万物简史 第591期:生命的物质(17)

Rosalind Franklin did not share in the Nobel Prize. She died of ovarian cancer at the age of just thirty-seven in 1958, four years before the award was granted. Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously¹. The cancer almost certainly arose as a result of chronic² overexposure to X-rays through her work and needn't have happened. In her much-praised 2002 biography of Franklin, Brenda Maddox noted³ that Franklin rarely wore a lead apron⁴ and often stepped carelessly in front of a beam. Oswald Avery never won a Nobel Prize either and was also largely overlooked by posterity⁵, though he did at least have the satisfaction of living just long enough to see his findings vindicated⁶. He died in 1955.

罗萨林·富兰克林没有分享诺贝尔奖。1958年，诺贝尔奖须发4年之前，她因卵巢癌而去世，年仅37岁，她得这种癌症几乎肯定是由于在工作时长期接触X光射线所致，这本来是可以避免的。在2002年出版的一本颇受好评的富兰克林的传记里，布伦达·马克多斯说，富兰克林很少穿防辐射服，并且常常漫不经心地走到X光前。奥斯瓦尔德·埃弗雷也没有获得诺贝尔奖，而且在很大程度上被后人所忽视。他死前至少有一点是令他满意的，这就是他看到自己的发现被证明是正确的。他死于1955年。

Watson and Crick's discovery wasn't actually confirmed until the 1980s. As Crick said in one of his books: "It took over twenty-five years for our model of DNA⁷ to go from being only rather plausible⁸, to being very plausible ... and from there to being virtually certainly correct."

沃森和克里克的发现实际上到了20世纪80年代才最终得到确认。正如克里克在他的一本书中所说的：“我们的DNA模型从被认为似乎是有道理的，到似乎是非常有道理的……再到最终被证明是完全正确的，用了25年的时间。

Even so, with the structure of DNA understood progress in genetics was swift, and by 1968 the journal Science could run an article titled "That Was the Molecular⁹ Biology That Was," suggesting — it hardly seems possible, but it is so — that the work of genetics was nearly at an end.

即便如此，随着对DNA的结构的了解，人们在遗传学方面的研究进展神速。1968年，《科学》杂志敢于发表一篇题为《生物学即分子生物学》的文章，认为——这似乎是不大可能的，但确实是这么看的——遗传学的研究已经接近终点了。

In fact, of course, it was only just beginning. Even now there is a great deal about DNA that we scarcely understand, not least why so much of it doesn't actually seem to do anything.

实际上，这当然仅仅是开始。即使到了今天，我们对于DNA仍有许多未解之谜。比如说，为什么这么多DNA似乎不做任何事情。

1 posthumously   

adv.于死后，于身后；于著作者死后出版地

参考例句：

• He was confirmed posthumously as a member of the Chinese Communist Party. 他被追认为中国共产党党员。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her last book was published posthumously in 1948. 她最后的一本书在她死后于1948 年出版了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

3 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。

4 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

5 posterity   

n.后裔，子孙，后代

参考例句：

• Few of his works will go down to posterity.他的作品没有几件会流传到后世。
• The names of those who died are recorded for posterity on a tablet at the back of the church.死者姓名都刻在教堂后面的一块石匾上以便后人铭记。

6 vindicated   

v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• I have every confidence that this decision will be fully vindicated. 我完全相信这一决定的正确性将得到充分证明。
• Subsequent events vindicated the policy. 后来的事实证明那政策是对的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

9 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。