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【英文原文2】
Celera’ s stated goal was“to substantially complete the sequencing of the human genome ”in ２００１．The public Human Genome Project，funded mainly by the US government and Britain’s Wellcome Trust，the world’s richest research charity，was then still aiming for the original completion date of ２００５，set when the programme had started １０years earlier．
The leaders of the public programme――alarmed at the prospect of a private company gaining patent8) rights to so much genetic information――promptly accelerated their schedule；in September １９９８they promised a “working draft”of the genome by ２００１．But Celera was working even faster than expected and by the end of １９９９it was clear that the company might complete its own draft by mid－２０００．
Both sides were then becoming concerned about the damage being done to their image by the increasingly vituperative9) race between them．They discussed a collaboration but the talks foundered because the public project’s commitment to immediate open access to all DNA sequences was irreconcilable10) with Celera’s commercial need to retain intellectual property rights over its data．
The bickering11) resumed early in ２０００，although the two sides patched up their differences sufficiently to soak up the politicians’ plaudits together at the genome completion ceremony in June．
In retrospect，however，Dr．Venter sees that all the publicity about the“race to the genome ”has brought benefits，too．“On my travels this year I have seen how fascinated people are by this〖genetic〗information，and my view is that the human competition was a primary reason why they became interested．It had all the elements of melodrama you could want．”
In scientific terms，Dr．Venter has made two main contributions to gene discovery．
In conversation with Dr．Venter it becomes clear that his primary motivation is scientific discovery，rather than making millions of dollars or even deriving medical benefits from genomics．He says：“The biggest thrill in life is making scientific breakthroughs．No other reward can compare with that satisfaction．”
