7-11 诺贝尔大师自传：让－马里·莱恩

Autobiography¹ of Nobel Prize Winner:

 Jean-Marie Lehn

 

I was born on September 30 1939 in Rosheim, a small medieval city of Alsace in France. My father, Pierre Lehn, then a baker², was very interested in music, played the piano and the organ and became later, having given up the bakery, the organist of the city. My mother Marie kept the house and the shop. I was the eldest³ of four sons and helped out in the shop with my first brother. I grew up in Rosheim during the years of the second world war, went to primary school after the war and, at age eleven, I entered high school located in Obernai, a small city about five kilometers from Rosheim. During these years I began to play the piano and the organ, and with time music has become my major interest outside science. My high school studies from 1950 to 1957 were in classics, with Latin, Greek, German, and English languages, French literature and, during the last year, philosophy, on which I was especially keen. However, I also became interested in sciences, especially chemistry, so that I obtained the baccalauréat¹ in Philosophy in July 1957 and in Experimental Sciences in September of the same year.

 

I envisaged² to study philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, but being still undecided, I began with first year courses in physical, chemical and natural sciences. During this year 1957/58, I was impressed by the coherent³ and rigorous⁴ structure of organic chemistry. I was particularly receptive⁵ to the experimental power of organic chemistry, which was able to convert⁶ at will⁷, it seemed, complicated substances into one another following well defined rules and routes. I bought myself compounds and glassware and began performing laboratory practice experiments at my parents’ home. The seed was sown⁸, so that when, the next year, I followed the stimulating⁵⁹ lectures of a newly appointed young professor, Guy Ourisson, it became clear to me that I wanted to do research in organic chemistry.

 

After having obtained the degree of Licencié ès Sciences (Bachelor), I entered Ourisson's laboratory in October of 1960. This was the first decisive stage of my training. My work was concerned with conformational¹⁰ and physico- chemical properties of triterpenes¹¹. Being in charge of our first NMR¹² spectrometer¹³, I was led to penetrate⁶ more deeply into the arcanes¹⁴ of this very powerful physical method; this was to be of much importance for later studies.

 

Having obtained my degree of Docteur ès Sciences (Ph.D.) in June of 1963, I spent a year in the laboratory of Robert Burns Woodward at Harvard University. This was the second decisive stage of my life as a researcher. I also followed a course in quantum mechanics and performed my first computations with Roald Hoffmann. I had the chance to witness in 1964 the initial stages of what was to become the Woodward Hoffmann rules¹⁵.

 

After my return to Strasbourg, I began to work in the area of physical organic chemistry, where I could combine the knowledge acquired in organic chemistry, in quantum theory and on physical methods.

 

I was promoted associate professor in early 1970 and full professor in October of the same year. I took over the chemistry laboratory of the Collège de France in 1980 and thereafter divided my time between the two laboratories in Strasbourg and in Paris, a situation continuing up to the present.

 

注释：

1. baccalauréat [7bAkE5lC:rei5B: ]〈法〉(法国中学会考后颁发的)中学毕业文凭

2. envisage⁴ [in5vizidV] vt. 想像，设想

3. coherent [kEu5hiErEnt] a. 一致的；协调的；聚合在一起的

4. rigorous [5ri^ErEs] a. 精确的；严密的；缜密的

5. receptive [ri5septiv] a.  (对知识、思想等)接受能力强的，能迅速接受的；(对建议等)愿接受的；易接受的

6. convert [kEn5t] vt. 使转变，使转化

7. at will  任意；随意

8. sow [sau] (p.t. sowed，p.p. sown) vt. 播种，种；撒播(种子)

9. stimulating [5stimjuleitIN] a. 使人兴奋的，激励的，鼓励性的

10. conformational [9kCnfR:`meIFEnEl] a. [化] 构象的

11. triterpene [7trai5tE:pi:n] n. [化] 三萜(烯)

12. NMR abbr. nuclear magnetic resonance  [核] 核磁共振

13. spectrometer [spek5trCmitE] n. [物] 分光计，光谱仪

14. arcane⁷ [B:5kein] a. 神秘的；深奥难解的(此处作名词用)

15. Woodward Hoffmann rule  [化] 伍德瓦德·霍夫曼定则(能预测或解释有机化学中某些类型反应的立体化学现象的一种概念)

 

诺贝尔大师自传：让－马里·莱恩

 

1939年9月30日我出生在罗塞姆，它是法国阿尔萨斯的一座中世纪的小城。我父亲皮埃尔·莱恩是个面包师，他非常喜欢音乐，会弹钢琴和管风琴。后来他放下了面包店的事务，成为该城的一名管风琴手。我母亲玛丽打理家务和面包店。我是家中4个儿子中最大的一个，与我的大弟弟一起帮助照看面包店。第二次世界大战期间，我在罗塞姆长大。战后我上了小学，11岁的时候上中学。中学坐落在一个叫奥贝奈的小镇，离罗塞姆大约5公里。在中学时，我开始练习弹钢琴和管风琴，音乐逐渐成了我除科学以外的最大的兴趣。从1950年到1957年中学期间，我上了很多古典文学课程，像用拉丁文、希腊文、德文、英文写的古典文学作品，此外还学习了法国文学，最后一年学的是哲学，一门我特别喜欢的学科。但对科学，特别是化学我也很感兴趣，因此在1957年7月我获得了哲学的中学毕业文凭，并于同年9月获得实验科学的中学毕业文凭。

我想在斯特拉斯堡大学读哲学，但因为还没有拿定主意，第一年我就开始上物理学、化学和自然科学课程。在1957年至1958年这一学年里，我对有机化学内聚的严密结构留下了深刻的印象。我特别喜欢有机化学的实验，它能够把复杂的物质按照严格制定的规则和程序任意（似乎是）转变成另外一种物质。我自己买了一些化合物和玻璃器具，开始在我父母家进行实验室的试验。学习有机化学的种子就这样被埋下了。第二年，我听了新近任命的年轻教授盖伊·奥里松的讲座，令人振奋不已，我要从事有机化学研究的想法也变得十分清晰了。

在获得理学学士学位以后，我于1960年10月进入了奥里松的实验室。这是我第一个决定性的锻炼阶段。我的工作是关于三萜烯化合物的构象特性和物理化学特性。由于掌管着我们第一台核磁共振分光计，我被这种非常强大的物理方法的神秘所吸引，并深入地研究了它，这对于日后的研究非常重要。

1963年6月获得了理学博士学位后，我在哈佛大学罗伯特·伯恩斯·伍德瓦德的实验室呆了一年。这是我作为研究人员的第二个决定性阶段。我也上了一些量子力学的课程，并与罗阿尔德·霍夫曼一起完成了我的第一次计算。1964年，我有机会见证了伍德瓦德霍夫曼定则形成的最初阶段。

返回斯特拉斯堡之后，我开始了在物理有机化学领域的研究工作，这样我就可以把我在有机化学、量子理论和物理方法等方面获得的知识结合在一起。

1970年初我被提升为副教授，同年10月又成为正教授。1980年我接管了法兰西大学的化学实验室，此后，我就在斯特拉斯堡和巴黎的两个实验室之间奔波。这种情况一直延续到今天。

 

1 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

2 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

3 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

4 envisage   

v.想象，设想，展望，正视

参考例句：

• Nobody can envisage the consequences of total nuclear war.没有人能够想像全面核战争的后果。
• When do you envisage being able to pay me back?你看你什么时候能还我钱？

5 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

6 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

7 arcane   

adj.神秘的，秘密的

参考例句：

• The technique at one time was arcane in the minds of most chemists.这种技术在大多数化学家心目中一度是神秘的。
• Until a few months ago few people outside the arcane world of contemporary music had heard of Gorecki.直至几个月前，在现代音乐神秘殿堂之外很少有人听说了戈莱斯基。