I have never tried to win a Nobel Prize
I have been very lucky to have won the Nobel Prize twice. It is， of course， very exciting to have such an important recognition1 of my work， but the real pleasure was in the work itself. Scientific research is like an exploration of a voyage of discovery. You are continually trying out new things that have not been done before. Many of them will lead nowhere and you have to try something different， but sometimes an experiment does work and tells you something new and that it really exciting. However small the new finding may be it is great to think " I am the only person who knows this" and then you will have the fun of thinking what this finding will lead to2 and of deciding what will be the next experiment. One of the best things about scientific research is that you are always doing something different and it is never boring. There are good times when things go well and bad times when they don't. Some people get discouraged3 at the difficult times but when I have a failure my policy has always been not to worry but to start planning the next experiment， which is always fun.
It is very exciting to make a new discovery. Some people will do the strangest things for this excitement， such as going round the world in a balloon or walking to the North Pole4. There are not many new places to explore but there is a lot of new information to be discovered in science and a journey into this unknown area can be much more worthwhile5 and just as exciting.
I am sometimes asked， " What do I have to do to win a Nobel Prize？" My answer is " I don't know. I have never tried" . But I know of one way not to win one. There are some people whose main reason for doing science is to win prizes and are always thinking about how to do it. Such people don't succeed. To do good science you must be interested in it and enjoy doing experiments and thinking out6 problems. And， of course， you must be prepared to work hard and not to be too discouraged by failures.
In this country if you read some articles about science in the popular newspapers you might get the impression that science is more like the Olympic games or a game of football， with scientists all competing with one another to see who can make a discovery first and win prizes. This is not so. Scientists are working together as a team for the good7 of humanity and not just competing to see who is the cleverest. Any advances8 I have made have depended very much on earlier work by other people in other laboratories and on helpful discussions and advice from other scientists， and some of my work has contributed to other peoples'discoveries. Of course， there is a certain amount of rivalry9 but this is not helpful and is not often serious.
I think my most important discovery was the " dideoxy10" method for determining the sequence11 of nucleotides12 in DNA， which is now being used to read the sequence in the human genome13. The human genome is probably the most important chemical substance since it contains all the information for the construction and functioning of our bodies. If one compares it to a book of instructions， it would have to be an enormous book， in fact more like a library， since it contains three billion letters. A book contains 26 different letters and the meaning and information is contained in the sequence of the letters. DNA has only 4 " letters" called A， G， C， T（Of course these are not really letters but are chemical structures） and the information of the gene is contained in this sequence that is now being studied in many institutes in many countries. In fact， DNA is not just like a book of instructions which contains only information. DNA also does things as well， catalyzing14 many of the processes of life.
There has been much speculation15 about what can be achieved from knowledge of the sequence of the genome. Some politicians and newspapers have prophesied16 that it will be possible to cure cancer or live to 130. These are idle17 speculations at present18 but I think it will probably be of value to medical science. If you had a machine， such as a motor car and it went wrong， the first thing to do would be to look at the " instruction" book and find out how it works. Hitherto19 that has not been possible for medical science but we believe that if we have the sequence of the genome it will be possible to understand much better how the body works and what goes wrong when we have diseases. Indeed， scientists are already learning much more about hereditary20 diseases， but there is still a long way to go. If you have a book that is written in a language you don't understand， the first thing would be to look at the sequence of letters but there still would be a lot more work to be done before you could understand the language and what it is about. Similarly when we have the sequence of the genome there will still be a lot of work to do before it is fully understood how it works and what can be achieved with it. This will be an important exploration during this new century and should lead to new and exciting discoveries. It will be a good time to be a young scientist and to take part in21 this adventure.
我從未試圖贏得諾貝爾獎
我很幸運地獲得了兩次諾貝爾獎。我的工作能得到這么高的認可，這當然是非常令人激動的，但真正的樂趣卻蘊含在工作本身之中。科學研究就像發現新大陸，你不斷地嘗試以前沒有嘗試過的新事物。這些嘗試中有很多是沒有結果的，于是你不得不嘗試另外一些不同的事物。有時，嘗試是奏效的，并且告訴你某些新東西，這的確令人興奮。無論新的發現多么微小，只要想到"我是知道它的惟一的人"，這種感覺就非常好。然后你就會有興趣思考所發現的東西將導致什么結果并決定下一次實驗應是什么。科學研究最大的樂趣之一就是你總是可以進行一些不同的嘗試，它從來不會令人厭倦。事情進展順利是令人高興的，事情進展不順利則令人苦惱。有些人在遇到困難時就泄氣，但我面對失敗的做法是從不著急，而是開始設計下一次實驗，整個探索的過程都充滿了歡樂。
有了新發現，這是非常令人激動的。有的人也許會做一些不可思議的事來宣泄自己的激動，比如駕熱氣球周游世界或步行到北極。可以發現的新地域不多了，但在科學領域卻可以發現許多新東西，而且探索未知領域是很有意義的，也是很令人興奮的。
有時候有人問我："要獲得諾貝爾獎，我必須做什么？"我的答案是"我不知道，我從沒試過".但我知道有一種方法是得不了獎的。有的人投身于科學研究的主要目的是為了得獎，而且總是千方百計地考慮如何才能得獎，這樣的人是不會成功的。要想真正在科學領域有所成就，你必須對它有興趣，喜歡做實驗，想問題。當然，你還必須做好進行艱苦工作和遇到挫折時不會太泄氣的思想準備。
在這個國家，如果你在大眾化的報紙上閱讀到一些有關科學的文章，也許你會有這樣一種感覺：科學很像奧林匹克運動或一場足球賽，所有的科學家彼此之間互相競爭，看看到底誰能首先有所發現并獲獎。事實不是這樣的。科學家為了人類利益一起工作，就像一支隊伍，他們不僅僅為了"比比誰是最聰明的".我所取得的任何一點進步都非常有賴于其他實驗室別人的前期工作、以及與別的科學家有益的討論并聽從他們的建議，而我的一些工作也為其他人的發現做出了貢獻。當然，有某種程度的競爭存在，但這不是有益的，也常常是不嚴重的。
我認為我最重要的發現是測定DNA核苷酸順序的"2-脫氧-化學結構"，這一方法現在正被用來解讀人類染色體組序列。人類染色體組也許是最重要的化學物質，因為它包含了我們人體結構和功能的所有信息。如果我們把它比作一本指南，那么它就是一本大部頭的書，事實上它更像一個圖書館，因為它包含了30億個字母。一本書也就由26個字母不同的組合組成，要想表達的意思和想傳達的信息都包容在這26個字母的順序中。DNA僅有4個"字母"，即A、G、C、T （當然這些不是真正的字母，而是化學組構），基因的信息就包含在由這4個"字母"按一定順序組成的序列中。現在，許多國家的許多研究機構都在研究這一順序。實際上，DNA不僅僅像一本只包含遺傳信息的說明書，DNA也具有許多諸如催化生命進程的性能。
對染色體組序列的了解能實現什么目的已經有很多推測，一些政治家和報紙已經預言它將可能治愈癌癥或讓人活到130歲。這些在目前還是無用的推測，但我認為它也許將對醫學有益。如果你有一部機器，比如一輛汽車，它出了故障，那么你要做的第一件事就是看看"指南"，了解一下它是如何運轉的。到目前為止，這在醫學上還不可能，但我相信如果我們搞清了染色體組序列，那么就能更好地了解我們的身體是如何運作的，并且當我們生病時，我們就能知道是什么出了毛病，這是可能實現的事。的確，科學家對遺傳性疾病的了解已經越來越多，但還有很長的路要走。如果你有一本書，它是用你所不懂的一種語言寫的，你要做的第一件事是看看字母的順序。在你能弄懂這種語言并且搞清它說的是什么意思之前，你還有許許多多的事情要做。同樣地，當我們有了染色體組序列，在完全明白它是如何運作的以及它能讓我們達到什么目的之前，我們也還有許許多多的工作要做。這將是這個新世紀的重要課題，它將帶來激動人心的新發現，它給每個有興趣加入這項帶有冒險性的探索、有志于成為科學家的年輕人提供了大顯身手的好機會。
1.recogntion n.認可，表彰
2.lead to 導 致
3.discourage vt.使泄氣，使灰心
4.North Pole 北極
5.worthwhile adj.值得做的
6.think out 仔細考慮，通過思考把…理出個頭緒
7.good n.利益
8.advance n.進展，前進
9.rivalry n.競爭（行為）
10.dideoxy n.2-脫氧-化學結構
11.sequence n.次序，順序
12.nucleotide n.核苷酸
13.genome n.染色體組
14.catalyze vt.催化
15.speculation n.推測
16.prophesy vt.預言，預告
17.idle adj.無根據的，無意義的
18.at present 現在，目前
19.hitherto adv.到目前為止，迄今
20.hereditary adj.遺傳（性）的
21.take part in 參加，參與
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