While Japan was celebrating its 20th winner of the Nobel Prize in October, this time in medicine for stem cell research, China celebrated its first Nobel for literature won by a resident of the Chinese mainland, Mo Yan.
当日本10月份在庆祝其第20个诺贝尔奖时，这一次是干细胞研究方面的医学奖，中国迎来了第一位诺贝尔文学奖，由中国大陆居民莫言摘获。
But although Chinese living abroad have won Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine, not one scientist working on the mainland has won or shared the award in physics, chemistry or medicine.
但尽管华侨华裔获得过物理、化学和医学方面的诺贝尔奖，但没有一个在中国大陆工作的科学家摘得或共同赢得在物理、化学或医学方面的该奖项。
Experts said the reasons China doesn’t hold a science Nobel are complicated. They include the exam-oriented education system, the network for scientific research and development, the evaluation system for scientists and their research, the way research grants are awarded, and the government’s attitude toward scientific research.
专家说中国没有诺贝尔科学奖的原因是复杂的。这包括应试教育体系、科学研究和发展的网络、对科学家及其研究的评价体系、对科研的资助方式以及政府对科研的态度。
Pushing too hard
施压过猛
Dr Wang Mingwei, director of the Chinese National Compound Library, said China is in too big a hurry to demonstrate it has joined the international ranks of achievers in all fields and that it is bigger and better in everything.
王明伟博士，中国化合物样品库主任表示中国太急于证明它在各个领域的成就已经进入国际一流水准，且一切都更大更好。
"Both the government and the public are pushing scientists too much and they are viewing international prizes like Nobel Prize as the only criteria to evaluate scientists and their work," Wang told Shanghai Daily.
“政府和公众正对科学家施压太多，他们把诺贝尔奖这样的国际奖项作为评估科学家及其工作的唯一的标准，”王告诉《上海日报》。
"No Nobel winners set winning the Nobel Prize as the goal for their work," he said. "Their dedication, passion and interest in scientific research drives them to work hard and achieve the kind of results that are recognized by the Nobel Prize."
“没有一个诺贝尔奖得主会把获得诺贝尔奖作为他们工作的目标，”他说。“他们在科研方面的奉献精神、激情和兴趣驱使他们努力工作，并取得了值得被诺贝尔奖嘉奖的成果。”
Wang’s opinion is shared by Oliver Smithies, a British-born American geneticist who shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with an American and Briton for development of gene targeting in mice.
王的观点也受到奥利弗?史密斯的赞同，一个英国出生的美国遗传学家，2007年与一个美国人和一个英国人因对老鼠“基因靶向”技术的发展研究而共同获得诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。
Interest and devotion
兴趣和奉献
At a recent talk with university students in Shanghai, Smithies, who is 87, said real interest and devotion to science are key to making important contributions. He emphasized the importance of personal interest and suggested science students find subjects that really interest them. "If your tutor doesn’t like the project you like, change the tutor," he said.
在最近一次与上海的大学生交流后，87岁的史密斯说真正的兴趣和对科学的奉献精神是做出重要贡献的关键所在。他强调了个人兴趣的重要性，建议学科学的学生找到真正使他们感兴趣的事物。“如果你的老师不喜欢你喜欢的课题，那就更换导师，”他说。
Scientific research often involves creativity and inventions. Smithies said that when he couldn’t find the kind of specific equipment he needed, he made his own - this was the case in the research that won the Nobel. He held up a pink container that he said was an infant’s bathtub, which he had modified with wires and equipment from other lab apparatus. "Never make winning the Nobel Prize your goal," he said. "No Nobel Prize winners target the prize during their research. The only thing that all winners have in common are having fun and having confidence in their research."
科学研究往往需要创造和发明。史密斯说当他不能找到一种他需要的特定设备时，他就自创——这是在研究上获得诺贝尔奖的一则案例。他举起一个粉红色的容器，他说这是婴儿浴缸，就是他从其他实验室设备调整线路和设备得到的。“决不能让获得诺贝尔奖成为你的目标，”他说。“没有诺贝尔奖得主会在研究中紧盯着这一奖项。所有获奖者唯一的共同点是在他们的研究中获得兴趣和信心。”
Xiong Bingqi, vice head of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, a non-profit organization featuring researches on education and public policy, said a reason for the lack of recognition in science today is the nature of China’s education system.
熊丙奇，21世纪教育研究院副院长，一个涉及教育和公共政策研究方面的非营利组织，他说今天科学缺乏辨识度的原因在于中国教育系统的本质。
"We teach students knowledge," he said. "But studies suggest knowledge-centered education can only have a very minor impact in a person’s future life ... The education system doesn’t value and nurture students imagination, creativity, observation and communications skills that can influence a whole life," Xiong said.
“我们教授学生知识，”他说。“但是研究表明以知识为中心的教育只能对一个人的未来产生非常小的影响……教育系统没有重视和培养影响学生一生的那些想像力、创造力、观察力和沟通技巧，”熊说。
China’s education system is famously test oriented. The system and appraisal by tests kill students’ personality, imagination and creativity and produce a lot of "exam-taking machines," he said.
众所周知中国教育系统以应试为中心。这一系统和测试评估体系扼杀了学生的个性、想象力和创造力，并将会产生大量的’考试机器’，”他说。
Another major obstacle to genuine scientific innovation and achievement is bureaucracy, Xiong said. Many researchers lose research funding in an academic structure too often controlled by administrative bodies.
产生真正科学创新和成就的另一主要障碍是官僚主义，熊说。许多研究人员在通常由行政机关控制的学术结构中失去研究经费。
Scientists who want to get funding often have to spend a lot of time socializing and interacting, attending conferences, writing papers as well as writing applications for projects, leaving them with little time for creative thinking, he said.
想获得资金的科学家常常不得不花大量的时间来社交和互动、参加会议、写论文以及为项目编写应用程序，几乎使他们没有时间进行创造性思考，他说。
Research also tends to be utilitarian and pure research without relatively short-term returns and rewards isn’t generally favored by institutions, funders or individual researchers.
研究也往往是功利的，没有相对短期的回报和奖励的纯粹研究通常得不到机构、赞助者和个人研究者的青睐。
Publish or perish
要么发表成果，要么淘汰出局
University evaluation systems are also flawed because they appraise researchers by the number of papers they publish and the number of projects they complete, instead of genuine scientific achievement, Xiong said.
大学的评估系统也有缺陷，因为他们以发表文章的数量和完成项目的数量来评价科研人员，而不是真正的科学成就，熊说。
Plagiarism flourishes in quite a few universities because researchers are under great pressure to secure promotions.
剽窃在一些大学繁荣，因为研究人员正承受着巨大压力来保证获得上升。
China wants its scientists to win Nobels and pours money into key research programs in pursuit of the prize, but first of all it should create a fair and free environment for researchers to work without bureaucratic interruption or utilitarian considerations.
中国希望其科学家赢得诺贝尔奖，为追逐这个奖而将资金注入到关键研究项目中，但首先它应该为研究者创建一个没有官僚阻碍或功利性考量的公平自由的环境。来源：能飞英语网（http://www.langfly.com/）[详细地址]：http://www.langfly.com/a/20121125/122842.shtml
