VOA慢速英语2021 分子构建工具开发者获得诺贝尔化学奖（在线收听）

Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a molecule-building tool that can produce many important compounds in a "greener" way.

两位科学家因开发出一种分子构建工具而获得诺贝尔化学奖，该工具可以以“更绿色”的方式生产许多重要的化合物。

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the awards Wednesday for Germany's Benjamin List and Scotland-born David MacMillan. List is with Germany's Max Planck Institute, while MacMillan is a professor at America's Princeton University.

瑞典皇家科学院周三宣布德国的本杰明·利斯特和苏格兰出生的大卫·麦克米伦获得该奖项。利斯特在德国马克斯普朗克研究所工作，而麦克米伦是美国普林斯顿大学的教授。

Work by the two scientists has permitted researchers to more effectively produce molecules for things like medicines and pesticides and with less environmental harm. The academy called the winners' development method "an ingenious tool for building molecules."

两位科学家的成果使得研究人员能够更有效地生产用于药物和杀虫剂等物质的分子，并且对环境的危害更小。瑞典皇家科学院称获奖者的开发方法是一种构建分子的巧妙工具。

The process of making molecules requires the linking of individual atoms together in specific positions. This can be very slow and difficult. For many years, chemists had only two methods -- or catalysts -- to speed up the process. These used either complex enzymes or metal catalysts.

分子构建过程需要将单个原子在特定位置连接起来。这个过程可能会非常缓慢和困难。多年来，化学家只有两种方法或催化剂来加速这一过程。这要用到复杂的酶或金属催化剂。

That all changed in 2000, when List and MacMillan independently reported that small organic molecules can be used to do the same job.

这一切在2000年发生了改变，当时利斯特和麦克米伦各自独立报告称，有机小分子可以用来实现同样的用途。

The process has made the production of some drugs easier, including an antiviral and an anti-anxiety medication, the academy said. It noted that an estimated 35 percent of the world's total Gross Domestic Product, GDP, "in some way involves chemical catalysis."

瑞典皇家科学院表示，该过程使得一些药物的生产变得更加容易，包括抗病毒药物和抗焦虑药物。它指出，预计全球GDP总量的35%在某种程度上涉及化学催化。

Jon Lorsch is director of the United States National Institute of General Medical Sciences. He likened the scientists' work to "molecular carpentry."

乔恩·洛尔施是美国国家普通医学科学研究所所长。他将这些科学家的成果比作“分子木工。”

"They've found ways to not only speed up the chemical joining," he said, "but to make sure it only goes in either the right-handed or left-handed direction."

他说：“他们找到的方法不仅可以加速化合，而且可以确保它按照特定方向进行。”

Johan Aqvist, chair of the Nobel panel, called the new method as "simple as it is ingenious." "The fact is that many people have wondered why we didn't think of it earlier," he added.

诺贝尔委员会主席约翰·阿克维斯特称这种新方法既简单而又巧妙。他还表示：“事实上，许多人在想为什么我们没有早些想到它。”

H.N. Cheng is president of the American Chemical Society. He said the two winners had developed "new magic wands." He added that before their work, the usual molecule building methods often resulted in environmental damage or harm.

H.N. Cheng 是美国化学会主席。他表示，这两位获奖者开发了“新的魔杖。”他还表示，在他们的研究成果之前，通常的分子构建方法往往会导致环境破坏或危害。

Speaking after the announcement, List said the award came as a "huge surprise." He said at the beginning he did not know that MacMillan was working on the same subject, and he thought his effort might turn out to be, what he called, a "stupid idea." But he added: "When I saw it worked, I did feel that this could be something big."

利斯特在获奖消息公布后表示，获得这个奖项是一个“巨大惊喜。”他说，最初他并不知道麦克米伦也在研究这个课题，他认为他的努力可能会被证实为他所谓的一个“愚蠢的想法。”但他补充说：“当我看到它奏效时，我确实觉得这可能是件了不起的大事。”

MacMillan said the start of his catalysis work was "a pretty simple idea that really sparked a lot of different research."

麦克米伦表示，他的催化成果最开始是“一个非常简单的想法，也确实引发了许多不同的研究。”

He added: "The part we're just so proud of is that you don't have to have huge amounts of equipment and huge amounts of money to do fine things in chemistry."

他还表示：“我们非常自豪的部分是，在化学领域做出点事情无需大量的设备和资金。”