经济学人197:学术不端 一系列的错误(下)

 　　A bigger can?

　　一个更大的罐头？

　　By the end of 2010, Dr Potti had resigned from Duke,

　　到2010年底，Potti博士已经从杜克大学辞职，

　　the university had stopped the three trials for good,

　　学校永久停止了那三项临床试验，

　　scientists from elsewhere had claimed that Dr Potti had stolen their data for inclusion in his paper in the New England Journal,

　　另有科学家称Potti博士在其在新英格兰杂志发表的文章中窃取了他们的数据，

　　and officials at Duke had started the process of retracting¹ three prominent papers, including the one in Nature Medicine.

　　杜克大学方面也开始撤回他那三篇出名的文章，《自然-医学》的那篇也包括在内。

　　At this point, the NCI and officials at Duke asked the Institute of Medicine, a board of experts that advises the American government, to investigate.

　　到了这时候，国家癌症研究所和杜克大学都请求负责向美国政府提出建议的美国医学协会对此事进行调查。

　　Since then, a committee of the institute, appointed for the task, has been trying to find out what was happening at Duke that allowed the problems to continue undetected for so long,

　　之后，协会的一个专为此事成立的委员会就一直在努力查清是什么使得杜克大学长时间对问题不管不问，

　　and to recommend minimum standards that must be met before this sort of work can be used to guide clinical trials in the future.

　　并建议在今后碰到此类可供指导临床试验的研究时，需要其达到一个最低标准。

　　At the committee's first meeting, in December 2010, Dr McShane stunned² observers by revealing her previously³ unpublished investigation⁴ of the Duke work.

　　在2010年12月举行的该委员会的第一次会议上，McShane博士披露了此前未发表的她关于杜克大学事件的调查，

　　Subsequently, the committee's members interviewed Dr Baggerly about the problems he had encountered trying to sort the data.

　　这些材料震撼了在场的学者。结果，委员会的成员询问了Baggerly博士关于他在尝试整理那些数据时遇到的问题。

　　He noted⁵ that in addition to a lack of unfettered access to the computer code and consistent raw data on which the work was based,

　　他指出，那些急于出版Potti博士的论文的杂志不仅没有获得研究结果所涉及的计算机程序代码和可信的原始数据，

　　journals that had readily published Dr Potti's papers were reluctant to publish his letters critical of the work.

　　甚至还不情愿刊登他对于该成果质疑的文章。

　　Nature Medicine published one letter, with a rebuttal from the team at Duke, but rejected further comments when problems continued.

　　《自然-医学》杂志刊登了一篇文章，并附上了来自杜克大学研究组的辩驳，可是当问题继续存在时就拒绝了进一步的评论。

　　Other journals that had carried subsequent high-profile papers from Dr Potti behaved in similar ways.

　　其他刊载了来自Potti博士的高曝光文章的杂志也采取了相似的态度。

　　Eventually, the two researchers resorted to publishing their criticisms in a statistical⁶ journal, which would be unlikely to reach the same audience as a medical journal.

　　最后，两位研究员只好把他们的评论文章发到了一个统计杂志，这就很难被医学杂志的读者群看到了。

　　Two s ubsequent sessions of the committee have included Duke's point of view.

　　委员会接下来的两次会议都包含了杜克方面的观点。

　　At one of these, in March 2011, Dr Nevins admitted that some of the data in the papers had been “corrupted”.

　　在2011年3月的一次会议中，Nevins博士承认文章中的一些数据被“玷污”了。

　　He continued, though, to claim ignorance of the problems identified by Dr Baggerly and Dr Coombes until the Rhodes scandal broke,

　　但他声称直到Rhodes丑闻被揭发才得知Baggerly博士和Coombes博士指出的问题，

　　and to support the overall methods used in the papers—though he could not explain why he had not detected the problems even when alerted to anomalies.

　　而且虽然他没法解释为什么他没能在被指出异常时发现问题，但是他仍然在总体上支持文章中采用的方法。

　　At its fourth, and most recent meeting, on August 22nd, the committee questioned eight scientists and administrators⁷ from Duke.

　　在第四次，也就是在8月22号举行的最近一次会议上，委员会质问了8位科学家和杜克大学的管理人员。

　　Rob Califf, a vice-chancellor in charge of clinical research, asserted that what had happened was a case of the “Swiss-cheese effect” in which 15 different things had to go awry⁸ to let the problems slip through unheeded.

　　Rob Califf, 一位负责临床研究的的副校长，称该事件是一个“瑞士奶酪效应”的例子，它需要15件不同的事都出了错才有可能让问题不被察觉。

　　Asked by The Economist⁹ to comment on what was happening,

　　当被《经济学人》的记者问到他关于这件事的评价时，

　　he said, “As we evaluated the issues, we had the chance to review our systems and we believe we have identified, and are implementing¹⁰, an improved approach.”

　　他说“对这些问题的评估，使得我们有机会重新审视我们的体系，而且我们相信我们已经确认并且在采取改进后的方式了。”

　　The university's lapses¹¹ and errors included being slow to deal with potential financial conflicts of interest declared by Dr Potti,

　　校方的过失和错误包括在处理潜在利益冲突时反应迟缓。

　　Dr Nevins and other investigators¹², including involvement in Expression Analysis Inc and CancerGuide DX, two firms to which the university also had ties.

　　这些冲突方包括Potti博士和Nevins博士，其他的调查者，还有两家与大学有关系的公司Expression Analysis和CancerGuide DX。

　　Moreover, Dr Califf and other senior administrators acknowledged that once questions arose about the work, they gave too much weight to Dr Nevins and his judgment¹³.

　　除此之外，Califf博士和其他高级管理者承认，当出现有关于研究成果的质疑时，他们过分地看重了Nevins博士和他的判断。

　　That led them, for example, to withhold¹⁴ Dr Baggerly's criticisms from the external-review committee in 2009.

　　这导致了2009年他们把Baggerly博士的评论挡在外部评审委员会之外。

　　They also noted that the internal committees responsible for protecting patients and overseeing clinical trials lacked the expertise¹⁵ to review the complex, statistics-heavy methods and data produced by experiments involving gene¹⁶ expression.

　　他们还提到了，负责保护病人和监督临床试验的内部委员会缺乏专业知识来评审由涉及基因表达的实验产生的复杂、侧重统计的方法和数据。

　　That is a theme the investigating committee has heard repeatedly.

　　这是一个调查委员会反复听到的说法。

　　The process of peer review relies on the goodwill¹⁷ of workers in the field, who have jobs of their own and frequently cannot spend the time needed to check other people's papers in a suitably thorough manner.

　　同行审查制度依靠着内行人的善意，大家都有自己的工作，所以常常不能花足够的时间来对其他人的论文进行恰当细致的检查。

　　Moreover, the methods sections of papers are supposed to provide enough information for others to replicate¹⁸ an experiment, but often do not.

　　而且，文章的介绍实验方法的部分本应该为其他人提供重现实验结果所需的信息，但事实经常不是这样。

　　Dodgy work will out eventually, as it is found not to fit in with other, more reliable discoveries.

　　掺假的研究结果最终会被淘汰，因为它们不能与其他更加可靠的发现相兼容。

　　But that all takes time and money.

　　但是，这些都需要时间和金钱。

　　The Institute of Medicine expects to complete its report, and its recommendations, in the middle of next year.

　　美国医学协会计划在明年年中完成这个报告和相关的建议。

　　In the meantime, more retractions are coming, according to Dr Califf.

　　在此期间，据Califf博士说将会有更多论文撤回。

　　The results of a misconduct investigation are expected in the next few months and legal suits from patients who believe they were recruited into clinical trials under false pretences¹⁹ will probably follow.

　　关于此次学术不端的的调查结果预计将在未来几个月内获得，而认为自己被欺诈进入临床试验的病人则可能会在之后提起诉讼。

　　The whole thing, then, is a mess.

　　整件事就是一团糟。

　　Who will carry the can remains²⁰ to be seen.

　　谁将会承担责任目前还不清楚。

　　But the episode does serve as a timely reminder²¹ of one thing that is sometimes forgotten.

　　但是这一连串事件的确及时地提醒了我们一件常常被忽略的事实：

　　Scientists are human, too.

　　科学家也是人。

　　1.resign v.辞职；放弃；顺从

　　Have you heard of her intention to resign?

　　你听到她打算辞职的传闻了吗？

　　2.process n.工序；过程

　　Building a car is a long process.

　　制造一辆小汽车有很长的工序。

　　3.investigate v.调查；研究

　　The police are investigating the murder.

　　警察正在调查这件谋杀案。

　　4.institute n.学院；学会；协会

　　New methods of teaching foreign languages are adopted in this institute.

　　该学院采用新的外语教学法。

　　5.clinical a.临床的；冷静的

　　The scientists plan to start human clinical trials in the coming months.

　　科学家们计划在几个月内开展人类临床试验。

1 retracting   

v.撤回或撤消( retract的现在分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回

参考例句：

• The cart can automatic retracting, releasing and laying cables. 本收放车具有自动收线、放线、排线功能。 来自互联网
• I mean, is the art of retracting just too much for you? 我是说，这个缩进技术对于你太难了吗？ 来自互联网

2 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 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。

6 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

7 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

8 awry   

adj.扭曲的，错的

参考例句：

• She was in a fury over a plan that had gone awry. 计划出了问题，她很愤怒。
• Something has gone awry in our plans.我们的计划出差错了。

9 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

10 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

11 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

12 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

14 withhold   

v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡

参考例句：

• It was unscrupulous of their lawyer to withhold evidence.他们的律师隐瞒证据是不道德的。
• I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation.我忍不住要发泄一点我的愤怒。

15 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

16 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

17 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

18 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

19 pretences   

n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称

参考例句：

• You've brought your old friends out here under false pretences. 你用虚假的名义把你的那些狐朋狗党带到这里来。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• There are no pretences about him. 他一点不虚伪。 来自辞典例句

20 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

21 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。