Scientists’Path to Bliss 科学家的幸福之路

 

Each of us seeks our own path to bliss. In accepting the Nobel Prize from the Swedish2 King in 1980, I said that I had been doubly blessed. For in addition to3 receiving the recognition and distinction4 represented by the Nobel Prize, the research itself had given me indescribable pleasure, the ultimate high, that comes from discovery, the breaking of new ground, the entering into areas where man has not been before. This kind of bliss is not uniquely available to scientists only. Literature, music, art, even business, offers comparable rewards. It is there for all who venture5 beyond the realm of accepted knowledge and experience. Such adventures are challenging and demanding but well worth the effort.

 

我们每个人都在寻求自己的幸福之路。1980年，我从瑞典国王那里接受诺贝尔奖时曾说过：我是获得了双重幸福的人。除了诺贝尔奖给我的认可和名望外，研究工作本身也给了我难以描述的欢乐－－新的发现、开创新的天地和进入无人涉足过的新领域，都使我感到无比地激动和愉悦。这种幸福不仅只有科学家能够得到，从事文学、音乐、艺术甚至商业的创造性工作，也都可能获得类似的回报。每一个愿意在已有的知识和经验之外的新领域里冒险的人，都有可能获得这种幸福。这种冒险极富挑战性，而且需要殚精竭虑，但非常值得为之一搏。

 

For me, the adventure began as a young boy in secondary school. There, I and a group of very bright classmates were denied the easy route to learning. The wide range of questions we directed at our teachers were rarely met with6 direct answers. Instead, our teachers encouraged us to find the answers for ourselves by steering7 us to books that held the answers, and most often to more than we had expected. Frequently, our teachers suggested ways to find the answers by searching the reference books that were available in libraries or by actual experimentation. As we progressed to high school, the teachers encouraged us to ask questions that went beyond our and their knowledge and experience, and to speculate on8 matters we could not find answers to. Later, as a member of an after-school science club, I was challenged to solve problems about the natural world by experimentation, initially by repeating already known experiments but later by being required to design new ways to solve the puzzles I had raised. All the while, originality of thought was prized above all. Perhaps it was those early experiences that sharpened my appetite for exploring the unknown and seeking solutions.

 

对于我来说，这种冒险开始于青少年时代上中学的时候。在学校里，我和一批非常聪明的同学学习并不轻松。我们向老师提出各种各样的问题，但老师很少给予我们直接的回答，而是鼓励我们到有关的书籍中去自己寻找答案，往往收获要比我们预料的还要多。老师还经常教我们通过到图书馆查阅参考书或做实验的方法寻求答案。升入高中后，老师鼓励我们提出超越我们和他们知识和经验以外的问题，思考那些我们找不到答案的问题。后来，我成为课外科学俱乐部的成员，这里要求我通过实验解决某些有关自然界的问题。开始是重复已经做过的实验，随后就要求我设计新的实验方法来解决我自己提出的难题。这是极富挑战性的。在任何时候，创新思维都是最宝贵的。也许正是这些早年的经历，激发了我探索未知世界并寻求答案的欲望。

 

Looking back on that period, I realize now that encouraging young people to discover for themselves the answers they seek is not the easiest way to learn but it is the most rewarding. Developing curiosity and the instinct for seeking creative solutions are perhaps the most important contributions education can make. With time, many facts we are asked to learn will be forgotten, but we are less likely to lose our ability to question and discover. Schools everywhere would do well to heed9 that lesson. And students everywhere must accept the responsibility that such an educational system places on10 them.

 

回想那段时间，我认识到：鼓励青年人自己去寻找他们追求的答案，不是最轻松的学习方法，但却是回报最丰厚的学习方法。开发学生寻求创造性解决方法的本能和好奇心，或许是教育能做出的最重要的贡献。随着时间的推移，学过的许多东西将会忘记，但是我们提出问题和找出答案的能力却不会丧失。任何地方的学校都应当认真汲取这个经验，而学生应接受这种教育制度赋予他们的职责。