TED演讲：舞者还是用PPT?(3)

 　　Now, the idea is not as crazy as it sounds.  其实，这个想法并不像听起来那么恐怖。

　　I started a contest four years ago called Dance Your Ph.D. Instead of explaining their research with words, scientists have to explain it with dance.  四年前，我创办了一场比赛，叫“舞动博士”。科学家不能用语言来解释他们的研究，而必须用舞蹈来解释。

　　Now surprisingly, it seems to work. Dance really can make science easier to understand.  令人惊奇地是，这似乎很有用。舞蹈真的可以让科学变得更加容易理解。

　　But don't take my word for it. Go on the Internet and search for "Dance Your Ph.D."  但是不要相信我的一面之词。上网去搜“Dance Your Ph.D.”

　　There are hundreds of dancing scientists waiting for you. 成百上千的跳舞的科学家在等着你。

　　The most surprising thing that I've learned while running this contest is that some scientists are now working directly with dancers on their research.  举办这项赛事，最让我惊讶的是一些科学家现在就在和舞蹈演员直接合作开展研究。

　　For example, at the University of Minnesota, there's a biomedical engineer named David Odde, and he works with dancers to study how cells move.  比如，在明尼苏达大学，一位名叫大卫·奥迪的生物医学工程师和舞蹈演员合作研究细胞的运动。

　　They do it by changing their shape.  他们通过改变细胞的形状进行研究。

　　When a chemical signal washes up on one side, it triggers the cell to expand its shape on that side,  当化学信号出现时，就会刺激细胞朝那边扩展，

　　because the cell is constantly touching¹ and tugging² at the environment.  因为细胞总是不停地和周围的环境接触。

　　So that allows cells to ooze³ along in the right directions.  这使得细胞可沿正确的方向流动。

　　But what seems so slow and graceful⁴ from the outside is really more like chaos⁵ inside,  但是表面舒缓优雅，内部却如混沌不堪，

　　because cells control their shape with a skeleton of rigid⁶ protein fibers⁷,  因为细胞通过一层硬蛋白质纤维控制形状，

　　and those fibers are constantly falling apart.  而这些纤维又总是在脱落。

　　But just as quickly as they explode, more proteins attach to the ends and grow them longer,  但是和纤维快速爆炸一样，更多的蛋白质附着在末端，使其增长，

　　so it's constantly changing just to remain exactly the same.  不断的变化就是为了保持原样。

　　Now, David builds mathematical models of this and then he tests those in the lab, but before he does that,  大卫先创建数学模型，然后再到实验室测试，但是在这之前，

　　he works with dancers to figure out what kinds of models to build in the first place.  他和舞蹈演员一起研究首先需要创建哪种模型。

　　It's basically efficient brainstorming⁸, and when I visited David to learn about his research,  这属于高效的头脑风暴，我去拜访大卫了解他的研究时，

　　he used dancers to explain it to me rather than the usual method: PowerPoint. 他运用舞蹈演员给我解释而不是常用的办法：幻灯片。

1 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

2 tugging   

n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉，样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句

3 ooze   

n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露

参考例句：

• Soon layer of oceanic ooze began to accumulate above the old hard layer.不久后海洋软泥层开始在老的硬地层上堆积。
• Drip or ooze systems are common for pot watering.滴灌和渗灌系统一般也用于盆栽灌水。

4 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

5 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

6 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

7 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

8 brainstorming   

献计献策,合力攻关

参考例句：

• With Brainstorming, treat the view on how to solve the problem rightly. 利用脑激励法(Brainstorming)，正确对待学生实验中的问题解决观。
• We are going to do some brainstorming soon. 我们很快就要做些脑力激荡。