《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit 33 诺贝尔奖

　　Unit 33
Ig Nobel Prize
Some people covet¹ it, others flee from it. Some laugh with it,  others laugh at it. Many praise it, a few criticize it, others are  just confused. And many people are madly in love with it. It is the Ig  Nobel Prize.
We've been awarding Ig Nobel Prizes since 1991. Each year, ten  Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded. The selection criterion is simple. The  prizes are for "achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced."  Examine that phrase carefully. It covers a lot of ground. It says  nothing about whether a thing is good or bad.
After something has been discovered or created, no one can  later become the first to have made that discovery or creation. The  "firstness" cannot be repeated. Thus, Don Featherstone (Ig Nobel Art  Prize, 1996), the creator of the plastic pink flamingo², clearly  qualifies under the "cannot be repeated" phrase. Similarly, Anders  Barheim and Hogne Sandvik (Ig Nobel Biology Prize, 1996), who  discovered that sour cream stimulates³ the appetite of leeches⁴, but  that garlic often kills them, clearly qualify under the "cannot be  repeated" phrase.
Jacques Benveniste (Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize, 1991 and 1998)  discovered that water molecules⁵ remember things and that the memories  can be transmitted over telephone lines; Shigeru Watanabe, Junko  Sakamoto, and Masumi Wakita (Ig Nobel Psychology⁶ Prize, 1995) made  their achievement in training pigeons to distinguish between the  paintings of Picasso and those of Monet...
I raise this matter of good or bad, because the world in  general seems to enjoy classifying things as being either one or the  other. The Ig Nobel Prizes aside, most prizes, in most places, are  clearly meant to honor the goodness or badness of the receivers.  Olympic medals go to very good athletes. Worst-dressed prizes go to  badly dressed celebrities⁷. Nobel Prizes go to scientists, writers, and  others who excel. These prizes, and most others, are meant to honor  the extremes of humanity -- those whose achievements should be seen as  very good or very bad. The Ig Nobel Prize isn't like that. The Ig  honors the great confusion in which most of us exist much of the time.  Life is confusing. Good and bad get all mixed up. Yin can be hard to  distinguish from yang.
Most people go through life without ever being awarded a great  prize to acknowledge that, yes, they have done something. That's why  we award Ig Nobel Prizes. If you win one, it means that you have done  some thing. What that thing is may be hard to explain. Whether your  achievement is for the public good or had may be difficult or even  painful to explain. But the fact is, you did it, and have been  recognized for doing it.

1 covet   

vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)

参考例句：

• We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
• Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。

2 flamingo   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟

参考例句：

• This is the only species of flamingo in the region,easily recognized by its pink plumage.这是那个地区唯一一种火烈鸟，很容易凭粉红色的羽毛辨认出来。
• In my family,I am flamingo in the flock of pigeons.在家里，我就像一只被困在鸽笼里的火烈鸟。

3 stimulates   

v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用

参考例句：

• Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 leeches   

n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生

参考例句：

• The usurers are leeches;they have drained us dry. 高利贷者是吸血鬼，他们吸干了我们的血汗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Does it run in the genes to live as leeches? 你们家是不是遗传的，都以欺压别人为生？ 来自电影对白

5 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

6 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

7 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目