The Spider’s Bite　我被蜘蛛咬傷的故事

何江　黃文君

When I was in middle school， a poisonous spider bit my right hand. I ran to my mom for help， but instead of taking me to a doctor， my mom set my hand on fire. After wrapping my hand with several layers of cotton， then soaking in wine， she put a chopstick into my mouth and ignited the cotton. Heat quickly penetrated the cotton and began to roast my hand. The searing pain made me want to scream， but the chopstick prevented it. All I could do was watch my hand burn—one minute， then two minutes—until my mom put out the fire.

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 didnt have access to modern medical resources. There was no doctor my mom could bring me to see about the spider bite.

For those who study biology， you may have grasped the science behind my moms cure—heat deactivates proteins and a spiders venom is simply a form of protein. Its cool how that folk remedy actually incorporates basics about chemistry， isnt it？ But I am a Ph.D. student in biochemistry at Harvard. I now know that better， less painful and less risky treatments existed. So I cant help but ask myself why I didnt receive one at the time.

Fifteen years have passed since that incident. Im 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. Weve learnt to edit the human genome and unlock many secrets of how cancer progresses. We can manipulate neural activity literally with a switch of light. Each year brings more advances in biomedical research—exciting transformative accomplishments. Yet， despite the knowledge weve amassed， we havent been so successful in deploying it to where it is needed most. According to the World Bank， 12 percent of the world population lives on less than $2 a day. Malnutrition kills more than 3 million children annually. 300 million people are afflicted by malaria globally. All over the world， we constantly see these problems of poverty， illness and a lack of resources impeding the flow of scientific information. Life-saving knowledge we take for granted in our modern world is often unavailable in these underdeveloped regions. And so， in far too many places， people are still essentially trying to cure a spider bite with fire.

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 spell cast by demons. Our folk medicine didnt even have half measures to offer. Whats more， famers didnt know the difference between common cold and flu. They didnt understand that the flu was much more lethal than common cold.

Most of them were also unaware that the virus could transmit across different animal species. So when I realized that simple hygiene practices like separating different animal species could help contain the spread of this disease and that I could help make this knowledge available to my village， that was my first “ah-ha” moment as a budding scientist. But it was more than that. It was also a vital inflection point of 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， were probably thinking of the grand destinations and big adventures that await us. As for me， Im 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 thats 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 those who need it. Changing the world doesnt mean 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 farmers in the local community.

Our society also needs to recognize that the equal distribution of knowledge is a pivotal step of human development. And well work to bring this into reality. And if we do that， then perhaps a teenager in rural China who is bitten by a poisonous spider will no longer have to burn his hand， but will know to seek a doctor instead.

我讀中學(xué)的時(shí)候，被一只毒蜘蛛咬傷了右手。我跑去向媽媽求助，但她并沒(méi)有帶我去看醫(yī)生，而是在我手上點(diǎn)火。她在我的手上纏了幾層棉布，把它們用酒浸泡后，讓我咬住一根筷子，同時(shí)點(diǎn)燃了棉布。熱浪飛快地穿透棉布，開(kāi)始炙烤我的右手。灼熱的劇痛讓我想哇哇大叫，但是口中的筷子阻止我出聲。我只好眼睜睜地看著右手被火灼燒著——一分鐘，兩分鐘，直到我媽媽將火熄滅。

你能看出，我長(zhǎng)大的地方是中國(guó)的農(nóng)村，那個(gè)時(shí)候，我的家鄉(xiāng)還處在前工業(yè)化時(shí)代。我出生的時(shí)候，我們村沒(méi)有汽車(chē)，沒(méi)通電話，沒(méi)有電，甚至連自來(lái)水都沒(méi)有。更不用說(shuō)，我們沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)接觸到現(xiàn)代的醫(yī)療資源。我被蜘蛛咬傷的時(shí)候，我媽媽都找不到一個(gè)醫(yī)生為我處理傷口。

在座各位如果有生物研究背景的話，或許已經(jīng)理解到我媽媽的治療手法隱藏著科學(xué)依據(jù)——高熱能讓蛋白質(zhì)失活，而蜘蛛的毒素只是一種形式的蛋白質(zhì)。當(dāng)你想到這種土方法實(shí)際上包含了化學(xué)的基本原理時(shí)，是不是還覺(jué)得挺酷的？但是，我已經(jīng)是哈佛大學(xué)生物化學(xué)專業(yè)的博士了，我現(xiàn)在知道了治療咬傷其實(shí)有更好的、讓人免遭巨大痛苦和風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的療法。所以，我忍不住問(wèn)自己，為什么當(dāng)初我就不能接受一次這樣的治療呢？

我被蜘蛛咬傷的事件已經(jīng)過(guò)去了15年之久。我很高興地向在座的各位報(bào)告一下，我的手現(xiàn)在沒(méi)什么事兒。但是這個(gè)問(wèn)題一直在我腦海中揮之不去，我繼續(xù)被科學(xué)知識(shí)在全球范圍內(nèi)不平等傳播的事實(shí)所困擾。我們已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)了如何編輯人類的基因，如何解鎖癌癥演化的一系列秘密。我們已經(jīng)能用一束光控制大腦神經(jīng)元的活動(dòng)。每一年，生物醫(yī)藥領(lǐng)域都在進(jìn)步——令人振奮、充滿顛覆性的成就不斷涌現(xiàn)。然而，盡管我們的知識(shí)不斷累進(jìn)，我們?nèi)匀徊荒艹晒Φ貙⑵鋺?yīng)用到需求最迫切的地方。根據(jù)世界銀行的統(tǒng)計(jì)，世界上還有12%的人口每天的生活費(fèi)用不足兩美元。每年超過(guò)300萬(wàn)兒童會(huì)死于營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良，還有3億的地球人口受到瘧疾的折磨。在全球范圍內(nèi)，我們不斷地看到貧困、疾病和資源缺失的問(wèn)題阻礙著科學(xué)信息的流動(dòng)。那些我們?cè)诂F(xiàn)代社會(huì)認(rèn)為理所當(dāng)然的、可以拯救生命的知識(shí)在欠發(fā)達(dá)地區(qū)往往難以獲取。正因如此，目前為止在世界上太多的地方，人們基本上還是在用火燒的辦法治療蜘蛛的咬傷。

在哈佛的學(xué)習(xí)期間，我看到了科學(xué)知識(shí)如何以一種簡(jiǎn)單但是深刻的方法幫助他人。本世紀(jì)初，禽流感對(duì)我們村的村民來(lái)說(shuō)，如同惡魔施加的詛咒。我們當(dāng)?shù)赝玲t(yī)一點(diǎn)兒法子都沒(méi)有。農(nóng)民們甚至無(wú)法區(qū)分普通感冒和流感。他們不明白流感其實(shí)比普通感冒更具有致命性。

他們中的大部分人也不知道感冒病毒可以在不同的物種之間傳播。因此，當(dāng)我意識(shí)到，簡(jiǎn)單的衛(wèi)生措施——譬如把不同種動(dòng)物分隔開(kāi)來(lái)——就可以抑制這些疾病的傳播，并且我可以把這樣的知識(shí)帶給我們村莊的時(shí)候，我作為嶄露頭角的科學(xué)家遇到了第一個(gè)頓悟時(shí)刻。但是它的意義不僅僅局限于此，這是我自身品德培養(yǎng)以及我理解自己作為國(guó)際社區(qū)成員責(zé)任的關(guān)鍵轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)。

哈佛讓我們敢于擁抱大的夢(mèng)想，渴望改變世界。在畢業(yè)典禮這樣特殊的日子，我們可能暢想到的都是偉大的終點(diǎn)和等待我們的巨大冒險(xiǎn)。對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，我也會(huì)想到我們村莊的農(nóng)民。我自己的經(jīng)歷在提醒我，對(duì)于研究者來(lái)說(shuō)，將我們的知識(shí)傳遞給那些真正需要它們的人是多么重要。因?yàn)橥ㄟ^(guò)應(yīng)用我們已經(jīng)擁有的科學(xué)知識(shí)，我們也許就能夠把我的家鄉(xiāng)，以及千萬(wàn)萬(wàn)萬(wàn)個(gè)同樣的村莊帶入到這個(gè)我們認(rèn)為理所當(dāng)然的世界中來(lái)。并且，這是一種我們每個(gè)人都力所能及的改變。

但問(wèn)題是：我們要不要去努力呢？

我們的社會(huì)比以往何時(shí)都更加強(qiáng)調(diào)科學(xué)和創(chuàng)新。但是同樣需要被強(qiáng)調(diào)的，就是如何把我們所擁有的知識(shí)傳遞給需要它們的人。改變世界不意味著每一個(gè)人都必須找到下一個(gè)重大突破，它可以十分簡(jiǎn)單，簡(jiǎn)單到成為一個(gè)更好的交流者，打磨更加具有創(chuàng)意的方法，把知識(shí)傳遞給像我媽媽和我故鄉(xiāng)農(nóng)民們一樣的人。

我們的社會(huì)也需要認(rèn)識(shí)到知識(shí)的平等傳播是人類進(jìn)步的關(guān)鍵一步。我們要努力把這一愿景轉(zhuǎn)化為現(xiàn)實(shí)。如果我們真的這樣做了，那么以后，一個(gè)中國(guó)的鄉(xiāng)村少年被毒蜘蛛咬傷了以后，就再也不用受火療的罪，而是知道去看醫(yī)生了。

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>