Scientists’Path to Bliss 科學家的幸福之路

Each of us seeks our own path to bliss. In accepting the Nobel Prize from the Swedish2 King in 1980, I said that I had been doubly blessed. For in addition to3 receiving the recognition and distinction4 represented by the Nobel Prize, the research itself had given me indescribable pleasure, the ultimate high, that comes from discovery, the breaking of new ground, the entering into areas where man has not been before. This kind of bliss is not uniquely available to scientists only. Literature, music, art, even business, offers comparable rewards. It is there for all who venture5 beyond the realm of accepted knowledge and experience. Such adventures are challenging and demanding but well worth the effort.

我們每個人都在尋求自己的幸福之路。1980年，我從瑞典國王那里接受諾貝爾獎時曾說過：我是獲得了雙重幸福的人。除了諾貝爾獎給我的認可和名望外，研究工作本身也給了我難以描述的歡樂－－新的發現、開創新的天地和進入無人涉足過的新領域，都使我感到無比地激動和愉悅。這種幸福不僅只有科學家能夠得到，從事文學、音樂、藝術甚至商業的創造性工作，也都可能獲得類似的回報。每一個愿意在已有的知識和經驗之外的新領域里冒險的人，都有可能獲得這種幸福。這種冒險極富挑戰性，而且需要殫精竭慮，但非常值得為之一搏。

For me, the adventure began as a young boy in secondary school. There, I and a group of very bright classmates were denied the easy route to learning. The wide range of questions we directed at our teachers were rarely met with6 direct answers. Instead, our teachers encouraged us to find the answers for ourselves by steering7 us to books that held the answers, and most often to more than we had expected. Frequently, our teachers suggested ways to find the answers by searching the reference books that were available in libraries or by actual experimentation. As we progressed to high school, the teachers encouraged us to ask questions that went beyond our and their knowledge and experience, and to speculate on8 matters we could not find answers to. Later, as a member of an after-school science club, I was challenged to solve problems about the natural world by experimentation, initially by repeating already known experiments but later by being required to design new ways to solve the puzzles I had raised. All the while, originality of thought was prized above all. Perhaps it was those early experiences that sharpened my appetite for exploring the unknown and seeking solutions.

對于我來說，這種冒險開始于青少年時代上中學的時候。在學校里，我和一批非常聰明的同學學習并不輕松。我們向老師提出各種各樣的問題，但老師很少給予我們直接的回答，而是鼓勵我們到有關的書籍中去自己尋找答案，往往收獲要比我們預料的還要多。老師還經常教我們通過到圖書館查閱參考書或做實驗的方法尋求答案。升入高中后，老師鼓勵我們提出超越我們和他們知識和經驗以外的問題，思考那些我們找不到答案的問題。后來，我成為課外科學俱樂部的成員，這里要求我通過實驗解決某些有關自然界的問題。開始是重復已經做過的實驗，隨后就要求我設計新的實驗方法來解決我自己提出的難題。這是極富挑戰性的。在任何時候，創新思維都是最寶貴的。也許正是這些早年的經歷，激發了我探索未知世界并尋求答案的欲望。

Looking back on that period, I realize now that encouraging young people to discover for themselves the answers they seek is not the easiest way to learn but it is the most rewarding. Developing curiosity and the instinct for seeking creative solutions are perhaps the most important contributions education can make. With time, many facts we are asked to learn will be forgotten, but we are less likely to lose our ability to question and discover. Schools everywhere would do well to heed9 that lesson. And students everywhere must accept the responsibility that such an educational system places on10 them.

回想那段時間，我認識到：鼓勵青年人自己去尋找他們追求的答案，不是最輕松的學習方法，但卻是回報最豐厚的學習方法。開發學生尋求創造性解決方法的本能和好奇心，或許是教育能做出的最重要的貢獻。隨著時間的推移，學過的許多東西將會忘記，但是我們提出問題和找出答案的能力卻不會喪失。任何地方的學校都應當認真汲取這個經驗，而學生應接受這種教育制度賦予他們的職責。