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.
我从未试图赢得诺贝尔奖
我很幸运地获得了两次诺贝尔奖。我的工作能得到这么高的认可，这当然是非常令人激动的，但真正的乐趣却蕴含在工作本身之中。科学研究就像发现新大陆，你不断地尝试以前没有尝试过的新事物。这些尝试中有很多是没有结果的，于是你不得不尝试另外一些不同的事物。有时，尝试是奏效的，并且告诉你某些新东西，这的确令人兴奋。无论新的发现多么微小，只要想到"我是知道它的惟一的人"，这种感觉就非常好。然后你就会有兴趣思考所发现的东西将导致什么结果并决定下一次实验应是什么。科学研究最大的乐趣之一就是你总是可以进行一些不同的尝试，它从来不会令人厌倦。事情进展顺利是令人高兴的，事情进展不顺利则令人苦恼。有些人在遇到困难时就泄气，但我面对失败的做法是从不着急，而是开始设计下一次实验，整个探索的过程都充满了欢乐。
有了新发现，这是非常令人激动的。有的人也许会做一些不可思议的事来宣泄自己的激动，比如驾热气球周游世界或步行到北极。可以发现的新地域不多了，但在科学领域却可以发现许多新东西，而且探索未知领域是很有意义的，也是很令人兴奋的。
有时候有人问我："要获得诺贝尔奖，我必须做什么？"我的答案是"我不知道，我从没试过".但我知道有一种方法是得不了奖的。有的人投身于科学研究的主要目的是为了得奖，而且总是千方百计地考虑如何才能得奖，这样的人是不会成功的。要想真正在科学领域有所成就，你必须对它有兴趣，喜欢做实验，想问题。当然，你还必须做好进行艰苦工作和遇到挫折时不会太泄气的思想准备。
在这个国家，如果你在大众化的报纸上阅读到一些有关科学的文章，也许你会有这样一种感觉：科学很像奥林匹克运动或一场足球赛，所有的科学家彼此之间互相竞争，看看到底谁能首先有所发现并获奖。事实不是这样的。科学家为了人类利益一起工作，就像一支队伍，他们不仅仅为了"比比谁是最聪明的".我所取得的任何一点进步都非常有赖于其他实验室别人的前期工作、以及与别的科学家有益的讨论并听从他们的建议，而我的一些工作也为其他人的发现做出了贡献。当然，有某种程度的竞争存在，但这不是有益的，也常常是不严重的。
我认为我最重要的发现是测定DNA核苷酸顺序的"2-脱氧-化学结构"，这一方法现在正被用来解读人类染色体组序列。人类染色体组也许是最重要的化学物质，因为它包含了我们人体结构和功能的所有信息。如果我们把它比作一本指南，那么它就是一本大部头的书，事实上它更像一个图书馆，因为它包含了30亿个字母。一本书也就由26个字母不同的组合组成，要想表达的意思和想传达的信息都包容在这26个字母的顺序中。DNA仅有4个"字母"，即A、G、C、T （当然这些不是真正的字母，而是化学组构），基因的信息就包含在由这4个"字母"按一定顺序组成的序列中。现在，许多国家的许多研究机构都在研究这一顺序。实际上，DNA不仅仅像一本只包含遗传信息的说明书，DNA也具有许多诸如催化生命进程的性能。
对染色体组序列的了解能实现什么目的已经有很多推测，一些政治家和报纸已经预言它将可能治愈癌症或让人活到130岁。这些在目前还是无用的推测，但我认为它也许将对医学有益。如果你有一部机器，比如一辆汽车，它出了故障，那么你要做的第一件事就是看看"指南"，了解一下它是如何运转的。到目前为止，这在医学上还不可能，但我相信如果我们搞清了染色体组序列，那么就能更好地了解我们的身体是如何运作的，并且当我们生病时，我们就能知道是什么出了毛病，这是可能实现的事。的确，科学家对遗传性疾病的了解已经越来越多，但还有很长的路要走。如果你有一本书，它是用你所不懂的一种语言写的，你要做的第一件事是看看字母的顺序。在你能弄懂这种语言并且搞清它说的是什么意思之前，你还有许许多多的事情要做。同样地，当我们有了染色体组序列，在完全明白它是如何运作的以及它能让我们达到什么目的之前，我们也还有许许多多的工作要做。这将是这个新世纪的重要课题，它将带来激动人心的新发现，它给每个有兴趣加入这项带有冒险性的探索、有志于成为科学家的年轻人提供了大显身手的好机会。
1.recogntion n.认可，表彰
2.lead to 导 致
3.discourage vt.使泄气，使灰心
4.North Pole 北极
5.worthwhile adj.值得做的
6.think out 仔细考虑，通过思考把…理出个头绪
7.good n.利益
8.advance n.进展，前进
9.rivalry n.竞争（行为）
10.dideoxy n.2-脱氧-化学结构
11.sequence n.次序，顺序
12.nucleotide n.核苷酸
13.genome n.染色体组
14.catalyze vt.催化
15.speculation n.推测
16.prophesy vt.预言，预告
17.idle adj.无根据的，无意义的
18.at present 现在，目前
19.hitherto adv.到目前为止，迄今
20.hereditary adj.遗传（性）的
21.take part in 参加，参与
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