【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 figure out that textbooks andprofessors donamp。39。t know everything, and then they start to think on their own. Then, I beginlearning from them.amp。quot。
　　amp。quot。在大學工作，最大的優(yōu)點就是學生。他們生機勃勃，充滿熱情，思想自由，還沒被生活的重壓改變。雖然他們自己沒有意識到，但是他們是這個社會中你能找到的最佳受眾。如果生命中曾經(jīng)有過思想自由和充滿創(chuàng)造力的時期，那么那個時期就是你在讀大學。進校時，學生們對課本上的一字一句毫不懷疑，漸漸地，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)課本和教授并不是無所不知的，于是他們開始獨立思考。從那時起，就是我開始向他們學習了。amp。quot。
　　My students, post doctoral fellows, and the young researchers who worked with me at Bell Labs,Stanford, and Berkeley have been extraordinary. Over 30 former group members are nowprofessors, many at the best research institutions in the world, including Harvard. I havelearned much from them. Even now, in rare moments on weekends, the remaining members ofmy biophysics group meet with me in the ether world of cyberspace.
　　我教過的學生、帶過的博士后、合作過的年輕同事，都非常優(yōu)秀。他們中有30多人，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是教授了。他們所在的研究機構(gòu)有不少是全世界第一流的，其中就包括哈佛大學。我從他們身上學到了很多東西。即使現(xiàn)在，我偶爾還會周末上網(wǎng)，向現(xiàn)在還從事生物物理學研究的學生請教。
　　I began teaching with the idea of giving back。 I received more than I gave. This brings me tothe final movement of this speech. It begins with a story about an extraordinary scientificdiscovery and a new dilemma that it poses. Itamp。39。s a call to arms and about making a difference.
　　我懷著回報社會的想法，開始了教學生涯。我的一生中，得到的多于我付出的，所以我要回報社會。這就引出了這次演講的最后一個樂章。首先我要講一個了不起的科學發(fā)現(xiàn)，以及由此帶來的新挑戰(zhàn)。它是一個戰(zhàn)斗的號令，到了做出改變的時候了。
　　In the last several decades, our climate has been changing. Climate change is not new: theEarth went through six ice ages in the past 600,000 years. However, recent measurementsshow that the climate has begun to change rapidly. The size of the North Polar Ice Cap in themonth of September is only half the size it was a mere 50 years ago. The sea level which beenrising since direct measurements began in 1870 at a rate that is now five times faster than itwas at the beginning of recorded measurements. Hereamp。39。s the remarkable scientific the first time in human history, science is now making predictions of how our actions willaffect the world 50 and 100 years from now. These changes are due to an increase in carbondioxide put into the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The Earth haswarmed up by roughly degrees Celsius since the beginning of the Revolution. There isalready approximately a 1 degree rise built into the system, even if we stop all greenhousegas emissions today. Why? It will take decades to warm up the deep oceans before thetemperature reaches a new equilibrium.
　　過去幾十年中，我們的氣候一直在發(fā)生變化。氣候變化并不是現(xiàn)在才有的，過去60萬年中就發(fā)生了6次冰河期。但是，現(xiàn)在的測量表明氣候變化加速了。北極冰蓋在9月份的大小，只相當于50年前的一半。1870年起，人們開始測量海平面上升的速度，現(xiàn)在的速度是那時的5倍。一個重大的科學發(fā)現(xiàn)就這樣產(chǎn)生了。科學第一次在人類歷史上，預測出我們的行為對50—120xx年后的世界有何影響。這些變化的原因是，從工業(yè)革命開始，人類排放到大氣中的二氧化碳增加 了。即使我們立刻停止所有溫室氣體的排放，氣溫仍然將比過去上升大約1度。因為在氣溫達到均衡前，海水溫度的上升將持續(xù)幾十年。
　　If the world continues on a businessasusual path, the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange predicts that there is a fiftyfifty chance the temperature will exceed 5 degrees by theend of this century. This increase may not sound like much, but let me remind you that duringthe last ice age, the world was only 6 degrees colder. During this time, most of Canada and theUnited States down to Ohio and Pennsylvania were covered year round by a glacier. A world 5degrees warmer will be very different. The change will be so rapid that many species, includingHumans, will have a hard time adapting. Iamp。39。ve been told for example, that, in a much warmerworld, insects were bigger. I wonder if this thing buzzing around is a precursor.
　　如果全世界保持現(xiàn)在的經(jīng)濟模式不變，聯(lián)合國政府間氣候變化專門委員會(IPCC)預測，本世紀末將有50%的可能，氣溫至少上升5度。這聽起來好像不多，但是讓我來提醒你，上一次的冰河期，地球的氣溫也僅僅只下降了6度。那時，俄亥俄州和賓夕法尼亞州以北的大部分美國和加拿大的土地，都終年被冰川覆蓋。氣溫上升5度的地球，將是一個非常不同的地球。由于變化來得太快，包括人類在內(nèi)的許多生物，都將很難適應。比如，有人告訴我，在更溫暖的環(huán)境中，昆蟲的個頭將變大。我不知道現(xiàn)在身旁嗡嗡叫的這只大蒼蠅，是不是就是前兆。
　　We also face the specter of nonlinear amp。quot。tipping pointsamp。quot。 that may cause much more severechanges. An example of a tipping point is the thawing of the permafrost. The permafrostcontains immense amounts of frozen organic matter that have been accumulating formillennia. If the soil melts, microbes will spring to life and cause this debris to rot. Thedifference in biological activity below freezing and above freezing is something we are allfamiliar with. Frozen food remains edible for a very long time in the freezer, but once thawed,it spoils quickly. How much methane and carbon dioxide might be released from the