英语学习笔记 | 高考阅读 04

对于大多数人来说，Rosalind Elsie Franklin应该是一个十分陌生的名字，但她确是DNA双螺旋结构的最初发现者，只因为身为女性而无缘诺贝尔奖，被称为DNA背后的黑暗女王，她拍摄的“51号照片”在初中和高中课本中都有出现。限于篇幅，文章无法尽述她精彩的一生，如果有兴趣可以通过网络进一步了解。

Four people in England, back in 1953, stared at Photo 51. It wasn't much — a picture showing a black X. But three of these people won the Nobel prize for figuring out what the photo really showed — the shape of DNA. The discovery brought fame and fortune to scientists James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Willkins. The fourth, the one who actually made the picture, was left out.

won /win为主句谓语，for figuring out为介词短语作状语，what引导的从句作figuring out的宾语。win...for...表示“因…而赢得…”；但这些人当中有三位因为发现了照片显示的真正内容，即DNA的形态，而赢得了诺贝尔奖。back在此处表示“以前;追溯到”，用于强调事情发生的时间或强调事情发生在很久以前；如John was in Beijing back in February of this year. 今年二月份约翰在北京。She started to study English a few years back. 几年前，她开始学习英语。stare at 凝视，盯着看；much作名词表示“重要的或了不起的东西”；figure out表示“理解；弄清楚”；They are trying to figure out how to start the equipment. 他们正试图搞清楚如何启动这台设备。fortune运气；财富；leave out忽略；不包括。

Her name was Rosalind Franklin. “She should have been up there,” says historian Mary Bowden. “If her photo hadn't been there, the others couldn't have come up with the structure. ” One reason Franklin was missing was that she had died of cancer four years before the Nobel decision. But now scholars doubt that Franklin was not only robbed of her life by disease but robbed of credit by her competitors.

表示与过去事实相反的虚拟语气：主句谓语动词用would / should / could / might have 过去分词，从句谓语动词用had 过去分词；should have been /couldn't have come up with /hadn't been即为此用法；如果没有Rosalind Franklin的照片，其他三个人就不可能想出DNA的结构；come up with想出；提出；missing丢失的；缺少的；遗漏的；die of通常表示死于自身原因，如疾病；年老；饥饿等；die from通常表示死于外部因素，如事故；灾难；损伤等。rob表示“抢劫；掠夺”，它的直接宾语是人不是物，somebody is robbed of something表示某人被抢走某物；credit 荣誉；功劳。Rosalind Franklin不仅被疾病夺去生命，而且被竞争者夺去荣誉和功劳。

At Cambridge University in the 1950s, Watson and Crick tried to make models by cutting up shapes of DNA's parts and then putting them together. In the meantime, at King's College in London, Franklin and Wilkins shone X-rays at the molecule (分子). The rays produced patterns reflecting the shape.

cut up有“切碎”的意思，这里指“分割”；in the meantime同时；shone /shine“用...照射”；ray光线；射线。

But Wilkins and Franklin's relationship was a lot rockier than the celebrated teamwork of Watson and Crick. Wilkins thought Franklin was hired to be his assistant. But the college actually employed her to take over the DNA project.

rocky这里指（关系）不稳定；a lot修饰比较级rockier；celebrated著名的；teamwork n. (集体的)配合，合作；was fired为被动语态“被雇用”；take over 接收，接管；project项目；课题。

What she did was to produce X-ray pictures that told Watson and Crick that one of their early models was inside out. And she was not shy about saying so. That angered Watson, who attacked her in return. “Mere inspection suggested that she would not easily bend. Clearly she had to go or be put in her place. ”

What引导主语从句，第一个that引导定语从句，修饰pictures，第二个that引导宾语从句，作told的宾语。inside out表示“把里外弄反”，又如upside down“上下颠倒”。她所做的就是制作出X光照片，向沃特森和克里克表明，他们早期的模型有误，把里外弄反了。bend此处指屈从；不情愿的服从；be shy about doing表示“不羞于做某事；无所顾忌地做某事”；anger使发怒；激怒；in return作为回报；mere只不过；仅仅；极小的；微不足道的；inspection检查；put sb in his or her place表示贬低某人或降低某人的地位。

As Franklin's competitors, Wilkins, Watson and Crick had much to gain by cutting her out of the little group of researchers, says historian Pnina Abir-Am. In 1962 at the Nobel prize awarding ceremony, Wilkins thanked 13 colleagues by name before he mentioned Franklin. Watson wrote his book laughing at her. Crick wrote in 1974 that “Franklin was only two steps away from the solution. ”

awarding ceremony颁奖典礼；colleague /'kɒliːg/ 同事；solution解决方案；答案。

No, Franklin was the solution. “She contributed more than any other player to solving the structure of DNA. She must be considered a co-discoverer,” Abir-Am says. This was backed up by Aaron Klug, who worked with Franklin and later won a Nobel Prize himself. Once described as the “Dark Lady of DNA”, Franklin is finally coming into the light.

contribute /kən'trɪbjuːt/ 贡献；co-discoverer共同发现者；back up支持；证实；dark有神秘的；隐秘的的意思，Dark Lady表示Franklin才是不为人知的DNA双螺旋结构的真正发现者；come into the light为人所知。

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