TED演讲：去怀疑的勇气(2)

 　　Now, Alice had trouble getting funding for her research.  当时，Alice很难为她的研究筹备到资金。

　　In the end, she got just 1,000 pounds from the Lady Tata Memorial prize.  最后,她只得到了1000英镑，从Lady Tata纪念奖得来的。

　　And that meant she knew she only had one shot at collecting her data.  这意味着她知道她对于收集数据，只有一次机会。

　　Now, she had no idea what to look for.  她完全不知道应当寻找什么。

　　This really was a needle in a haystack sort of search, so she asked everything she could think of.  这对于需要大量数据的研究来说是一个沉重打击，因此她问了所有她能想到的东西。

　　Had the children eaten boiled sweets? Had they consumed colored drinks?  这些孩子有没有吃煮沸的甜食? 他们有没有喝花里胡哨的饮料?

　　Did they eat fish and chips? Did they have indoor or outdoor plumbing¹?  他们是不是吃油炸鱼和薯片了? 他们是不是使用过户内或者户外的铅制品?

　　What time of life had they started school? 他们什么时候开始上学的?

　　And when her carbon copied questionnaire started to come back,  而当她的调查问卷回来时，

　　one thing and one thing only jumped out with the statistical² clarity of a kind that most scientists can only dream of.  只有一个明显的数据显示了出来，这是大多数科学家都无法想象的。

　　By a rate of two to one, the children who had died had had mothers who had been X-rayed when pregnant.  三分之二的这些由于癌症而死的孩子，他们的母亲在怀孕的时候都做过X光检查。

　　Now that finding flew in the face of conventional wisdom.  这个发现对于传统观念是一大冲击。

　　Conventional wisdom held that everything was safe up to a point, a threshold. 传统观念认为，任何事情在一种程度上都是安全的，像一个门槛。

1 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。