2006年VOA标准英语-Two Americans Awarded Nobel Medicine Prize

By Rivers, Tom
London
02 October 2006

This year's Noble Prize in Medicine has been awarded to a team of U.S. researchers.

Two Americans have won this year's Nobel Prize for Medicine. Hans Jornvall, the Secretary of the Nobel forum¹, made the announcement in Stockholm.

"The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has today decided² to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology³ or Medicine for 2006 jointly⁴ to Andrew Fire and Craig Mello for their discovery of RNA interference, gene⁵ silencing by double-stranded RNA," he said.

Andrew Z. Fire of Stanford University  smiles during a news conference,  October 2, 2006  
  
Fire from Stanford University and Mello from the University of Massachusetts published their groundbreaking work in the journal, Nature, in 1998.

Their work centered on discovering a method of turning off selected genes⁶ - an important new tool that fellow scientists hope will lead to new treatments for things like HIV, cancer, and other illnesses.

On hand at the announcement ceremony, Goran Hansson from the Nobel panel explained their work in the context of other research going on in the exciting field.

 
Craig C. Mello of University of Massachusetts Medical School, center, smiles with his wife Edit, left, and daughter Victoria, 6, following a news conference, October 2, 2006
  
"It follows in that line of major discoveries of how our genes function to control life. Of course there were many scientists involved in this field who made contributions but many questions, as I said in my presentation, remained. So it was quite a paradigm⁷ shift when Fire and Mello presented this paper and provided an explanation for all these questions that were raised," explained Hansson.

While both Fire and Mello knew there was the possibility of winning this year's prize, usually it is not awarded until decades have passed. Jornvall told the assembled journalists in Stockholm how the news was received.

"They were both very happy. One of them answered very quickly and looked like he realized it. The other one first lifted the telephone and then put it down again, he said."

It is believed the work of Fire and Mello will translate into many new therapies. The two will share the prize of nearly $1.4 million.

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

4 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

5 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。

6 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

7 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。