大学英语阅读教程 Unit7 how to be a scientist 全文翻译.doc

How to be a scientist Gina Kolata Ask most people – even students majoring in science – to describe the typical life of a successful scientist, and chances are they will describe a dedicated existence: long hours in the laboratory, toiling alone among racks of test tubes and beakers. But researchers say that nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, they say, the irony is that to succeed in science, most people have to leave the lab completely. Leading biologists and chemists say they spend no time in the laboratory. Instead they write grant proposals, travel and give talks on their group’s research; they think up ideas for their staff of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to work on, and try their best to motivate and encourage staff members to be creative and productive. Dr. Shirley, Tilghman, a molecular biologist at Princeton University, says that most people have no idea of the skills needed to succeed in science. “I get these undergraduates in my office saying they are trying to decide between medicine and science,” Dr. Tilghman said. “They say, ‘I really want to go into medicine because I want to be involved with people.’ I just say, ‘my God.’ The extraordinary thing about being a principal scientific investigator is that I should have been a psychology major. I do nothing but try to motivate people, try to figure out why they’re not working hard. Most of biology is a profession where success depends to a large extent on how you work with people.” Some researchers say that the most valuable course work for scientists may not even be science. Dr. Ponzy Lu, a chemist at the University of Pennsylvania, says his worst memories of his days as an undergraduate at the California Institute of Technology were the humanities courses he and every other science major were forced to take. “We had to write 500 to 1,000 words a week in essays,” Dr. Lu said. “I wasn’t good at that kind of stuff.” But as soon as he become a successful scientist, Dr. Lu said he