2023考研英語(yǔ)閱讀日本的科學(xué)界
Science in Japan
日本的科學(xué)界
Where rats and robots play
才學(xué)通修
Japanese science needs a shake-up. A new institute in Okinawa may provide it
日本的科學(xué)界需要一場(chǎng)變革。在沖繩，一所新的學(xué)院為這一變革提供了條件。
THINK of a university and what comes to mind may be the cloistered calm of Oxford, thearchitectural chaos of MIT or even, perhaps, the 1950s brutalism of Moscow.
談到大學(xué)，你可能想到寧?kù)o致遠(yuǎn)、與世隔絕的牛津大學(xué)，也可能是建筑風(fēng)格混雜的麻省理工大學(xué)，更甚至是50年代莫斯科的那種粗狂主義。
A Daliesque building on a subtropical island, with a view of the ocean and signs on campuswarning of venomous snakes, is more unusual.
一座亞熱帶島嶼上，可以望到大海，同時(shí)也可以看到毒蛇的警告的標(biāo)志。
But that is appropriate, for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology ,inaugurated as a graduate university on November 19th, is intended to be unusual.
就是在這樣一個(gè)地方，達(dá)里藝術(shù)風(fēng)格的建筑就顯得格外不同。沖繩理工學(xué)院不走尋常路的理念也適合這種風(fēng)格。這所研究生學(xué)院正準(zhǔn)備在九月十九號(hào)開(kāi)學(xué)。
It was built from scratch on a forested hilltop overlooking the East China Sea, and itsapproach to science starts from scratch too.
這座建筑坐落于叢林密布的山頂，從山頂上能夠望見(jiàn)中國(guó)東海。
It has no departments. Instead, its biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians andcomputer geeks intermingle, sharing laboratory equipment, teachers and money.
而其對(duì)于科學(xué)的探尋也將從此開(kāi)始。這所學(xué)校沒(méi)設(shè)院系。生物學(xué)家、化學(xué)家、物理學(xué)家、數(shù)學(xué)家和電腦專(zhuān)家會(huì)打破界限，分享實(shí)驗(yàn)儀器，教學(xué)資源以及資金。
After two centuries of science becoming more and more specialised, the idea is to bring backthe generalist.
200年來(lái)，科學(xué)變得越來(lái)越往小門(mén)類(lèi)發(fā)展，而沖繩理工學(xué)院卻意在重回通才教育。
Surprisingly, this experiment is taking place in Japan-a country with one of the most rigidacademic hierarchies in the world.
令人驚訝的是，這次改革試驗(yàn)也發(fā)生在世界學(xué)術(shù)界最古板的國(guó)度之一日本。
Locating it in Okinawa, though, is a masterstroke.
其中把學(xué)校設(shè)在沖繩，也是個(gè)妙招。
The island, which is closer to Shanghai and Taipei than to Tokyo, is as cut off as is possible toimagine from the mainstream of Japanese academia.
因?yàn)闆_繩島相對(duì)東京，離上海和臺(tái)北更近，這樣就可以不受日本主流學(xué)術(shù)流派的影響。
The result is a skunk works: a place where novel and possibly controversial ideas can betested without constant interference from institutional vested interests.
在OIST，師生可以對(duì)新奇的和存在有爭(zhēng)議的觀(guān)點(diǎn)進(jìn)行測(cè)試，而且不會(huì)因?yàn)橹贫壬系募鹊美鎲?wèn)題而受到不斷干擾。
If an idea from a skunk works fails, it can be buried quietly, and nobody gets hurt.
如果創(chuàng)新小組的點(diǎn)子、想法沒(méi)能成功，失敗就會(huì)被靜靜地掩蓋起來(lái)，沒(méi)有人會(huì)因此受到傷害。
If it succeeds, it can be launched fully formed, and bureaucratic resistance thusovercome.
如果觀(guān)點(diǎn)成功了，觀(guān)點(diǎn)就可以成為現(xiàn)實(shí)，這樣做就克服了來(lái)自官僚制度上的阻力。
The OIST certainly has the money to do this.
當(dāng)然OITS也有足夠的資金來(lái)完成這些新舉措。
The government has spent ￥77 billion overthe past six years to create it.
在過(guò)去的六年中，政府撥款770億日元來(lái)建立學(xué)院。
It has the personnel: 212 researchers, and five Nobel laureates on its board of governors.
212名研究員在OITS任職，并且其中5為董事會(huì)理事曾獲諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)。
Soon it will have the students, too.
不久，學(xué)校就會(huì)招收學(xué)生。
The first intake, next autumn, will only be 20.
時(shí)間定于明年秋季，第一批大約只有20人。
But that will rise to 100 in five years time.
但是，五年之后人數(shù)會(huì)升至100。
According to its president, Jonathan Dorfan , theOIST seeks to address three shortcomings in Japanese science.
根據(jù)校長(zhǎng)喬納森?多芬的介紹，OITS意在解決日本科學(xué)界的3根 軟肋 。
First, it wants to nurture independence of thought in young researchers, encouraging themto work for themselves rather than as foot soldiers for professors.
首先，要培養(yǎng)年輕學(xué)者的獨(dú)立精神，鼓勵(lì)年輕人按照自己想法行事，而不是跟在教授們后面，成為他們的走卒。
Second, it wants Japanese science to become more open to the outside world.
其次，也希望日本科學(xué)界更加與國(guó)際接軌。
Third, it wants to stimulate the emergence of technology clusters in a country where thereis disturbingly little interaction between universities and industry-and few Silicon Valley-style start-ups as a consequence.
第三，通過(guò)學(xué)院促進(jìn)日本技術(shù)的研發(fā)。在日本，高校和產(chǎn)業(yè)間的聯(lián)系比較小，因此很少看見(jiàn)想硅谷這類(lèi)企業(yè)模式。
That graduate students and post-docs are fodder for the ambitions of departmental heads isnot unique to Japan.
在日本，研究生和博士后都非常渴求成為該領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)軍人物。
But the phenomenon is generally thought to be exaggerated there: a toxic consequenceof Confucian respect for authority and an academic system borrowed lock, stock andbarrel from 19th-century Germany.
然而，這一現(xiàn)象似乎被夸大了：十九世紀(jì)日本曾向德國(guó)學(xué)習(xí)。而這種照單全收的學(xué)習(xí)也產(chǎn)生了不良的后果對(duì)于權(quán)威和學(xué)術(shù)體制一種盲目的崇拜。
Young Japanese researchers, though, are fed up with it.
日本的青年學(xué)者也對(duì)此十分厭惡。
One result is that the number of graduate students in natural sciences has been falling inJapan since 2003.
這也造成了自2003年以來(lái)，自然科學(xué)的研究生數(shù)量減少。
Those youngsters are, nevertheless, oddly reluctant to deal with their disgruntlement bygoing abroad.
然而，年輕人也不太想通過(guò)出國(guó)留學(xué)解決不滿(mǎn)的教育現(xiàn)狀。
Between 1996 and 2007, 28% of the science and engineering doctorates awarded in Americawent to Chinese; 11% to Indians; 9% to South Koreans; and 7% to Taiwanese.
1996年與2007年之間，28%在北美畢業(yè)的科學(xué)和工程博士是中國(guó)人。這一數(shù)字在印度、韓國(guó)、臺(tái)灣分別是11%、9%、7%。
Japanese, by contrast, picked up just 2% of them.
相反，日本僅占到了其中的2%。
That stymies the exchange of ideas on which good science depends.
這也妨礙了觀(guān)點(diǎn)的交流，而這對(duì)于科學(xué)來(lái)說(shuō)是至關(guān)重要的。
If young Japanese scientists cannot be persuaded to study abroad, though, perhaps abroadcan be brought to Japan.
既然日本的科學(xué)家不太愿意走出國(guó)門(mén)，那么，是不是把國(guó)外的教育理念引入日本國(guó)內(nèi)。
At the moment, 85 of the OIST s researchers are gaijin.
OIST的85名研究人員來(lái)自國(guó)外。
Ultimately, the organisation aims to recruit half of both its faculty and its students fromoutside the country.
到最后，從國(guó)外招募的研究員和學(xué)生的數(shù)量會(huì)占到總數(shù)的一半。
And, as if that were not enough to stir the pot, these scientists have to mix with each other,too.
如果以上還達(dá)不到人們的預(yù)期，學(xué)校還會(huì)這些科學(xué)家要融合彼此、進(jìn)一步進(jìn)行溝通交流。
The OIST s laboratories abut one another and share microscopes, refrigerators andother equipment.
OITS的實(shí)驗(yàn)室把每個(gè)人組合起來(lái)共享顯微鏡、冰箱和其他實(shí)驗(yàn)儀器。
Dr Dorfan says everything is designed to eliminate the barriersphysical and otherwisebetween traditional fields of research.
Dorfan表示他們做的每一件事都是為了消除障礙，無(wú)論是物質(zhì)上還是是傳統(tǒng)研究領(lǐng)域所引起的。
That breakdown of barriers is even apparent in individual researchers.
而個(gè)人研究中，打破這種障礙比較明顯。
Kenji Doya, for example, is an engineer turned neuroscientist.
舉例來(lái)說(shuō)，Kenji Doya，原先是一位工程師，之后成為了一名神經(jīng)學(xué)家。
He runs two laboratories at the OIST.
他在OITS運(yùn)行2家實(shí)驗(yàn)室。
One explores learning by robots.
其中一家探索機(jī)器人。
The other looks at how a brain chemical called serotonin regulates the patience of rats.
而另一個(gè)則是研究大腦中的一種叫血清素化學(xué)物質(zhì)如何調(diào)整老鼠的耐受力。
An algorithm for regulating patience in the brain, he believes, could be used to improverobotics.
他認(rèn)為這種在大腦中調(diào)整耐受力的運(yùn)算法則可以用來(lái)改進(jìn)機(jī)器人學(xué)。
Which is just the sort of thing that, if brought to fruition in Dr Dorfan s alma mater, wouldhave the researchers who had come up with it bolting out of the door and into the offices ofthe nearest venture capitalist, prior to hiring a suitable garage to build their prototype in.
還有另外一種可能，如果在Dorfan博士的實(shí)驗(yàn)室中取得一些成果，會(huì)不會(huì)有研究員奪門(mén)而出來(lái)到最近的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資處，之后就找一個(gè)合適的工廠(chǎng)來(lái)制造樣品。
Whether that will happen in Okinawa, remains to be seen.
這些是否會(huì)發(fā)生在OIST，還不太好說(shuō)。
Its physical climate is certainly as pleasant as California s.
不過(guò)OITS的學(xué)術(shù)氛圍會(huì)像加州一樣的輕松。
Changing the intellectual climate to match may prove a challenge.
當(dāng)然這也是具有挑戰(zhàn)的，畢竟它改變地方的學(xué)術(shù)氣候。
Science in Japan
日本的科學(xué)界
Where rats and robots play
才學(xué)通修
Japanese science needs a shake-up. A new institute in Okinawa may provide it
日本的科學(xué)界需要一場(chǎng)變革。在沖繩，一所新的學(xué)院為這一變革提供了條件。
THINK of a university and what comes to mind may be the cloistered calm of Oxford, thearchitectural chaos of MIT or even, perhaps, the 1950s brutalism of Moscow.
談到大學(xué)，你可能想到寧?kù)o致遠(yuǎn)、與世隔絕的牛津大學(xué)，也可能是建筑風(fēng)格混雜的麻省理工大學(xué)，更甚至是50年代莫斯科的那種粗狂主義。
A Daliesque building on a subtropical island, with a view of the ocean and signs on campuswarning of venomous snakes, is more unusual.
一座亞熱帶島嶼上，可以望到大海，同時(shí)也可以看到毒蛇的警告的標(biāo)志。
But that is appropriate, for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology ,inaugurated as a graduate university on November 19th, is intended to be unusual.
就是在這樣一個(gè)地方，達(dá)里藝術(shù)風(fēng)格的建筑就顯得格外不同。沖繩理工學(xué)院不走尋常路的理念也適合這種風(fēng)格。這所研究生學(xué)院正準(zhǔn)備在九月十九號(hào)開(kāi)學(xué)。
It was built from scratch on a forested hilltop overlooking the East China Sea, and itsapproach to science starts from scratch too.
這座建筑坐落于叢林密布的山頂，從山頂上能夠望見(jiàn)中國(guó)東海。
It has no departments. Instead, its biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians andcomputer geeks intermingle, sharing laboratory equipment, teachers and money.
而其對(duì)于科學(xué)的探尋也將從此開(kāi)始。這所學(xué)校沒(méi)設(shè)院系。生物學(xué)家、化學(xué)家、物理學(xué)家、數(shù)學(xué)家和電腦專(zhuān)家會(huì)打破界限，分享實(shí)驗(yàn)儀器，教學(xué)資源以及資金。
After two centuries of science becoming more and more specialised, the idea is to bring backthe generalist.
200年來(lái)，科學(xué)變得越來(lái)越往小門(mén)類(lèi)發(fā)展，而沖繩理工學(xué)院卻意在重回通才教育。
Surprisingly, this experiment is taking place in Japan-a country with one of the most rigidacademic hierarchies in the world.
令人驚訝的是，這次改革試驗(yàn)也發(fā)生在世界學(xué)術(shù)界最古板的國(guó)度之一日本。
Locating it in Okinawa, though, is a masterstroke.
其中把學(xué)校設(shè)在沖繩，也是個(gè)妙招。
The island, which is closer to Shanghai and Taipei than to Tokyo, is as cut off as is possible toimagine from the mainstream of Japanese academia.
因?yàn)闆_繩島相對(duì)東京，離上海和臺(tái)北更近，這樣就可以不受日本主流學(xué)術(shù)流派的影響。
The result is a skunk works: a place where novel and possibly controversial ideas can betested without constant interference from institutional vested interests.
在OIST，師生可以對(duì)新奇的和存在有爭(zhēng)議的觀(guān)點(diǎn)進(jìn)行測(cè)試，而且不會(huì)因?yàn)橹贫壬系募鹊美鎲?wèn)題而受到不斷干擾。
If an idea from a skunk works fails, it can be buried quietly, and nobody gets hurt.
如果創(chuàng)新小組的點(diǎn)子、想法沒(méi)能成功，失敗就會(huì)被靜靜地掩蓋起來(lái)，沒(méi)有人會(huì)因此受到傷害。
If it succeeds, it can be launched fully formed, and bureaucratic resistance thusovercome.
如果觀(guān)點(diǎn)成功了，觀(guān)點(diǎn)就可以成為現(xiàn)實(shí)，這樣做就克服了來(lái)自官僚制度上的阻力。
The OIST certainly has the money to do this.
當(dāng)然OITS也有足夠的資金來(lái)完成這些新舉措。
The government has spent ￥77 billion overthe past six years to create it.
在過(guò)去的六年中，政府撥款770億日元來(lái)建立學(xué)院。
It has the personnel: 212 researchers, and five Nobel laureates on its board of governors.
212名研究員在OITS任職，并且其中5為董事會(huì)理事曾獲諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)。
Soon it will have the students, too.
不久，學(xué)校就會(huì)招收學(xué)生。
The first intake, next autumn, will only be 20.
時(shí)間定于明年秋季，第一批大約只有20人。
But that will rise to 100 in five years time.
但是，五年之后人數(shù)會(huì)升至100。
According to its president, Jonathan Dorfan , theOIST seeks to address three shortcomings in Japanese science.
根據(jù)校長(zhǎng)喬納森?多芬的介紹，OITS意在解決日本科學(xué)界的3根 軟肋 。
First, it wants to nurture independence of thought in young researchers, encouraging themto work for themselves rather than as foot soldiers for professors.
首先，要培養(yǎng)年輕學(xué)者的獨(dú)立精神，鼓勵(lì)年輕人按照自己想法行事，而不是跟在教授們后面，成為他們的走卒。
Second, it wants Japanese science to become more open to the outside world.
其次，也希望日本科學(xué)界更加與國(guó)際接軌。
Third, it wants to stimulate the emergence of technology clusters in a country where thereis disturbingly little interaction between universities and industry-and few Silicon Valley-style start-ups as a consequence.
第三，通過(guò)學(xué)院促進(jìn)日本技術(shù)的研發(fā)。在日本，高校和產(chǎn)業(yè)間的聯(lián)系比較小，因此很少看見(jiàn)想硅谷這類(lèi)企業(yè)模式。
That graduate students and post-docs are fodder for the ambitions of departmental heads isnot unique to Japan.
在日本，研究生和博士后都非常渴求成為該領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)軍人物。
But the phenomenon is generally thought to be exaggerated there: a toxic consequenceof Confucian respect for authority and an academic system borrowed lock, stock andbarrel from 19th-century Germany.
然而，這一現(xiàn)象似乎被夸大了：十九世紀(jì)日本曾向德國(guó)學(xué)習(xí)。而這種照單全收的學(xué)習(xí)也產(chǎn)生了不良的后果對(duì)于權(quán)威和學(xué)術(shù)體制一種盲目的崇拜。
Young Japanese researchers, though, are fed up with it.
日本的青年學(xué)者也對(duì)此十分厭惡。
One result is that the number of graduate students in natural sciences has been falling inJapan since 2003.
這也造成了自2003年以來(lái)，自然科學(xué)的研究生數(shù)量減少。
Those youngsters are, nevertheless, oddly reluctant to deal with their disgruntlement bygoing abroad.
然而，年輕人也不太想通過(guò)出國(guó)留學(xué)解決不滿(mǎn)的教育現(xiàn)狀。
Between 1996 and 2007, 28% of the science and engineering doctorates awarded in Americawent to Chinese; 11% to Indians; 9% to South Koreans; and 7% to Taiwanese.
1996年與2007年之間，28%在北美畢業(yè)的科學(xué)和工程博士是中國(guó)人。這一數(shù)字在印度、韓國(guó)、臺(tái)灣分別是11%、9%、7%。
Japanese, by contrast, picked up just 2% of them.
相反，日本僅占到了其中的2%。
That stymies the exchange of ideas on which good science depends.
這也妨礙了觀(guān)點(diǎn)的交流，而這對(duì)于科學(xué)來(lái)說(shuō)是至關(guān)重要的。
If young Japanese scientists cannot be persuaded to study abroad, though, perhaps abroadcan be brought to Japan.
既然日本的科學(xué)家不太愿意走出國(guó)門(mén)，那么，是不是把國(guó)外的教育理念引入日本國(guó)內(nèi)。
At the moment, 85 of the OIST s researchers are gaijin.
OIST的85名研究人員來(lái)自國(guó)外。
Ultimately, the organisation aims to recruit half of both its faculty and its students fromoutside the country.
到最后，從國(guó)外招募的研究員和學(xué)生的數(shù)量會(huì)占到總數(shù)的一半。
And, as if that were not enough to stir the pot, these scientists have to mix with each other,too.
如果以上還達(dá)不到人們的預(yù)期，學(xué)校還會(huì)這些科學(xué)家要融合彼此、進(jìn)一步進(jìn)行溝通交流。
The OIST s laboratories abut one another and share microscopes, refrigerators andother equipment.
OITS的實(shí)驗(yàn)室把每個(gè)人組合起來(lái)共享顯微鏡、冰箱和其他實(shí)驗(yàn)儀器。
Dr Dorfan says everything is designed to eliminate the barriersphysical and otherwisebetween traditional fields of research.
Dorfan表示他們做的每一件事都是為了消除障礙，無(wú)論是物質(zhì)上還是是傳統(tǒng)研究領(lǐng)域所引起的。
That breakdown of barriers is even apparent in individual researchers.
而個(gè)人研究中，打破這種障礙比較明顯。
Kenji Doya, for example, is an engineer turned neuroscientist.
舉例來(lái)說(shuō)，Kenji Doya，原先是一位工程師，之后成為了一名神經(jīng)學(xué)家。
He runs two laboratories at the OIST.
他在OITS運(yùn)行2家實(shí)驗(yàn)室。
One explores learning by robots.
其中一家探索機(jī)器人。
The other looks at how a brain chemical called serotonin regulates the patience of rats.
而另一個(gè)則是研究大腦中的一種叫血清素化學(xué)物質(zhì)如何調(diào)整老鼠的耐受力。
An algorithm for regulating patience in the brain, he believes, could be used to improverobotics.
他認(rèn)為這種在大腦中調(diào)整耐受力的運(yùn)算法則可以用來(lái)改進(jìn)機(jī)器人學(xué)。
Which is just the sort of thing that, if brought to fruition in Dr Dorfan s alma mater, wouldhave the researchers who had come up with it bolting out of the door and into the offices ofthe nearest venture capitalist, prior to hiring a suitable garage to build their prototype in.
還有另外一種可能，如果在Dorfan博士的實(shí)驗(yàn)室中取得一些成果，會(huì)不會(huì)有研究員奪門(mén)而出來(lái)到最近的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資處，之后就找一個(gè)合適的工廠(chǎng)來(lái)制造樣品。
Whether that will happen in Okinawa, remains to be seen.
這些是否會(huì)發(fā)生在OIST，還不太好說(shuō)。
Its physical climate is certainly as pleasant as California s.
不過(guò)OITS的學(xué)術(shù)氛圍會(huì)像加州一樣的輕松。
Changing the intellectual climate to match may prove a challenge.
當(dāng)然這也是具有挑戰(zhàn)的，畢竟它改變地方的學(xué)術(shù)氣候。
