2002年诺贝尔化学奖获得者访谈

Nobel Prizes Winner in Chemistry

        电喷雾离子化技术的发明人、美国科学家john fenn2002年度诺贝尔化学奖约翰·芬恩： 1917年出生于美国纽约市，1940年获耶鲁大学化学博士学位，1967年到1987年间任该大学教授，1987年起被聘为该大学名誉教授，自1994年起任弗吉尼亚联邦大学教授。

MARGARET WARNER: This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry went to three scientists: Kurt Wuethrich of Switzerland; Koichi Tanaka of Japan; and an American, John Fenn. The Nobel Committee cited them for developing ways of identifying and analyzing¹ large molecules³, like proteins. The new methods, the Nobel Committee said, "have revolutionized the development of new pharmaceuticals⁴," and hold promise for early detection of breast and prostate cancer. With us now is the American winner, John Fenn, who will share the $1 million prize with the other winners. At 85, he's currently a research professor of chemistry and engineering at Virginia Commonwealth⁵ University in Richmond.

Welcome, Professor Fenn, and congratulations.

JOHN B. FENN, Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Thanks very much.

MARGARET WARNER: How did you hear the news? Were you surprised?

JOHN B. FENN: The traditional telephone call at 5:30 this morning. My wife picked up the phone and she came and hollered to me, "Stockholm is calling!" So... I had watched the program that you have yesterday and knew that the physicists⁶ had gotten their Nobel Prize, and so Stockholm calling at this time of year could have meant only one thing. That's what it was. I'm still in a state of shock.

MARGARET WARNER: I'm glad we helped prepare you. The committee, as we just said, cited you and the other winners for your work in developing new ways of weighing molecules of proteins. Tell us in layman's terms why is it important to be able to weigh these proteins, these molecules?

JOHN B. FENN: Well, the weight or mass of a protein molecule² is a very important characteristic of its identity. So getting their mass is the first step toward identifying them.

MARGARET WARNER: And so what is it about your method that you developed that added something new? What did your work... what does your work enable researchers to do they weren't able to do before?

JOHN B. FENN: Well, in homely⁷ terms, we learned how to make elephants fly, as it were. These huge big molecules cannot be put into the gas phase as vapors⁸ or gases without catastrophic decomposition⁹. If you've ever tried to distill¹⁰ an egg out of a frying pan, you know you can't do it. It just decomposes¹¹ in carbon. So by tricking them, we are able to get them into the gas phase and then into the vacuum. Once we get them into the vacuum with charges on them, we can use the very old art of mass spectrometry of determining their masses. And having determined¹² their masses, we can take the next step and bring about collisions and break them up into their component¹³ pieces, usually short pieces of protein or even as far down as the amino acids of which all proteins are compromised. So you accumulate all this information and refer to great libraries of information, and we can identify almost any molecule rather quickly.

MARGARET WARNER: So how did this lead, as the Nobel Committee said, to revolutionary developments in new medicines, in new pharmaceuticals?

JOHN B. FENN: Well, in a new... in any new medicine... for example as you know the Food and Drug Administration requires lengthy¹⁴ trials in which animals and human beings are given the medicine, and then they have to determine what happens to the body when these medicines are taken. And so there are great batteries of tests, analytical¹⁵ procedures, analyzing all the body fluids-- blood, saliva¹⁶, urine-- and seeing what the metabolites of these drugs are-- that is, the pieces that the body makes out of them when they operate on them in their various chemical processes. And then we have to see how long these metabolites stay in the body, what it takes for the body to get rid of them, and how completely the body gets rid of them, and so all of these steps require fairly intricate analyses. It just so happens that this so- called electro spray mass spectrometry greatly speeds up and increases the accuracy of these analyses, and so most of the work using this technique is being used in drug companies today.

MARGARET WARNER: And then how will your method contribute to fighting cancer or detecting... early detection of cancer?

JOHN B. FENN: Well, when the body has a cancerous growth somewhere, there are frequently particular chemicals that are associated with that body which get released into the bloodstream. And so if one has a sensitive enough method of analysis, one can sometimes say somewhere in the body there is a cancer because we see this particular compound.

MARGARET WARNER: How did you get interested in chemistry to start with?

JOHN B. FENN: Well, to start with, I had a wonderful teacher when I was a freshman¹⁷ in college and took his chemistry course. And he made the subject live. And so, I got bitten.

MARGARET WARNER: Then have you always found the research end of it fascinating?

JOHN B. FENN: As a matter of fact, no. The research I did for my degree in graduate school was very dull, and I wanted no part of it. But I went and worked in industry for a few years, and then for a variety of reasons got back into academia, and by that time, I had more interesting problems to work on than I had for my Ph.D. thesis, and it has been lots of fun and excitement ever since.

MARGARET WARNER: And at age 85, you are still doing research and teaching research.

JOHN B. FENN: Well, put it this way -- I go to the lab every day. Whether I accomplish much in the way of research, I don't know. But we are working on problems, and I try to encourage students to look at this or look at that or look at the other thing, and I get a lot of nourishment¹⁸ from their young red blood cells. I'm a vampire¹⁹, essentially²⁰.

MARGARET WARNER: And will winning this prize change your life in any way?

JOHN B. FENN: It already changed it. I've been on the telephone all day long. I don't know. I mean, I've never been through this before, but I guess it will.

MARGARET WARNER: And have you decided²¹ on what you're going to do with your prize winnings?

JOHN B. FENN: No, the only thing I know I'm going to go do, the only thing I am going to do is pay income tax on it. But what I'll do after the tax is paid, I have no idea. I've not thought about it yet. I've got plenty of time before I have it in my pocket anyway.

MARGARET WARNER: Professor Fenn, thank you so much and again, congratulations.

JOHN B. FENN: Well thank you very much.

1 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

2 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

3 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

6 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

7 homely   

adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的

参考例句：

• We had a homely meal of bread and cheese.我们吃了一顿面包加乳酪的家常便餐。
• Come and have a homely meal with us,will you?来和我们一起吃顿家常便饭，好吗？

8 vapors   

n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His emotions became vague and shifted about like vapors. 他的心情则如同一团雾气，变幻无常，捉摸不定。 来自辞典例句
• They have hysterics, they weep, they have the vapors. 他们歇斯底里，他们哭泣，他们精神忧郁。 来自辞典例句

9 decomposition   

n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃

参考例句：

• It is said that the magnetite was formed by a chemical process called thermal decomposition. 据说这枚陨星是在热分解的化学过程中形成的。
• The dehydration process leads to fairly extensive decomposition of the product. 脱水过程会导致产物相当程度的分解。

10 distill   

vt.蒸馏，用蒸馏法提取，吸取，提炼

参考例句：

• This standard set determine the method of petroleum products distill.本标准规定了测定石油产品蒸馏的方法。
• Distill the crucial points of the book.从书中提炼出关键的几点。

11 decomposes   

腐烂( decompose的第三人称单数 )； （使）分解； 分解（某物质、光线等）

参考例句：

• The debris slowly decomposes into compost. 这些垃圾慢慢地分解成了堆肥。
• Plastic is a substance that hardly decomposes in the nature. 塑料是一种在自然中极难降解的物质。

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

13 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

14 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

15 analytical   

adj.分析的；用分析法的

参考例句：

• I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
• As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。

16 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

17 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

18 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

19 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

20 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

21 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。