TED演讲:疯狂的科学家用苹果做出了耳朵

 I've got a confession¹. I love looking through people's garbage. 坦白地说，我喜欢翻看别人丢弃的垃圾。

Now, it's not some creepy thing. Okay. 这可不是什么怪癖。

I'm usually just looking for old electronics, stuff I can take to my workshop and hack². 我通常只是寻找旧的电子器件，那些我可以带回工作室进行改装的东西。

Now I do have a fetish for CD-ROM drives.  我尤其痴迷于光盘驱动器。

Ok. Each one's got three different motors, so now you can build things that move. 每一个驱动器都有三个不同的马达，这样你就能组装一些可以动的东西了。

There's switches so you can turn things on and off.  驱动器还有开关，让你能够实现启动和关闭功能。

There's even a freaking laser, so you can make a cool robot into an awesome³ robot. 它甚至还有一个非同寻常的激光器，让你能把一个看起来还不错的机器人变得炫酷无比。

Now, I've built a lot of stuff out of garbage, and some of these things have even been kind of useful. 我已经用废弃材料造出了许多东西，而且其中一些还是很有用的。

But here's the thing, for me, garbage is just a chance to play, 不过事实上，对我来说，废品只是提供了一个玩转的机会，

to be creative and build things to amuse myself.  让我富有创造力，打造自娱自乐的东西。

This is what I love doing, so I just made it part of my day job.  这是我的兴趣所在，所以我把它融入了我的一部分日常工作。

I lead a university-based biological research lab, where we value curiosity and exploration above all else. 我带领着一个大学的生物研究实验室，我们把好奇心和探究精神摆在首位。

We aren't focused on any particular problem, and we're not trying to solve any particular disease. 我们不专注于任何特定的问题，也没有尝试去解决任何特定的疾病。

This is just a place where people can come and ask fascinating questions and find answers. 这只是一个人们可以来提出奇妙的问题并找到答案的地方。

And I realized a long time ago  很久以前我就意识到，

that if I challenge people to build the equipment they need out of the garbage I find, 如果我挑战别人用我找到的废品，造出他们需要的设备，

it's a great way to foster creativity.  这是一种很好的培养创造力的方式。

And what happened was that artists and scientists from around the world started coming to my lab. 后来，全世界的艺术家和科学家们开始纷纷来到我的实验室。

And it's not just because we value unconventional ideas,  并不只是因为我们重视新奇的想法，

it's because we test and validate⁴ them with scientific rigor⁵. 更是因为我们用科学的精确性检测并证实那些想法。

1 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

2 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

3 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

4 validate   

vt.（法律）使有效，使生效

参考例句：

• You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字，这张汇票才能生效。
• In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效，双方在上面签了字。

5 rigor   

n.严酷，严格，严厉

参考例句：

• Their analysis lacks rigor.他们的分析缺乏严谨性。||The crime will be treated with the full rigor of the law.这一罪行会严格依法审理。