TED演讲：气味背后的科学(11)

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　　Because I got a phone call from our chief chemist and he said,  我接到我们的一位首席化学家打来电话，他说，

　　look, I've just found this such a beautiful reaction, that even if this compound doesn't smell of coumarin, I want to do it,  听着，我刚刚发现一个完美的反应，即使这个化合物闻起来不像香豆素，我也想用它，

　　it's just such a nifty, one step -- I mean, chemists have weird² minds -- one step, 90 percent yield,  它闻起来实在太棒了，只需要一步，我的意思是，化学家的头脑太古怪了，一步就可以得出90%的结果，

　　you know, and you get this lovely crystalline compound. Let us try it. 你就找到了这么美好的水晶般透明的化合物。我们来试一试。

　　And I said, well, first of all, let me do the calculation on that compound, bottom right,  然后我说，让我先计算一下那个化合物，右下角那个，

　　which is related to coumarin, but has an extra pentagon inserted into the molecule³.  它和香豆素有一定的关系，但是比香豆素的结构多了一个五边形。

　　Calculate the vibrations⁴, the purple spectrum⁵ is that new fellow, the white one is the old one.  计算它的震动频率，紫色的光谱代表的就是那个新发现的家伙，是以前的那个白色的部分。

　　And the prediction is it should smell of coumarin.  我们的预测是它闻起来应该和香豆素一样。

　　They made it...and it smelled exactly like coumarin.  他们成功了，这个物质闻起来的确和香豆素一模一样。

　　And this is our new baby, called tonkene.  这就是我们新的宝贝，叫做汤克恩。

　　You see, when you're a scientist, you're always selling ideas.  你们看，科学家出售的是想法。

　　And people are very resistant⁶ to ideas, and rightly so.  然而人们对新想法往往采取抵抗的态度，这也有一定道理。

　　Why should new ideas be accepted?  为什么要接受新的想法呢？

　　But when you put a little 10-gram vial on the table in front of perfumers and it smells like coumarin, and it isn't coumarin,  但是当你把一个10克的小瓶放在香水师面前的桌子上，它闻起来像香豆素却又不是香豆素，

　　and you've found it in three weeks, this focuses everybody's mind wonderfully, OK?  你用三个星期的时间找到了它，这迎合了每个人的心意。

　　And people often ask me, is your theory accepted?  人们经常问我，你的理论被人们接受了没有？

　　And I said, well, by whom?  我说，被谁接受？

　　I mean most, you know -- there's three attitudes: You're right, and I don't know why, which is the most rational one at this point.  我的意思是--对我的理论有三种态度：你是对的，虽然我不知道为什么，这个态度是最理性的。

　　You're right, and I don't care how you do it, in a sense;  你是对的。某种程度上来说我并不关心你是怎么做到的；

　　you bring me the molecules⁷, you know.  你给我分子就好。

　　And: You're completely wrong, and I'm sure you're completely wrong. 还有：就是你完全错了，我十分肯定是你完全错了。

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