VOICE ONE: 
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty. 
VOICE TWO: 
And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week – we tell about the Nobel Prizes. We also 
tell about the winners of the 2006 prizes in chemistry, physics and 
medicine. 
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VOICE ONE: 
The Nobel Prizes are presented each year on December 10. The Peace Prize is 
given in Oslo, Norway. The others are given in Stockholm, Sweden. 
December tenth is the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel. He died in 
1896. The Swedish engineer held legal rights to more than three hundred 
inventions. One is for the explosive dynamite. 
Alfred Nobel left nine million dollars to establish yearly prizes in his 
name. He said they should go to living people who have worked most effectively 
to improve human life. He said the physics and chemistry prizes should be given 
by the Swedish Academy of Sciences. He asked the Karolinska Institute in 
Stockholm to present the medical prizes. 
VOICE TWO: 
The first Nobel prizes were presented in 1901. Each award includes a gold 
medal and ten million Swedish kronor. Today, that is worth more 
than 1300,000 dollars. The money is shared if more than one person wins a 
prize. However, a prize may not be divided among more than three persons. 
Scientific groups in Sweden choose the winners from among those nominated by 
past winners and specially chosen university professors. How the choices are 
made is a secret among the committee members. The names of those nominated are 
not made public for fifty years. 
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VOICE ONE: 
The Karolinska Institute this year chose two Americans to share the Nobel 
Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Craig Mello is a professor at the University of 
Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. Andrew Fire is a 
professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, 
California. 
The scientists did their prize-winning work in the 1990s for the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington, D.C. At the time, the two men worked at laboratories 
in Baltimore, Maryland. They performed experiments with very small worms. They 
found they could control genes in the creatures with injections of specially 
designed ribonucleic acid, or RNA. 
VOICE TWO: 
All living cells need molecules of RNA and another chemical, called 
deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. DNA makes copies of itself for new cells. RNA 
makes other chemicals necessary for these cells. 
The RNA used in the experiments needed to possess two lists of genetic 
orders, or strands. The scientists found that this double-stranded RNA stopped 
the action of targeted genes within cells more effectively than other methods. 
This discovery of the way cells control individual genes is known as RNA 
interference, or RNAi. 
VOICE ONE: 
The discovery was made just eight years ago. That is considered very recent 
for a Nobel Prize. But scientists say the Nobel Committee probably recognized 
the work so quickly because it changed the science of genetics. They say 
Professors Fire and Mello opened up a whole new area of research. 
Later experiments showed that RNAi is present in cells of nearly all 
organisms. Scientists have begun working on ways to use it to get cells to 
control genes responsible for causing diseases. The discovery already is being 
used to develop possible treatments for diseases such as macular degeneration 
and hepatitis. 
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VOICE TWO: 
Two Americans are the winners of the 2006 Nobel Prize for physics. John 
Mather and George Smoot won for producing what scientists say is the strongest 
evidence yet that the universe began with a great explosion. The two men are 
being honored for their work with the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite, or 
COBE. 
The American space agency launched the satellite into Earth's orbit in 1989. 
An instrument on COBE was designed to receive energy waves from the first big 
explosion, also known as the Big Bang. It measured the temperature of the energy 
waves. The measurements confirmed the main idea of the Big Bang theory -- that 
the explosion created a huge number of microwaves that have continued to expand 
and cool. 
VOICE ONE: 
John Mather is an unusual Nobel Prize winner because he works for the United 
States government. He is a top scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, NASA. He was the main investigator in developing the COBE 
satellite. George Smoot works at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in Berkeley, 
California. He led the team that studied the information provided by the 
satellite. 
Mr. Mather explained their work by calling it an attempt to solve the mystery 
of the beginning of the universe. He said COBE found small amounts of the 
earliest moment of time. Scientists have used the findings to estimate the age 
of the universe as more than 13 thousand million years old. 
The chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee for Physics said the two Americans 
did not prove the Big Bang theory, but gave it very strong support. Per Carlson 
called their work one of the greatest discoveries of the century. He said it 
increases our knowledge of our place in the universe. 
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VOICE TWO: 
Still another American won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Roger Kornberg 
is being honored for his work in genetic research. The Nobel Prize committee 
said he showed how information in the nucleus of genes is copied and moved to 
other parts of a cell. The committee said he was the first to show pictures of 
this process taking place. 
The process involves copying information from a cell's DNA into what is 
called messenger RNA. The messenger RNA then moves the information from the 
nucleus to other areas of the cell where it builds proteins that control cell 
action. 
Scientists say this "transcription" is what keeps living things alive. Any 
interference causes cancer, heart disease or other disorders. 
VOICE ONE: 
Roger Kornberg told the New York Times newspaper that his work has influenced 
the development of drugs and treatments for medical conditions. He said 
understanding transcription is central to research into using stem cells to cure 
diseases like diabetes. 
Professor Kornberg works at Stanford University School of Medicine in 
California. Reports say he is the sixth Nobel Prize winner to have a father who 
also won a Nobel. Arthur Kornberg shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1959, 
also for work in genetics. He and Severo Ochoa were honored for discovering how 
cells produce DNA. 
Roger Kornberg said he clearly remembers visiting Stockholm when he was 
twelve years old to see his father receive the Nobel Prize. And he expressed 
happiness that he can take his family there for the ceremonies this year. 
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VOICE TWO: 
It must be noted that Americans won all the scientific Nobel Prizes this 
year. An Associated News report says Nobel officials were not surprised. The 
permanent secretary for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences reportedly said 
the United States is leading Europe in scientific research. Gunnar Oquist also 
said European governments are not providing scientists with the money they need 
to carry out good research. 
Other Nobel Prize committee members said money to pay for research is 
extremely important to producing good scientific work. Anders Liljas is a member 
of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. He reportedly said American universities 
often have more creative environments than those in other countries. He said 
American scientists talk to each other a lot instead of working separately. 
VOICE ONE: 
This is not the first time that Americans have won the Nobel Prizes in 
medicine, physics and chemistry all in the same year. 
In 1983, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar and William Fowler shared the physics 
prize for increasing the understanding of the universe. Henry Taube won the 
chemistry prize for work on electron transfer reactions. And, Barbara McClintock 
won the medicine prize for discoveries in genetics. 
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VOICE TWO: 
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach. Brianna Blake was our 
producer. I'm Faith Lapidus. 
VOICE ONE: 
And I'm Bob Doughty.  Join us again next week for more news about science in Special 
English on the Voice of America.
(來源:VOA  
英語點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯)