公眾人物畢業(yè)演講(MP3+字幕)第94期:耶倫紐約大學(4)

Life will continue to be a journey of discovery if you tend the fires of curiosity that burn brightly in all of us

生命是一場持續(xù)發(fā)現(xiàn)的旅程只有好奇心的火焰 能夠照亮我們未來的前路

Such curiosity led Eric Kandel here at NYU, to hislifetime goal to discover the chemical and cellularbasis of human memory

正是這份好奇心讓埃里克·坎德爾能夠在紐約大學實現(xiàn)他的人生目標他在這里發(fā)現(xiàn)了人類記憶的化學和細胞基礎(chǔ)

A few years after his graduation, he was doing research on cats

畢業(yè)之后的幾年里 他本應(yīng)當對貓進行研究

But he had the idea of focusing on an animal with a simpler, more fundamental brain: the California sea slug

但他突然想到一個點子 要研究一種腦部結(jié)構(gòu)更簡單更基本的動物加利福尼亞海參

His colleagues all but ridiculed him for the idea

這個想法遭到了同事們的嘲笑

They "knew"that the study of the lowly sea slug was irrelevant for understanding human memory Kandel's surgically-skilled collaborator deserted him

他們認為對低等海參的研究 同人類記憶的理解毫無關(guān)聯(lián)具有手術(shù)技術(shù)的合作者也拋棄了坎德爾

To get up to speed on sea slugs, he had to go abroad to study

為了加快對海參的研究 他不得不出國研究

But Kandel persisted and in 2000 his curiosity won him the Nobel Prize

坎德爾堅持了下來2000年 他的好奇心為他贏得了諾貝爾獎

It was, as you must have guessed, for deciphering the chemistry of memory in humans as revealed by his research on sea slugs

他貢獻卓著 破譯了人類記憶的化學本質(zhì)這些都是通過對海參的研究取得的