美国国家公共电台 NPR Henrietta Lacks' Lasting Impact Detailed In New Portrait

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

When Henrietta Lacks was dying of cancer in 1951, her cells were harvested without her knowledge. They became crucial to scientific research, and her story eventually became a best-selling book. Lacks has become one of the most powerful symbols for informed consent in the history of science. This morning the National Portrait Gallery here in Washington, D.C., honored Henrietta Lacks by installing a painting of her. It's located just inside one of the main entrances. NPR's Neda Ulaby was there along with three of Lacks' grandchildren.

KIMBERLY LACKS: This is amazing. As soon as you walk through the doors...

JERI LACKS WHYTE: Yes, right there.

LACKS: ...There she is (laughter).

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE¹: Kimberly Lacks and Jeri Lacks Whyte are seeing this portrait for the first time. They never knew their grandmother. She died before they were born.

LACKS: A beautiful woman.

WHYTE: Just like they said she was in life - happy, outgoing, just giving. And she's still giving.

ULABY: Tons of Lacks' cells have been grown in labs over the past 67 years. They helped develop the AIDS cocktail², the polio vaccine³ and treatments for hemophilia, herpes, influenza⁴ and leukemia. Henrietta Lacks and her family never benefited from the thousands of patents and billions of dollars her cells helped generate.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE IMMORTAL⁵ LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) Everyone's saying Henrietta Lacks donated them cells. She didn't donate nothing. They took them and didn't ask.

ULABY: That's from an HBO movie based on the book "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. HBO commissioned the painting. Now it's co-owned by the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Bill Pretzer is a senior curator there. He says the story of Lacks is also one of racial history, bioethics and medical history.

BILL PRETZER: Doctors had been trying for half a century to grow cells in laboratory circumstances that would reproduce.

ULABY: Lacks' cells did. What's become known as her immortal line is represented, says Pretzer, by a pattern in her cheerful red dress that resembles cell structures when you look at it closely. And...

PRETZER: There are a couple of buttons that are missing on Henrietta Lacks' dress. And those were explicitly⁶ left off by the artist as a symbol of the cells that had been removed from her body.

ULABY: The artist, Kadir Nelson, painted Lacks standing⁷ in front of a wall covered with blue and purple hexagons, says National Portrait Gallery curator Dorothy Moss⁸.

DOROTHY MOSS: A pattern that almost looks like wallpaper, but it's actually representative of her cells.

ULABY: In the painting, Henrietta Lacks clasps a Bible in front of the part of her body from which her cells were removed. Her face is haloed like a saint's by the brim of a light sun hat. The doctor who cut her open wrote later that the tumors made it look as though pearls studded the inside of her body. Lacks wears pearls in the painting. Her granddaughter Kimberly has her own interpretation⁹.

LACKS: Pearls seem like it's classy, just a test of time. And that's that she was. She was classy. And I just think it's amazing, a great representation of our grandmother, our shero (ph).

(LAUGHTER)

ULABY: Time now for selfies. But it's hard given family emotions.

LACKS: My hand's shaking (laughter).

ULABY: This portrait should be a reminder¹⁰, says curator Bill Pretzer...

PRETZER: That history can be remade, can be re-remembered.

ULABY: Henrietta Lacks is being re-remembered in all kinds of ways. She received a posthumous¹¹ doctorate¹² in public service from a college in Maryland. A high school for students interested in medicine now bears her name. So does a minor¹³ planet whirling in the asteroid¹⁴ belt between Mars and Jupiter. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

5 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

6 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

9 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

10 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

11 posthumous   

adj.遗腹的；父亡后出生的；死后的，身后的

参考例句：

• He received a posthumous award for bravery.他表现勇敢，死后受到了嘉奖。
• The legendary actor received a posthumous achievement award.这位传奇男星在过世后获得终身成就奖的肯定。

12 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

13 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

14 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。