国家地理:为了结束这场流行病 我们必须相信科学()

Science on the frontier always exposes how little is known, even by the putative¹ experts, so these phone calls made it clear to me how far we have to go. Still, it was nice to hear that a lot of scientists were looking for answers.

尖端科学总会揭露出我们所知甚少，即使是公认的专家也一样，因此这几通电话让我明白我们要走的路还有多长。尽管如此，听到许多科学家正在寻求解答仍是一件很棒的事。

"It's been amazing to see how people are using their talents and gifts to address this," Gregg Gonsalves, co-director of the Global Health Justice Partnership² at Yale University, told me. "People all want to do something," even if their training is in law, geography, anthropology³, fine arts, or similarly far-flung fields.

“看到人们是如何运用才能与天赋面对这件事，真的令人感到惊奇。”耶鲁大学全球卫生正义伙伴计划的共同主持人格雷格·贡萨尔维斯告诉我。“每个人都想做点什么，”即使他们学的是法律、地理、人类学、美术或类似的不太相关的领域。

All that research focus has led to a remarkable⁴ amount of information in a remarkably⁵ short time. Within weeks of the first known animal-to-human transmission, scientists had sequenced the virus's full genome. By summertime, more than 270 potential COVID-19 drugs were in active clinical trials in the United States. As for the quest for the holy grail, a vaccine⁶, an international phalanx of researchers from the U.S., China, Great Britain, India, Germany, Spain, Canada, Thailand, and elsewhere had identified more than 165 candidates by early August. Progress was so rapid that even a hyper-realist like Fauci -- who tends to emphasize how important it is to conduct large-scale clinical trials before introducing new drugs -- has said he is "cautiously optimistic" that a vaccine could be available early next year. If he's right -- oh please, oh please, let him be right -- that would be three years faster than the fastest vaccine development in history.

所有研究都有共同聚焦，使得在极短时间内已有极可观的信息量。在动物传人首例通报后的数周内，科学家就已经将病毒的全基因组定序完成。到了夏天，已有超过270种有潜力的COVID-19药物在美国进行临床试验。至于众人殷切追寻的终极目标：疫苗，由美国、中国、英国、印度、德国、西班牙、加拿大、泰国和其他地方研究者组成的国际团队，在8月初时已经找出超过165支候选疫苗。进展如此迅速，就连福奇这么超级务实的人（他往往会强调在新药上市前先进行大规模临床试验有多么重要）都表示，他对于明年初就有疫苗可用“抱持审慎乐观的态度。”如果他是对的--喔，拜托、拜托，希望他是对的--那就会比历史上最快的疫苗研发还快了三年。

1 putative   

adj.假定的

参考例句：

• There have been many attempts to track down the putative Loch Ness monster.人们为追踪假定存在的尼斯湖水怪做了许多努力。
• He is the putative father of this child.他是这孩子的推定的父亲。

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

6 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。