Professor Facebook

　　教授們的Facebook

　　More connective tissue may make academiamore efficient

　　更多連接支持，涌動(dòng)更有效率的學(xué)術(shù)界

　　GIVEN journalists penchant for sticking the suffix gate onto anything they think smells ofconspiracy,

　　有鑒于記者們愛(ài)把見(jiàn)不得光的事件稱(chēng)為某某門(mén)。

　　a public-relations consultant might have suggested a different name.

　　有鑒于記者們愛(ài)把見(jiàn)不得光的事件稱(chēng)為某某門(mén)。

　　But ResearchGate, a small firm based in Berlin, is immune to such trivia.

　　如果研究之門(mén)公司雇傭公關(guān)顧問(wèn)的話，它可能會(huì)被建議換個(gè)名字。

　　It is ambitious, tooaiming to do for the academic world what Mark Zuckerberg did for theworld in general, by creating a social network for scientists.

　　不過(guò)這間柏林的小公司對(duì)這些瑣事可沒(méi)什么興趣。它和Facebook 一樣擁有雄偉壯志，旨在打造學(xué)術(shù)界的科學(xué)家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)，類(lèi)似于馬克扎克伯格所建立的風(fēng)靡大眾的Facebook。

　　And it is successful.

　　現(xiàn)在它成功了。

　　About 1.4m researchers have signedup already, and that number is growing by 50,000 a month.

　　大約有140萬(wàn)名研究人員已經(jīng)注冊(cè)了該網(wǎng)站，而且每個(gè)月還有五萬(wàn)名新增用戶。

　　Non-scientists might be surprised that such a network is needed.

　　普通民眾或許會(huì)對(duì)科學(xué)家如此需要此類(lèi)網(wǎng)站而感到吃驚。

　　After all, the internet was originally created mainly by academics for academics，

　　畢竟，起初因特網(wǎng)是大學(xué)教師們?yōu)榱舜髮W(xué)教師而創(chuàng)立的，

　　and Mr Zuckerberg s invention, Facebook, got its start on college campuses.

　　馬克扎克伯格的Facebook起步也是在大學(xué)校園。

　　But though the internet has speeded things up, it has not fundamentally changed howresearchers are connected.

　　縱然因特網(wǎng)提高了信息的流通速度，但它卻沒(méi)從根本上改變研究人員的聯(lián)系方式。

　　Academic communities are still pretty fragmented, frequently making it hard for scientiststo find others doing similar research.

　　學(xué)術(shù)界仍是非常碎片化，因此科學(xué)家們常常很難找到和自己做著類(lèi)似研究的人。

　　And results often are not shared across disciplines.

　　而且通常，他們的實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果都不能實(shí)現(xiàn)跨學(xué)科的交流。

　　To make things more efficient and interdisciplinary, ResearchGate wants to help theacademic world to grow more connective tissue, as Ijad Madisch, one of the firm sfounders, puts it.

　　研究之門(mén)公司的創(chuàng)始人之一，伊賈德馬迪士表示，為了讓科學(xué)研究變得更富有成效以及跨學(xué)科性，研究之門(mén)意欲促使學(xué)術(shù)界像結(jié)締組織那樣更具有支持連接功能。

　　As on Facebook, users create a profile page with biographical information, list their interestsand research skills, and join groups.

　　像在Facebook網(wǎng)站那樣，用戶在研究之門(mén)網(wǎng)站上可以創(chuàng)立一個(gè)個(gè)人信息頁(yè)，在上面填寫(xiě)傳記性的信息,羅列他們的興趣，研究技能以及所加入的小組。

　　They can see what others with similar interests are up to and post comments.

　　用戶可以查看那些和他們有著相似興趣的人最近的計(jì)劃，以及在對(duì)方的個(gè)人頁(yè)面發(fā)表評(píng)論。

　　They can also upload their papers and create invitation-only workgroups.

　　用戶還可以上傳自己的論文，和創(chuàng)立需要申請(qǐng)才能加入的工作小組。

　　The big question is whether ResearchGate will make enough money to keep its investorshappy.

　　現(xiàn)在最大的問(wèn)題是，研究之門(mén)能否賺取足夠的利潤(rùn)以滿足它的投資者。

　　So far, it is running on cash from Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital, two venturecapitalists based in Silicon Valley.

　　迄今為止，它的資本來(lái)源于加速合伙公司和基準(zhǔn)資本這兩家硅谷的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司。

　　A third firm is expected to join them soon.

　　不久之后，預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)有第三家公司加入投資。

　　But these people will want a return on their investment.

　　不管怎樣，這些投資者都想要投資回報(bào)。

　　Some of that may already have come from the Max Planck Society,

　　部分已有盈利可能來(lái)自于克思普朗克學(xué)會(huì)。

　　which runs many of Germany s best research campuses and had ResearchGate build it aprivate network.

　　這個(gè)學(xué)會(huì)掌控著德國(guó)大部分最好的研究型大學(xué)資源，同時(shí)，它也讓研究之門(mén)為自己創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)私人網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

　　Over the longer haul, the firm hopes to charge companies and universities for using it toadvertise jobs, and to operate a marketplace for laboratory materials.

　　經(jīng)過(guò)比較久的艱苦經(jīng)營(yíng)，研究之門(mén)希望能跟那些利用其網(wǎng)站平臺(tái)刊登職位供求廣告的公司或大學(xué)征收費(fèi)用。

　　It has no plans to post other advertising, though, nor to charge its users directly.

　　與此同時(shí)，研究之門(mén)計(jì)劃建立一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)室器材的市場(chǎng)。公司并沒(méi)有計(jì)劃向用戶發(fā)布其他廣告，而且也不計(jì)劃向用戶直接收取費(fèi)用。

　　At the moment, most of those users are in their 20s.

　　目前，網(wǎng)站的大多數(shù)用戶是20幾歲的年輕人。

　　Their favourite activity is to ask each other questions about practical research problems, fromDNA-sequencing techniques to statistical tricks.

　　他們最喜歡做的事就是向彼此詢問(wèn)一些有實(shí)用價(jià)值的研究問(wèn)題，從DNA測(cè)序技術(shù)到統(tǒng)計(jì)戲法之類(lèi)。

　　They are also busy reading each other s papers: more than 10m have been uploaded.

　　他們同樣忙于閱讀彼此的論文：有超過(guò)1000萬(wàn)的論文上載到研究之門(mén)。

　　The service certainly saves these young researchers trial and error, and therefore time andmoney.

　　很顯然，這項(xiàng)服務(wù)減少了這些年輕的研究者犯錯(cuò)誤以及做無(wú)效實(shí)驗(yàn)的次數(shù)，從而也節(jié)省了他們的時(shí)間與金錢(qián)。

　　They will probably also like a new feature ResearchGate is planning to introduce in April:

　　他們很有可能會(huì)喜歡研究之門(mén)計(jì)劃于四月份推出的新功能:

　　a feedback system which lets users rate each other s contributions. This would allow them tobuild a reputation other than by publishing papers.

　　讓用戶們互評(píng)貢獻(xiàn)的反饋系統(tǒng)。這個(gè)功能可以讓用戶找到除了發(fā)表論文之外，另一種可以建立自己聲譽(yù)的渠道。

　　Scientists whose reputations are established may be more hesitant, though,

　　那些享有聲譽(yù)的科學(xué)們也許會(huì)變得更猶豫不決。

　　and not just because they are set in their ways.

　　然而這并不僅僅是因?yàn)樗麄冇凶约阂惶讏?jiān)定的準(zhǔn)則。

　　Science is not only about collaboration but also about competition.

　　科學(xué)并不只有合作，更充滿競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

　　This limits what people are willing to share.

　　這就限制了人們?cè)敢夥窒淼臇|西范圍。

　　But Dr Madisch is optimistic.

　　但是迪福士博士對(duì)此持樂(lè)觀態(tài)度。

　　Those who have grown up with Facebook, he says, know that sharing will improve theirresearch.

　　他說(shuō)，那些伴隨著Facebook成長(zhǎng)的一代，意識(shí)到分享會(huì)對(duì)他們的研究有所提高。

　　And their older colleagues will eventually come aroundor retire.

　　而比他們年長(zhǎng)的那些同事會(huì)重歸此道，抑或退休。

　　詞語(yǔ)解釋

　　1.academia n.學(xué)術(shù)界，學(xué)術(shù)生活

　　Views on this subject vary in China s academia.

　　對(duì)此,目前學(xué)術(shù)界在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上存在一些不同的觀點(diǎn)。

　　2.conspiracy n.陰謀;共謀

　　He is a party to the conspiracy.

　　他參與了那次陰謀。

　　3.trivia n.瑣事;不重要的事情

　　She never immersed herself in that sort of trivia.

　　她從來(lái)不沉湎于往日瑣事。

　　4.invention n.發(fā)明;虛構(gòu);發(fā)明物

　　The invention of the computer marked the beginning of a new era.

　　計(jì)算機(jī)的發(fā)明標(biāo)志著一個(gè)新時(shí)代的開(kāi)始。

　　5.frequent a.頻繁的;經(jīng)常的

　　My girlfriend writes frequent letters to me.

　　我的女朋友頻繁地給我寫(xiě)信。

　　Professor Facebook

　　教授們的Facebook

　　More connective tissue may make academiamore efficient

　　更多連接支持，涌動(dòng)更有效率的學(xué)術(shù)界

　　GIVEN journalists penchant for sticking the suffix gate onto anything they think smells ofconspiracy,

　　有鑒于記者們愛(ài)把見(jiàn)不得光的事件稱(chēng)為某某門(mén)。

　　a public-relations consultant might have suggested a different name.

　　有鑒于記者們愛(ài)把見(jiàn)不得光的事件稱(chēng)為某某門(mén)。

　　But ResearchGate, a small firm based in Berlin, is immune to such trivia.

　　如果研究之門(mén)公司雇傭公關(guān)顧問(wèn)的話，它可能會(huì)被建議換個(gè)名字。

　　It is ambitious, tooaiming to do for the academic world what Mark Zuckerberg did for theworld in general, by creating a social network for scientists.

　　不過(guò)這間柏林的小公司對(duì)這些瑣事可沒(méi)什么興趣。它和Facebook 一樣擁有雄偉壯志，旨在打造學(xué)術(shù)界的科學(xué)家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)，類(lèi)似于馬克扎克伯格所建立的風(fēng)靡大眾的Facebook。

　　And it is successful.

　　現(xiàn)在它成功了。

　　About 1.4m researchers have signedup already, and that number is growing by 50,000 a month.

　　大約有140萬(wàn)名研究人員已經(jīng)注冊(cè)了該網(wǎng)站，而且每個(gè)月還有五萬(wàn)名新增用戶。

　　Non-scientists might be surprised that such a network is needed.

　　普通民眾或許會(huì)對(duì)科學(xué)家如此需要此類(lèi)網(wǎng)站而感到吃驚。

　　After all, the internet was originally created mainly by academics for academics，

　　畢竟，起初因特網(wǎng)是大學(xué)教師們?yōu)榱舜髮W(xué)教師而創(chuàng)立的，

　　and Mr Zuckerberg s invention, Facebook, got its start on college campuses.

　　馬克扎克伯格的Facebook起步也是在大學(xué)校園。

　　But though the internet has speeded things up, it has not fundamentally changed howresearchers are connected.

　　縱然因特網(wǎng)提高了信息的流通速度，但它卻沒(méi)從根本上改變研究人員的聯(lián)系方式。

　　Academic communities are still pretty fragmented, frequently making it hard for scientiststo find others doing similar research.

　　學(xué)術(shù)界仍是非常碎片化，因此科學(xué)家們常常很難找到和自己做著類(lèi)似研究的人。

　　And results often are not shared across disciplines.

　　而且通常，他們的實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果都不能實(shí)現(xiàn)跨學(xué)科的交流。

　　To make things more efficient and interdisciplinary, ResearchGate wants to help theacademic world to grow more connective tissue, as Ijad Madisch, one of the firm sfounders, puts it.

　　研究之門(mén)公司的創(chuàng)始人之一，伊賈德馬迪士表示，為了讓科學(xué)研究變得更富有成效以及跨學(xué)科性，研究之門(mén)意欲促使學(xué)術(shù)界像結(jié)締組織那樣更具有支持連接功能。

　　As on Facebook, users create a profile page with biographical information, list their interestsand research skills, and join groups.

　　像在Facebook網(wǎng)站那樣，用戶在研究之門(mén)網(wǎng)站上可以創(chuàng)立一個(gè)個(gè)人信息頁(yè)，在上面填寫(xiě)傳記性的信息,羅列他們的興趣，研究技能以及所加入的小組。

　　They can see what others with similar interests are up to and post comments.

　　用戶可以查看那些和他們有著相似興趣的人最近的計(jì)劃，以及在對(duì)方的個(gè)人頁(yè)面發(fā)表評(píng)論。

　　They can also upload their papers and create invitation-only workgroups.

　　用戶還可以上傳自己的論文，和創(chuàng)立需要申請(qǐng)才能加入的工作小組。

　　The big question is whether ResearchGate will make enough money to keep its investorshappy.

　　現(xiàn)在最大的問(wèn)題是，研究之門(mén)能否賺取足夠的利潤(rùn)以滿足它的投資者。

　　So far, it is running on cash from Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital, two venturecapitalists based in Silicon Valley.

　　迄今為止，它的資本來(lái)源于加速合伙公司和基準(zhǔn)資本這兩家硅谷的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司。

　　A third firm is expected to join them soon.

　　不久之后，預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)有第三家公司加入投資。

　　But these people will want a return on their investment.

　　不管怎樣，這些投資者都想要投資回報(bào)。

　　Some of that may already have come from the Max Planck Society,

　　部分已有盈利可能來(lái)自于克思普朗克學(xué)會(huì)。

　　which runs many of Germany s best research campuses and had ResearchGate build it aprivate network.

　　這個(gè)學(xué)會(huì)掌控著德國(guó)大部分最好的研究型大學(xué)資源，同時(shí)，它也讓研究之門(mén)為自己創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)私人網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

　　Over the longer haul, the firm hopes to charge companies and universities for using it toadvertise jobs, and to operate a marketplace for laboratory materials.

　　經(jīng)過(guò)比較久的艱苦經(jīng)營(yíng)，研究之門(mén)希望能跟那些利用其網(wǎng)站平臺(tái)刊登職位供求廣告的公司或大學(xué)征收費(fèi)用。

　　It has no plans to post other advertising, though, nor to charge its users directly.

　　與此同時(shí)，研究之門(mén)計(jì)劃建立一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)室器材的市場(chǎng)。公司并沒(méi)有計(jì)劃向用戶發(fā)布其他廣告，而且也不計(jì)劃向用戶直接收取費(fèi)用。

　　At the moment, most of those users are in their 20s.

　　目前，網(wǎng)站的大多數(shù)用戶是20幾歲的年輕人。

　　Their favourite activity is to ask each other questions about practical research problems, fromDNA-sequencing techniques to statistical tricks.

　　他們最喜歡做的事就是向彼此詢問(wèn)一些有實(shí)用價(jià)值的研究問(wèn)題，從DNA測(cè)序技術(shù)到統(tǒng)計(jì)戲法之類(lèi)。

　　They are also busy reading each other s papers: more than 10m have been uploaded.

　　他們同樣忙于閱讀彼此的論文：有超過(guò)1000萬(wàn)的論文上載到研究之門(mén)。

　　The service certainly saves these young researchers trial and error, and therefore time andmoney.

　　很顯然，這項(xiàng)服務(wù)減少了這些年輕的研究者犯錯(cuò)誤以及做無(wú)效實(shí)驗(yàn)的次數(shù)，從而也節(jié)省了他們的時(shí)間與金錢(qián)。

　　They will probably also like a new feature ResearchGate is planning to introduce in April:

　　他們很有可能會(huì)喜歡研究之門(mén)計(jì)劃于四月份推出的新功能:

　　a feedback system which lets users rate each other s contributions. This would allow them tobuild a reputation other than by publishing papers.

　　讓用戶們互評(píng)貢獻(xiàn)的反饋系統(tǒng)。這個(gè)功能可以讓用戶找到除了發(fā)表論文之外，另一種可以建立自己聲譽(yù)的渠道。

　　Scientists whose reputations are established may be more hesitant, though,

　　那些享有聲譽(yù)的科學(xué)們也許會(huì)變得更猶豫不決。

　　and not just because they are set in their ways.

　　然而這并不僅僅是因?yàn)樗麄冇凶约阂惶讏?jiān)定的準(zhǔn)則。

　　Science is not only about collaboration but also about competition.

　　科學(xué)并不只有合作，更充滿競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

　　This limits what people are willing to share.

　　這就限制了人們?cè)敢夥窒淼臇|西范圍。

　　But Dr Madisch is optimistic.

　　但是迪福士博士對(duì)此持樂(lè)觀態(tài)度。

　　Those who have grown up with Facebook, he says, know that sharing will improve theirresearch.

　　他說(shuō)，那些伴隨著Facebook成長(zhǎng)的一代，意識(shí)到分享會(huì)對(duì)他們的研究有所提高。

　　And their older colleagues will eventually come aroundor retire.

　　而比他們年長(zhǎng)的那些同事會(huì)重歸此道，抑或退休。

　　詞語(yǔ)解釋

　　1.academia n.學(xué)術(shù)界，學(xué)術(shù)生活

　　Views on this subject vary in China s academia.

　　對(duì)此,目前學(xué)術(shù)界在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上存在一些不同的觀點(diǎn)。

　　2.conspiracy n.陰謀;共謀

　　He is a party to the conspiracy.

　　他參與了那次陰謀。

　　3.trivia n.瑣事;不重要的事情

　　She never immersed herself in that sort of trivia.

　　她從來(lái)不沉湎于往日瑣事。

　　4.invention n.發(fā)明;虛構(gòu);發(fā)明物

　　The invention of the computer marked the beginning of a new era.

　　計(jì)算機(jī)的發(fā)明標(biāo)志著一個(gè)新時(shí)代的開(kāi)始。

　　5.frequent a.頻繁的;經(jīng)常的

　　My girlfriend writes frequent letters to me.

　　我的女朋友頻繁地給我寫(xiě)信。