何江在哈佛
在演講中,何江回顧了自己成長的湖南鄉(xiāng)村,告訴臺下3萬多名聽眾,知識、醫(yī)療與教育的資源落差,是一個多么巨大的鴻溝,而消弭這樣的落差,是需要所有人為之努力的。
“教育能夠改變一個人的生活軌跡,能夠把一個人從一個世界帶到另一個不同的世界。我希望我的成長經(jīng)歷,能給那些還在路上的農(nóng)村學生一點鼓勵,讓他們看到堅持的希望?!贝饲?,何江在接受記者采訪時,也曾強調(diào)這樣的觀點。
何江:三名演講畢業(yè)生之一
回溯1642年,第一屆哈佛大學的畢業(yè)典禮上一共只有九個畢業(yè)生,他們每一個人都被要求做演講,來捍衛(wèi)自己的畢業(yè)論文,無論用何種語言,拉丁語、希臘語,抑或是希伯來語。
而此次畢業(yè)典禮,哈佛大學2000多名畢業(yè)生中,只有3名學生才能扛起這樣的重任,也恰恰只有他們,不必再為自己的論文答辯。他們用自己的演講激勵所有2016年畢業(yè)的哈佛學子們,傳遞以鼓勵、建議和思想的結(jié)晶。其中一人用拉丁語做演講,另外兩人都用英語。
三位畢業(yè)生在哈佛大學Tercentenary Theatre舉行的的Morning Exercise中,以記憶為起點,向超過30000人分享他們的故事。
何江以一個被蜘蛛咬傷的經(jīng)歷,開始他的分享故事。在何江小的時候,有次被一只有毒的蜘蛛蟄到手,母親讓他咬上一支筷子,并用被白酒浸泡過的棉布纏在傷口上,然后點著了棉布來幫他治病。
在何江的此次演講中,提到了這段只來自于他的故鄉(xiāng)湖南的民間醫(yī)術(shù)的科學依據(jù)。然而,當年這種治療給他帶來的撕心裂肺的疼痛也敦促著他在未來的求學中,在生物化學領(lǐng)域不斷尋求更加現(xiàn)代化的治療方法。
何江畢業(yè)演講三連拍
從傳統(tǒng)農(nóng)村到哈佛大學
從偏遠地區(qū)的農(nóng)家子弟,到哈佛大學畢業(yè)生,何江的成長歷程頗為艱辛。他曾經(jīng)居住的小鎮(zhèn)直到九十年代才通電,而何江一家不僅始終點油燈來節(jié)省開支,更和鄰居們自己挖井打水喝。
“教育資源也是相當?shù)挠邢?。?何江這樣說道。他和他的哥哥每天要走90多分鐘才能翻山越嶺到達他們那個曾經(jīng)因暴雨而垮塌的簡陋的學校,甚至連那里的數(shù)學老師都是一個屠夫兼職的。那時候,何江從沒有想過自己會有機會來到哈佛這樣的學校學習。他從沒有出過他所在的村鎮(zhèn),更沒有用過電腦,直到2005年成為他們家族的第一位大學生。
已經(jīng)在哈佛大學獲得分子細胞生物學博士學位的何江最近已被麻省理工大學聘為博士后研究者,并在《細胞生物學》(The Journal of Cell Biology)、《實驗醫(yī)學》(The Journal of Experimental Medicine) 等多家學術(shù)期刊中發(fā)表研究成果。他在哈佛的研究著重于單分子成像技術(shù)以及這項技術(shù)在生物過程研究,尤其是病毒感染領(lǐng)域的應用。
更寬泛地說,何江希望把這項醫(yī)學領(lǐng)域的進步帶到依然欠發(fā)達的地區(qū),比如他的故鄉(xiāng)。他更希望畢業(yè)典禮上,在座的每一位即將成為科學家、成為醫(yī)生的畢業(yè)生,能和他有一樣的想法。
“我經(jīng)歷了從鄉(xiāng)野到現(xiàn)代化生活的巨大反差,更清楚地了解到知識和科技分布的不均衡性?!?何江說,“我們可以非常容易地通過分享和交流現(xiàn)代世界的知識給欠發(fā)達的地區(qū)來幫助在那里的人們,這就是一直激勵我寫下這篇演講稿并把這個理念傳遞給更多人的動力。我希望在這全新的航程的起點,能夠喚醒所有哈佛畢業(yè)生的初心?!?/p>
You see, the part of China I grew up in was a rural village, and at that time pre-industrial. When I was born, my village had no cars, no telephones, no electricity, not even running water. And we certainly didn’t have access to modern medical resources. There was no doctor my mother could bring me to see about my spider bite.
For those who study biology, you may have grasped the science behind my mom’s cure: heat deactivates proteins, and a spider’s venom is simply a form of protein. It’s cool how that folk remedy actually incorporates basic biochemistry, isn’t it?
在座的如果有生物背景的人,你們或許已經(jīng)理解到了我媽媽使用的這個簡單的治療手段的基本原理:高熱可以讓蛋白質(zhì)變性,而蜘蛛的毒液也是一種蛋白質(zhì)。這樣一種傳統(tǒng)的土方法實際上有它一定的理論依據(jù),想來也是挺有意思的。
But I am a PhD student in biochemistry at Harvard, I now know that better, less painful and less risky treatments existed. So I can’t help but ask myself, why I didn’t receive one at the time?
但是,作為哈佛大學生物化學的博士,我現(xiàn)在知道在我初中那個時候,已經(jīng)有更好的,沒有那么痛苦的,也沒有那么有風險的治療方法了。于是我便忍不住會問自己,為什么我在當時沒有能夠享用到這些更為先進的治療方法呢?
Fifteen years have passed since that incident. I am happy to report that my hand is fine. But this question lingers, and I continue to be troubled by the unequal distribution of scientific knowledge throughout the world. We have learned to edit the human genome and unlock many secrets of how cancer progresses. We can manipulate neuronal activity literally with the switch of a light. Each year brings more advances in biomedical research-exciting, transformative accomplishments.
蜘蛛咬傷的事故已經(jīng)過去大概十五年了。我非常高興的向在座的各位報告一下,我的手還是完好的。但是,我剛剛提到的這個問題這些年來一直停在我的腦海中,而我也時不時會因為先進科技知識在世界上不同地區(qū)的不平等分布而困擾?,F(xiàn)如今,我們?nèi)祟愐呀?jīng)學會怎么進行人類基因編輯了,也研究清楚了很多個癌癥發(fā)生發(fā)展的原因。我們甚至可以利用一束光來控制我們大腦內(nèi)神經(jīng)元的活動。每年生物醫(yī)學的研究都會給我們帶來不一樣突破和進步---其中有不少令人振奮,也極具革命顛覆性的成果。
Yet, despite the knowledge we have amassed, we haven’t been so successful in deploying it to where it’s needed most. According to the World Bank, twelve percent of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day. Malnutrition kills more than 3 million children annually. Three hundred million people are afflicted by malaria globally. All over the world, we constantly see these problems of poverty, illness, and lack of resources impeding the flow of scientific information. Lifesaving knowledge we take for granted in the modern world is often unavailable in these underdeveloped regions. And in far too many places, people are still essentially trying to cure a spider bite with fire.
然而,盡管我們?nèi)祟愐呀?jīng)在科研上有了無數(shù)的建樹,在怎樣把這些最前沿的科學研究帶到世界最需要該技術(shù)的地區(qū)這件事情上,我們有時做的差強人意。世界銀行的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,世界上大約有12%的人口每天的生活水平仍然低于2美元。營養(yǎng)不良每年導致三百萬兒童死亡。將近3億人口仍然受到瘧疾的干擾。在世界各地,我們經(jīng)常看到類似的由貧窮,疾病和自然匱乏導致的科學知識傳播的受阻。現(xiàn)代社會里習以為常的那些救生常識經(jīng)常在這些欠發(fā)達或不發(fā)達地區(qū)未能普及。于是,在世界上仍有很多地區(qū),人們只能依賴于用火療這一簡單粗暴的方式來治理蜘蛛咬傷事故。
While studying at Harvard, I saw how scientific knowledge can help others in simple, yet profound ways. The bird flu pandemic in the 2000s looked to my village like a spell cast by demons. Our folk medicine didn’t even have half-measures to offer. What’s more, farmers didn’t know the difference between common cold and flu; they didn’t understand that the flu was much more lethal than the common cold. Most people were also unaware that the virus could transmit across different species.
So when I realized that simple hygiene practices like separating different animal species could contain the spread of the disease, and that I could help make this knowledge available to my village, that was my first “Aha” moment as a budding scientist. But it was more than that: it was also a vital inflection point in my own ethical development, my own self-understanding as a member of the global community.
Harvard dares us to dream big, to aspire to change the world. Here on this Commencement Day, we are probably thinking of grand destinations and big adventures that await us. As for me, I am also thinking of the farmers in my village. My experience here reminds me how important it is for researchers to communicate our knowledge to those who need it. Because by using the science we already have, we could probably bring my village and thousands like it into the world you and I take for granted every day. And that’s an impact every one of us can make!
But the question is, will we make the effort or not?
More than ever before, our society emphasizes science and innovation. But an equally important emphasis should be on distributing the knowledge we have to where it’s needed. Changing the world doesn’t mean that everyone has to find the next big thing. It can be as simple as becoming better communicators, and finding more creative ways to pass on the knowledge we have to people like my mom and the farmers in their local community. Our society also needs to recognize that the equal distribution of knowledge is a pivotal step of human development, and work to bring this into reality.
And if we do that, then perhaps a teenager in rural China who is bitten by a spider will not have to burn his hand, but will know to seek a doctor instead.
如果我們能夠做到這些,或許,將來有一天,一個在農(nóng)村被毒蜘蛛咬傷的少年或許不用火療這樣粗暴的方法來治療傷口,而是去看醫(yī)生得到更為先進的醫(yī)療護理。
來源:綜合自外灘教育(ID:TBEducation)、問校友app、網(wǎng)絡
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