Some of America's brightest students came to Washington for the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science competition.
The awards ceremony was the culmination of an intense week during which the 40 finalists were queried by judges and the public. They met with scientists, politicians and even President Barack Obama, who welcomed them to the White House.
40位参加决赛的学生接受了评奖人和公众的询问。他们还跟一些科学家、政治家和奥巴马总统见面。奥巴马总统在白宫迎接了他们。
These high achievers were whittled down from nearly 2,000 contestants nationwide, representing excellence across many disciplines.
这些学习拔尖的学生是从全国将近2000名参赛学生中挑选出来的。
"These students bring work that is ready for publication and in many cases has already been published in pretty much any branch of science that you can think of: physics, electrical engineering," says Wendy Hawkins, executive director of the Intel Foundation, which sponsored of the event. "And the projects are deep and rich and insightful."
霍金斯说：“这些参赛学生带来了他们可以发表的研究成果。很多人已经发表了研究成果。他们的研究涉及人们所能想到的几乎所有的科学分支。有物理、电气工程，等等。他们的研究项目深入广阔，很有洞见。”
Those projects contribute serious new scientific data and analysis. Selena Li, a 17-year old first-generation Chinese-American from Sacramento, California, is working on a more effective treatment for liver cancer.
这些学生的研究项目提供了重要科学新数据和分析。例如，李诗韵(Selena Li)的研究就是这样。17岁的李诗韵是第一代美籍华人，来自加州萨克拉门托。她正在研究治疗肝癌的一种更有效的方法。
"It is a huge problem in Asia and Africa. The problems with liver cancer is the five year survival rate is 10 percent, whereas for other cancers it’s 80 percent or more," says Li. "There is a major lack of viable treatments for liver cancer so I really wanted to look into that field."
李诗韵说：“肝癌是亚洲和非洲的一个大问题。肝癌的5年存活率只有10%。而其他癌症的存活率是80%或80%以上。肝癌缺乏有效的治疗。因此，我想研究这个问题。”
Li began that quest four years ago. She found a mentor at the University of California who taught her how to design and execute experimental work in the laboratory.
李诗韵在4年前开始探索这个问题。她在加利福尼亚州立大学找到一位导师，教她如何设计和在实验室进行试验。
"I researched a new approach to targeting liver cancer by basically starving the cancer cells to death, while leaving the normal cells unaffected," she says. "And to go one step further, I blocked a survival pathway to make the treatment more effective."
她说：“我研究了一种新的治疗方法，是把癌细胞饿死，同时让正常的细胞不受影响。我还进一步阻断了癌细胞存活的通道，让治疗可以更有效。”
Li placed fifth in the Intel Science Talent Search, with a $30,000 award. She says the work was time-consuming, but she has no regrets.
李诗韵在这次英特尔科学竞赛中获得第五名，得到3万美元的奖金。她说，研究很花时间，但她不觉得遗憾。
"Despite the multiple times I’ve had to stay in the lab until twelve or come in before school to do my experiments, it was an incredibly rewarding experience. Despite all of the frustrations, I think that I’ve gotten a lot out of my research experience and I encourage other people to do this."
李诗韵说：“尽管我经常要在实验室里呆到半夜12点，或者在早上上学之前做试验，我还是感到非常满足。尽管我遇到各种挫折，我觉得我从实际研究当中学到了很多。我希望别人也能这样。”
Scott Boisvert agrees. He’s from a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. At 14, he approached the University of Arizona to request time in their laboratory. Over the course of four years he refined a project studying a fungus linked to the decline of amphibians across the globe.
来自亚利桑那州菲尼克斯郊区的斯科特·布瓦维尔也持这种看法。他14岁的时候找到亚利桑那大学，要求用他们的实验室做试验。在4年里，他对一种真菌进行了研究。这种真菌跟全球两栖动物大批死亡有关联。
"It is actually the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs," says Boisvert. "I was trying to see if different chemistry in the environment, different chemicals and substances in the water across Arizona, could potentially kill the fungus and stop its spread and infection of the amphibians."
布瓦维尔说：“实际上，这是自从恐龙灭绝以来规模最大的物种灭绝。我想试一试，改变环境中的化学成分，改变亚利桑那州水域中的化学成分和物质，是否能杀死这种真菌，阻止它继续蔓延和感染两栖动物。”
Boisvert collected and tested the water samples. "My results were able to identify a list of the chemicals that were significant in the growth and in the movement of the fungus."
布瓦维尔收集并测试水的样本。他说：“我通过研究找出了一些化学物质，这些化学物质在这种真菌的生长和传播方面有显著作用。”
According to Boisvert, his research has been accepted for publication in a professional science journal. He hopes his findings help guide habitat conservation managers around the world. At the Intel Science Talent Search, the work earned him a 10th place finish and a $20,000 award.
布瓦维尔说，他的研究成果已经被一家专业科学杂志接受，准备发表。他希望他的研究发现对世界各地的动物栖息地保护管理人有帮助。在英特尔科学竞赛中，布瓦维尔被评为第10名，得到两万美元奖金。
"It’s been an incredible opportunity for me and really the capstone of all that I’ve been able to do in high school," Boisvert says.
他说：“这对我是一次极好的机会，也是我高中所有课程的中心。”
He and Li both plan to be physicians and medical researchers. Their achievements are a reminder of what high school students can achieve.
布瓦维尔和李诗韵都打算当医生和医学研究者。英特尔科学竞赛基金会执行干事文迪·霍金斯说，这些学生的成就让人们想到高中学生的能力。
"All of these students are scientists," says Hawkins, the talent search executive director. "They have those abilities, that knowledge and that approach to look at the world. These students go on and do wonderful things in ways both expected and unexpected."
“这些学生都是科学家。他们有观察世界的能力、知识和方法。这些学生将以我们能想象得到和想象不到的方式继续他们的出色研究。”
Hawkins says the gifted students also serve as examples for others to follow, and represent the next generation of innovators who will shape America’s future.
霍金斯说，这些有才能的学生是其他学生学习的榜样，他们代表着将影响美国未来的下一代发明家。 |