日本科學界壓力測試
2023復習正是強化復習階段，在考研英語中占了40分，所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀，快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 Science in Japan 日本科學界 Stress test 壓力測試 After a scandal, a renowned stem-cell scientistcommits suicide 爆出丑聞后，一位大名鼎鼎的干細胞科學家自殺 Dr Sasai faces the music 聚光鏡前的笹井博士 WHAT happens to human cells if you douse them in a Petri dish full of public shame, officialreprimands and months of intense stress? An answer came this week when Yoshiki Sasai, adistinguished stem-cell biologist at the RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology in Kobe,Japan, hanged himself after being blamed over the fabrication of research. 如果將人類細胞浸入充滿公眾羞恥、官方譴責以及數月的緊張壓力的培養皿中，會發生什么?上周的答案是，著名干細胞生物學家笹井芳樹在受盡學術違規的指責后懸梁自盡。笹井芳樹生前就職于位于日本神戶的理化研究所，是發生與再生科學綜合研究中心副主任。 Dr Sasai had been an author, with Haruko Obokata, a younger, female colleague whosework he was supervising and promoting, of two papers published in January in Nature. Thesepromised a leap forward in the much-hyped field of regenerative medicine. They purportedto show that applying stress to ordinary mouse cellssqueezing them, or dipping them intoa bath of mild acidcould turn them into pluripotent stem cells, capable of forming newanimal tissue. 笹井博士是兩篇發表于《Nature》雜志上的論文的作者之一。論文第一作者為小保方晴子，是他的女研究生，也是他推薦的文章。文章描繪了當下熱門的可再生醫學領域的重大進展。論文結果顯示，對普通老鼠細胞施加壓力，即擠壓或將其浸入弱酸中，可能將這些細胞轉變為多能型細胞，賦予其形成新的動物組織的能力。 In Japan, where female scientists are a rare species, Dr Obokata s apparentbreakthrough caused a sensation. It seemed to open the possibility of more rapid progresstowards regenerative medicine s ambitious goals of using pluripotent cells to test newdrugs, study diseases, grow tissues and even fashion new body parts to replace damaged ormissing ones. 在日本，女性科學家非常罕見。小保方博士的重大突破營造了這樣一種感覺：它似乎打開再生醫學快速發展的大門，使用多能型細胞測試新藥、研究疾病、培養組織甚至塑造新肢體以替代受損或缺失的部分這種宏偉目標有了實現的可能性。 It would also have eclipsed the work of a scientist at Kyoto University who had, in 2006,devised a way of reprogramming ordinary cells into pluripotent ones using genes formolecules called transcription factors. By comparison, the technique Drs Obokata andSasai suggested was simple. 這份報告超越了京都大學的一位科學家2006年的工作。他發明了一種新的方法，使用分子基因中的轉錄因子，能將普通細胞轉變為多能型細胞。相比之下，小保方博士和笹井博士提出的技術比較簡單。 Many other scientists therefore tried to replicate it in the months following publication. Butthey could not, and doubts grew. Blogs and websites pointed out irregularities in the imagesand diagrams in the original papers. Finally, in April, an investigative panel at the RIKENCentre slammed Dr Obokata for fabrication and plagiarism, and in July Natureretractedthe papers. 因此，在論文發表后的幾個月，許多其他科學家都試圖復制這一成果。但他們未能成功，由此開始產生疑慮。博文和網站紛紛指出原始論文的圖像和表格中有不合規現象。最終，四月的時候，理化所的調查小組認定存在學術違規和舞弊，7月，《自然》撤回了這兩篇論文。 The panel did clear Dr Sasai of misconduct, but it laid upon him a heavy responsibility forfailing to verify his star researcher s study. He was a keen fundraiser for stem-cell researchat RIKEN, which is one of Japan s biggest research organisations, with laboratories all aroundthe country, and that motive may explain his failure to scrutinise her work properly,according to another probe, by outside experts. Disciplinary action against him wasexpected, and the outsiders called for the Centre for Developmental Biology to be shut down.In April Dr Sasai told the Wall Street Journal that he was overwhelmed with shame. 調查小組確實洗清了笹井博士行為不當的嫌疑，但是卻認定他不曾識別他所謂明星研究人員的成果而負有重大責任。外界專家探討則認為，笹井博士是理化研究中心內，干細胞研究的主要資金募集人員，而理化研究中心則是日本最大的研究機構之一，其實驗室遍布全國。這可能是導致他未能正確審議她的工作的原因。人們希望給他紀律處分，外界還有人呼吁關閉發生與再生科學研綜合研究中心。四月，笹井博士對《華爾街日報》說，他滿面羞愧。 But some shame surely also attaches to the scientific establishment s handling of thescandalparticularly in a country where suicide is common. The Knoepfler Lab Stem CellBlog, a website which has followed the implosion of the papers closely, called this week forall scientists to reflect on the pressure researchers are under to make transformativediscoveries. Dr Sasai became a scapegoat, taking too much responsibility for the troubles, itsaid. Having been briefly in hospital for stress, and on powerful drugs, he had reportedlyasked to step aside from his job, only to be turned down. Suicide, unfortunately, is aresponse that cannot be gainsaid. 但是，對科研機構的丑聞處理也應當受到指責，尤其是在自殺普遍的國家中。 Knoepfler實驗室干細胞博客自論文發布以來，一直密切關注。本周他呼吁所有科學家反思研究人員在進行革命性研究時所承擔的壓力。笹井博士變成了替罪羊，承擔了麻煩帶來的多數責任。他已經因壓力而住院并服用強力藥物，并寫報告要求離職，卻仍被拒絕。不幸的是，自殺卻是一項無法被駁回的申請。 詞語解釋 1.commit suicide 自殺 Why is this? Why is Islam the only religion thatmotivates its followers to commit suicide missions? 為什么伊斯蘭是唯一一個驅動自己的追隨者去執行自殺性任務的宗教呢? So in a letter to her principal, she threatened tocommit suicide if her parents pulled her out ofschool. 因此，她在給校長的一封信里表明，如果父母強迫她離開學校，她就自殺。 2.capable of 有能力的 Show your teacher what you are capable of. 向你的老師表現出你能干什么。 In the wake of developments in science and technology, man has become more capable ofconquering nature. 隨著科學技術的發展， 人們征服自然的能力也越來越強了。 3.point out 指出，指明 Can you point out the hotel on this map? 你能指出這家旅館在地圖上的位置嗎? I want to point out one area that I grade the students on, something that many of themdislike. 我想指出我在為學生們評分的一個地方，是他們中許多人都不喜歡的一點。
2023復習正是強化復習階段，在考研英語中占了40分，所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀，快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 Science in Japan 日本科學界 Stress test 壓力測試 After a scandal, a renowned stem-cell scientistcommits suicide 爆出丑聞后，一位大名鼎鼎的干細胞科學家自殺 Dr Sasai faces the music 聚光鏡前的笹井博士 WHAT happens to human cells if you douse them in a Petri dish full of public shame, officialreprimands and months of intense stress? An answer came this week when Yoshiki Sasai, adistinguished stem-cell biologist at the RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology in Kobe,Japan, hanged himself after being blamed over the fabrication of research. 如果將人類細胞浸入充滿公眾羞恥、官方譴責以及數月的緊張壓力的培養皿中，會發生什么?上周的答案是，著名干細胞生物學家笹井芳樹在受盡學術違規的指責后懸梁自盡。笹井芳樹生前就職于位于日本神戶的理化研究所，是發生與再生科學綜合研究中心副主任。 Dr Sasai had been an author, with Haruko Obokata, a younger, female colleague whosework he was supervising and promoting, of two papers published in January in Nature. Thesepromised a leap forward in the much-hyped field of regenerative medicine. They purportedto show that applying stress to ordinary mouse cellssqueezing them, or dipping them intoa bath of mild acidcould turn them into pluripotent stem cells, capable of forming newanimal tissue. 笹井博士是兩篇發表于《Nature》雜志上的論文的作者之一。論文第一作者為小保方晴子，是他的女研究生，也是他推薦的文章。文章描繪了當下熱門的可再生醫學領域的重大進展。論文結果顯示，對普通老鼠細胞施加壓力，即擠壓或將其浸入弱酸中，可能將這些細胞轉變為多能型細胞，賦予其形成新的動物組織的能力。 In Japan, where female scientists are a rare species, Dr Obokata s apparentbreakthrough caused a sensation. It seemed to open the possibility of more rapid progresstowards regenerative medicine s ambitious goals of using pluripotent cells to test newdrugs, study diseases, grow tissues and even fashion new body parts to replace damaged ormissing ones. 在日本，女性科學家非常罕見。小保方博士的重大突破營造了這樣一種感覺：它似乎打開再生醫學快速發展的大門，使用多能型細胞測試新藥、研究疾病、培養組織甚至塑造新肢體以替代受損或缺失的部分這種宏偉目標有了實現的可能性。 It would also have eclipsed the work of a scientist at Kyoto University who had, in 2006,devised a way of reprogramming ordinary cells into pluripotent ones using genes formolecules called transcription factors. By comparison, the technique Drs Obokata andSasai suggested was simple. 這份報告超越了京都大學的一位科學家2006年的工作。他發明了一種新的方法，使用分子基因中的轉錄因子，能將普通細胞轉變為多能型細胞。相比之下，小保方博士和笹井博士提出的技術比較簡單。 Many other scientists therefore tried to replicate it in the months following publication. Butthey could not, and doubts grew. Blogs and websites pointed out irregularities in the imagesand diagrams in the original papers. Finally, in April, an investigative panel at the RIKENCentre slammed Dr Obokata for fabrication and plagiarism, and in July Natureretractedthe papers. 因此，在論文發表后的幾個月，許多其他科學家都試圖復制這一成果。但他們未能成功，由此開始產生疑慮。博文和網站紛紛指出原始論文的圖像和表格中有不合規現象。最終，四月的時候，理化所的調查小組認定存在學術違規和舞弊，7月，《自然》撤回了這兩篇論文。 The panel did clear Dr Sasai of misconduct, but it laid upon him a heavy responsibility forfailing to verify his star researcher s study. He was a keen fundraiser for stem-cell researchat RIKEN, which is one of Japan s biggest research organisations, with laboratories all aroundthe country, and that motive may explain his failure to scrutinise her work properly,according to another probe, by outside experts. Disciplinary action against him wasexpected, and the outsiders called for the Centre for Developmental Biology to be shut down.In April Dr Sasai told the Wall Street Journal that he was overwhelmed with shame. 調查小組確實洗清了笹井博士行為不當的嫌疑，但是卻認定他不曾識別他所謂明星研究人員的成果而負有重大責任。外界專家探討則認為，笹井博士是理化研究中心內，干細胞研究的主要資金募集人員，而理化研究中心則是日本最大的研究機構之一，其實驗室遍布全國。這可能是導致他未能正確審議她的工作的原因。人們希望給他紀律處分，外界還有人呼吁關閉發生與再生科學研綜合研究中心。四月，笹井博士對《華爾街日報》說，他滿面羞愧。 But some shame surely also attaches to the scientific establishment s handling of thescandalparticularly in a country where suicide is common. The Knoepfler Lab Stem CellBlog, a website which has followed the implosion of the papers closely, called this week forall scientists to reflect on the pressure researchers are under to make transformativediscoveries. Dr Sasai became a scapegoat, taking too much responsibility for the troubles, itsaid. Having been briefly in hospital for stress, and on powerful drugs, he had reportedlyasked to step aside from his job, only to be turned down. Suicide, unfortunately, is aresponse that cannot be gainsaid. 但是，對科研機構的丑聞處理也應當受到指責，尤其是在自殺普遍的國家中。 Knoepfler實驗室干細胞博客自論文發布以來，一直密切關注。本周他呼吁所有科學家反思研究人員在進行革命性研究時所承擔的壓力。笹井博士變成了替罪羊，承擔了麻煩帶來的多數責任。他已經因壓力而住院并服用強力藥物，并寫報告要求離職，卻仍被拒絕。不幸的是，自殺卻是一項無法被駁回的申請。 詞語解釋 1.commit suicide 自殺 Why is this? Why is Islam the only religion thatmotivates its followers to commit suicide missions? 為什么伊斯蘭是唯一一個驅動自己的追隨者去執行自殺性任務的宗教呢? So in a letter to her principal, she threatened tocommit suicide if her parents pulled her out ofschool. 因此，她在給校長的一封信里表明，如果父母強迫她離開學校，她就自殺。 2.capable of 有能力的 Show your teacher what you are capable of. 向你的老師表現出你能干什么。 In the wake of developments in science and technology, man has become more capable ofconquering nature. 隨著科學技術的發展， 人們征服自然的能力也越來越強了。 3.point out 指出，指明 Can you point out the hotel on this map? 你能指出這家旅館在地圖上的位置嗎? I want to point out one area that I grade the students on, something that many of themdislike. 我想指出我在為學生們評分的一個地方，是他們中許多人都不喜歡的一點。
