理所當(dāng)然;想當(dāng)然。例句:It's something we all take for granted: our ability to look at an object, near or far, and bring it instantly into focus.? 這是一個(gè)我們習(xí)以為常的事情:不管物體是遠(yuǎn)是近,我們的眼睛總能在看到物體的時(shí)候迅速完成對(duì)焦。

While studying at Harvard, I saw how scientific knowledge can help others in simple, yet profound ways. The bird flu pandemic in the 2000s looked to my village like a spell cast by demons.
在哈佛學(xué)習(xí)期間,我知道了科學(xué)知識(shí)是如何用簡(jiǎn)單的又深刻的方式幫助到其他人的。2000年的一次流感使我的家鄉(xiāng)像被惡魔下了詛咒一般。

Our folk medicine didn’t even have half-measures to offer. What’s more, farmers didn’t know the difference between common cold and flu; they didn’t understand that the flu was much more lethal than the common cold. Most people were also unaware that the virus could transmit across different species.
我們的民間治療根本找不到解決辦法。更嚴(yán)重的是,農(nóng)民們不知道普通的感冒和流感之間的區(qū)別。他們不明白流感比普通的感冒要致命地多。他們中的大多數(shù)人都對(duì)病毒在動(dòng)物種類間的傳播沒有概念。

語言點(diǎn)解析

Transmit表示傳輸、傳送;短語transmitted ray表示透射光。例句:He has transmitted the report to us. 他已經(jīng)把報(bào)告?zhèn)魉徒o我們。

So when I realized that simple hygiene practices like separating different animal species could contain the spread of the disease, and that I could help make this knowledge available to my village.
所以我意識(shí)到簡(jiǎn)單的衛(wèi)生治療方法例如將動(dòng)物隔離可以治療這種病時(shí),我可以用這種方式讓我的家鄉(xiāng)更快接受這種科學(xué)知識(shí)。

That was my first “Aha” moment as a budding scientist. But it was more than that: it was also a vital inflection point in my own ethical development, my own self-understanding as a member of the global community.
那是我作為生物科學(xué)家的第一次驚嘆。不過也不僅僅就此而已:這也是我自身理念提升的至關(guān)重要的一個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)折,也是關(guān)于我作為地球上一員的自我理解的轉(zhuǎn)折。

Harvard dares us to dream big, to aspire to change the world. Here on this Commencement Day, we are probably thinking of grand destinations and big adventures that await us.
哈佛鼓勵(lì)我們有大夢(mèng)想,去激勵(lì)我們改變這個(gè)世界。在這個(gè)畢業(yè)日,我們也可以想象等待我們的偉大宏圖。

As for me, I am also thinking of the farmers in my village. My experience?here reminds me how important it is for researchers?to communicate?our knowledge to those who need it. Because by using the science?we already have, we could probably bring my village and thousands like it into the world you and I take for granted every day. And that’s an impact every one of us can make!
但是對(duì)于我來說,我還在想著我家鄉(xiāng)的農(nóng)民們。我的經(jīng)歷讓我意識(shí)到,將知識(shí)傳遞給需要的人是多么重要。因?yàn)椋\(yùn)用我們所知道的知識(shí),我們可以將知識(shí)傳遞到我的家鄉(xiāng)和千萬個(gè)像我家鄉(xiāng)一樣的地方帶進(jìn)這個(gè)我們?cè)谧總€(gè)人所習(xí)以為常的世界。

But the question is, will we make the effort , or not?
不過問題是,我們會(huì)不會(huì)盡力呢?

More than ever before,our society emphasizes science and innovation. But an equally important emphasis should be on distributing?the knowledge we have to where it’s needed.
很久之前,我們的社會(huì)就強(qiáng)調(diào)過科學(xué)和創(chuàng)新的重要性,但是同等重要的,我們應(yīng)該強(qiáng)調(diào)將這些知識(shí)平等地傳遞給需要它的人的重要性。

Changing the world doesn’t mean that?everyone has to find the next big thing. It can be as simple as becoming better communicators, and finding more creative ways to pass on?the knowledge we have to people like my mom and the farmers in their local community.
改變世界并不是說每個(gè)人都應(yīng)該發(fā)現(xiàn)下一個(gè)偉大的東西。改變世界可以是簡(jiǎn)單的方式,比如成為一個(gè)更好的傳播者,發(fā)現(xiàn)更多有創(chuàng)造力的傳播知識(shí)給像我的媽媽和農(nóng)民這樣生活在未工業(yè)化地區(qū)的人的方式。

語言點(diǎn)解析】????????????????????

Pass on表示:傳遞;繼續(xù);去世。例句:He has passed me on all the materials which he had got together. 他把已搜集到的材料全交給了我。

Our society also needs to recognize that the equal distribution of knowledge is a pivotal step of human development, and work to bring this into reality.
我們的社會(huì)也應(yīng)當(dāng)明白知識(shí)的平衡分布是人類進(jìn)步不可或缺的一步,這需要我們的努力來實(shí)現(xiàn)。

And if we do that, then perhaps a teenager in rural China who is bitten by a spider will not have to burn his hand, but will know to seek a doctor instead.
如果我們努力了,一個(gè)在中國農(nóng)村的青少年被毒蜘蛛咬了的話,就不用再火療而是去見醫(yī)生了。

Thank you !
謝謝!

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