环球英语 — 263：Nobel and Ig Nobel Awards

　　Voice 1

Welcome to Spotlight 1. I’m Joshua Leo.

Voice 2

And I’m Ruby 2 Jones. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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‘The Nobel Peace Prize for 2008 goes to Martti Ahtisaari. The prize is for his important efforts to bring peace to international conflicts. He has done this on several continents for more than thirty years. His efforts have helped to create a more peaceful world. He has demonstrated peaceful ways to reduce conflict between nations.’

Voice 1

This was the announcement for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2008. The prize is named after Alfred Nobel. You may remember a Spotlight programme about Nobel. When he died, he wanted all his money to be used for special prizes. The prizes honour people who have served humanity in different ways. Peacemakers, scientists, writers and economists 3 receive prizes for great achievements in their work.

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The Nobel Prize ceremonies take place each year on December the 10th. In 2008, each Nobel prize is worth 1.3 million [1,300,000] dollars. The Nobel judges said why they chose Martti Ahtisaari for the Peace Prize. It was because of his work as a mediator 4. Being a mediator meant that Martti Ahtisaari would go to conflict areas in the world. There, he would help the opposing sides to reach peaceful agreements.

Voice 1

Martti Ahtisaari was once the President of Finland. He had also worked for the United Nations. The UN sent Ahtisaari to Namibia. There he helped to negotiate the African country’s independence. He has also helped prevent conflicts in Indonesia and worked very hard to find a solution to the conflict in Kosovo. But Martti Ahtisaari says he is not the only person who deserves the Nobel Prize. He says,

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‘I am not the only person who can do what I have done. But very often people do not get the chance to do what I have been given to do. Also, I work with people who are very good at what they do. It is not a job for only one man.’

Voice 2

Marrti Ahtisaari now hopes that the prize will encourage support for his work. In the year 2000, he set up an organisation 5 called the Crisis Management Initiative, or CMI. CMI helps in managing areas suffering from conflict. It works to bring opposing groups together. They can then negotiate - to try and prevent more conflict. Marrti Ahtisaari says,

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‘There are a number of people in conflict areas who have turned to us. But much depends on money. We must do studies before we decide to help. We ask "Are we the right organisation to do the work?" We should never jump to every request that we receive. I think we have to say no to more requests than we accept.’

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Judges award Nobel Prizes in six subjects. These are Peace, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Economics and Literature.

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This year’s prize for medicine was divided between three winners. Two of these scientists were the first people to discover the virus that causes AIDS - HIV. They are Fran?oise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier. They discovered the cause of AIDS in 1983.

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Both scientists are from France. Jean-Fran?ois Delfraissy is the president of the group in charge of AIDS research in that country. He said,

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‘This award comes at just the right time. It will encourage young people to attempt to solve many of the remaining problems. These include developing a vaccine 6 to protect against the disease... and developing new treatments.’

Voice 2

The Nobel prizes honour people who have served humanity in their work. But there is also another prize that honours a different kind of achievement. The winners are people who do not deserve a Nobel. Instead, they receive an Ig Nobel. The Ig Nobels are given for achievements that “make people laugh, and then make them think”. They are a fun look at some of the work done in the past year. The name 'Ig Nobel' is a language joke, a pun. 'Nobel' sounds like the English word 'noble' - meaning 'very honoured'. And Ig Nobel sounds like 'ignoble 7 ' meaning the opposite of noble - that is, 'not honoured'.

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People receive Ig Nobels for similar subjects to the Nobel Prizes. So, this year’s Ig Nobel Peace Prize went to a group from Switzerland. They decided 8 that plants have dignity - they deserve our honour and respect.

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The Ig Nobels also awarded a prize for biology. The judges gave it to a group from France. Their research concerned fleas 9 - very small insects that live on the skin of animals. They showed that the fleas that live on a dog can jump higher than the fleas that live on a cat.

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The Ig Nobel judges gave the award for physics to a group from the United States. They proved that rope or hair always becomes tangled 10 - it always becomes tied in knots.

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Knowing how things become tied in knots may seem like a useless thing to research. But one of the men who did the research does not think so. Douglas Smith said,

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‘The way knots form is important in many subjects. For example, knots often form in DNA 11 - the molecule 12 that carries genetic 13 information. DNA is long and shaped like rope. Human cells contain chemicals that undo 14 any knots in the DNA. Some anti-cancer drugs stop cancer cells increasing. They do this by letting its DNA form knots.’

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So, something that sounded useless, could be very useful. Scientist never know exactly how useful scientific research will be. But Douglas Smith thinks his project could encourage other people to get involved in science.

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‘Even today, there are still interesting scientific problems that can be studied at home. You can use low-cost objects bought in a store. The most important thing is to be interested in learning about people or things around you. And you must ask good questions.’

Voice 1

The Nobels and Ig Nobels seem like very different prizes. But this year’s winners do have something in common. They were all interested in the world around them. Then they asked why. Why are these two countries at war? Why do people get AIDS? Why does hair always become knotted - and why does it matter? Thanks to the Nobel and Ig Nobel winners, we come closer to solving some of life's difficult problems.