VOA慢速英语2017 三位化学家获得诺贝尔化学奖

Three Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Three scientists have won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for their work to simplify and improve the imaging of biomolecules.

三位科学家因为在简化和改善生物分子成像方面的成就获得了诺贝尔化学奖。

Goran Hansson is Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He announced the names of the winners Wednesday from the group’s headquarters in Stockholm.

瑞典皇家科学院秘书长高岚·汉森（Goran Hansson）周三在斯德哥尔摩的学院总部公布了获奖者名单。

"The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided² to award the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly³ to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson.”

“瑞士皇家科学院决定将2017年诺贝尔化学奖授予雅克·杜波切特、约阿希姆·弗兰克和理查德·亨德森。”

Hansson said the scientists were being recognized for what he described as “a cool method for imaging the molecules¹ of life.”

汉森表示，这些科学家获得表彰是因为他所称的“一种用于生物分子成像的冷却方法。”

Jacques Dubochet works at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Joachim Frank is with Columbia University in the United States. Richard Henderson is with Britain’s Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular⁴ Biology in Cambridge, England.

杜波切特就职于瑞士洛桑大学。弗兰克就职于美国哥伦比亚大学。亨德森就职于英国剑桥的英国医学研究委员会分子生物学实验室。

The three scientists developed a way to create three-dimensional (3D) images of biological molecules – images with height, width and depth. Their method is called cryo-electron microscopy.

三位科学家开发了一种创建生物分子三维图形的办法，三维图形包括了长、宽、高。他们的办法被称之为冰冻电子显微镜。

The Royal Swedish Academy described cryo-electron microscopy as “decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development” of new medicines.

瑞典皇家科学院称冰冻电子显微镜是一种“对基本了解生物化学和开发新药都具有决定性作用的工具。”

Scientists long believed that electron microscopes could only be used to study non-living things. The reason? Their powerful electron beam destroys biological material. But cryo-technology freezes the biological material, keeping it at extremely low temperatures. This protects it from damage.

科学家们长期认为，电子显微镜只能用于研究非生物。原因在于它强大的电子束会破坏生物材料。但是冷冻技术会冻结生物材料，使其保持在极低的温度，这样就能防止其损坏。

The power of the technology could be seen in the Zika crisis last year. Zika virus was linked to an increase in brain-damaged babies in Brazil. The virus spreads when an infected mosquito bites a pregnant woman.

这种技术的能量之大在去年的寨卡病毒危机中可见一斑。寨卡病毒跟巴西脑损伤婴儿的增长有关。受感染的蚊虫叮咬孕妇时便会传播这种病毒。

As concerns about Zika spread, scientists turned to cryo-electronic microscopy to make 3-D images of the virus at the atomic level. This helped researchers as they worked to create drugs and vaccines⁵.

随着对寨卡病毒的恐慌蔓延开来，科学家转而使用冰冻电子显微镜来制作该病毒在原子级别的三维图像。这有助于研究人员制造药物和疫苗。

The Nobel committee noted⁶ Wednesday that, in 1990, Henderson used an electron microscope to produce a 3-D image of a protein at atomic-level resolution.

诺贝尔委员会周三表示，亨德森1990年使用电子显微镜制作了蛋白质在原子级分辨率的三维图像。

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Frank developed mathematical models to sharpen images from such microscopes.

在20世纪七八十年代，弗兰克开发了数学模型来锐化这种显微镜图像。

Dubochet added water to electron microscopy. He cooled water so quickly that it solidified⁷ in its liquid form around biological material. The process formed a kind of glass instead of ice. As a result, the biomolecules were able to keep their natural shape.

杜波切特向电子显微镜中加入了水。他将水快速冷冻，使其在生物材料周围以液态形式固化。这一过程中形成了某种玻璃而不是冰。这样，生物分子就能维持其天然形状。

The three scientists will share the $1.1 million prize.

这三名科学家将共享110万美元奖金。

The Nobel prizes are named after the Swedish engineer Alfred Nobel. He was the inventor of dynamite⁸, an explosive.

诺贝尔化学奖以瑞典工程师阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔的名字命名。他是炸药的发明者。

Nobel left $9,000,000 in his will to establish yearly prizes. He said they should go to living people who have worked most effectively to improve human life. The first awards were presented in 1901.

诺贝尔在遗嘱中留下了9百万美元用于设立年度奖金。他表示，这些奖金应该用于表彰那些最有效地改善人类生活的活着的人士。第一个奖项于1901年颁出。

The chemistry prize is the third Nobel announced this week. The literature winner will be named Thursday and the peace prize will be announced Friday.

化学奖是本周公布的第三项诺贝尔奖。周四将会公布文学奖获奖者，周五将会公布和平奖获奖者。

I’m Anne Ball.

Words in This Story

academy – n. a school, usually place of higher learning; a society or group of learned persons

three-dimensional – adj. of or related to having height, width and depth

beam – n. a line or energy or light

mosquito – n. an insect

resolution – n. the ability of a device to show an image clearly and with a lot of detail

1 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。

2 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。

3 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

4 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

5 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 solidified   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Her attitudes solidified through privilege and habit. 由于特权和习惯使然，她的看法变得越来越难以改变。
• When threatened, he fires spheres of solidified air from his launcher! 当危险来临，他就会发射它的弹药！

8 dynamite   

n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)

参考例句：

• The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
• The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。