从失败中吸取经验获得成功的演讲稿

The Spider’s Bite
When I was in middle school, a poisonous spider bit my right hand. I ran to my
mom for help—but instead of taking me to a doctor, my mom set my hand onfire.
After wrapping my hand with several layers of cotton, then soaking it in
wine,she put a chopstick into my mouth, and ignited the cotton. Heat quickly
penetrated the cotton and began to roast my hand. The searing pain made me
want to scream, but the chopstick prevented it. All I could do was watch my
handburn - one minute, then two minutes –until mom put out the fire.
You see, the part of China I grew up in was a rural village, and at thattime
pre- industrial. When I was born, my village had no cars, no telephones, noelectricity,
not even running water. And we certainly didn’t have access tomodern medical
resources. There was no doctor my mother could bring me to seeabout my spider
bite.
For those who study biology, you may have grasped the science behind my
mom’scure: heat deactivates proteins, and a spider’s venom is simply a form
ofprotein. It’s cool how that folk remedy actually incorporates basicbiochemistry,
isn’t it? But I am a PhD student in biochemistry at Harvard, Inow know that better,
less painful and less risky treatments existed. So I can’thelp but ask myself, why I
didn’t receive one at the time?
Fifteen years have passed since that incident. I am happy to report thatmy
hand is fine. But this question lingers, and I continue to be troubled bythe unequal

distribution of scientific knowledge throughout the world. We havelearned to edit
the human genome and unlock many secrets of how cancerprogresses. We can
manipulate neuronal activity literally with the switch of alight. Each year brings
more advances in biomedical research- exciting,transformative accomplishments.
Yet, despite the knowledge we have amassed, wehaven’t been so successful in
deploying it to where it’s needed most. Accordingto the World Bank, twelve
percent of the world’s population lives on less than$$2 a day. Malnutrition kills
more than 3 million children annually. Threehundred million people are afflicted by
malaria globally. All over the world,we constantly see these problems of poverty,
illness, and lack of resourcesimpeding the flow of scientific information. Lifesaving
knowledge we take forgranted in the modern world is often unavailable in these
underdeveloped regions. And in far too many places, people are stillessentially
trying to cure a spider bite with fire.
While studying at Harvard, I saw how scientific knowledge can help othersin
simple, yet profound ways. The bird flu pandemic in the 2000s looked to myvillage
like a spell cast by demons. Our folk medicine didn’t even havehalf-measures to
offer. What’s more, farmers didn’t know the difference betweencommon cold and
flu; they didn’t understand that the flu was much more lethalthan the common
cold. Most people were also unaware that the virus couldtransmit across different
species.
So when I realized that simple hygiene practices like separatingdifferent animal
species could contain the spread of the disease, and that Icould help make this

knowledge available to my village, that was my first “Aha”moment as a budding
scientist. But it was more than that: it was also a vitalinflection point in my own
ethical development, my own self-understanding as amember of the global
community.
Harvard dares us to dreambig, to aspire to change the world. Here on this
Commencement Day, we areprobably thinking of grand destinations and big
adventures that await us. Asfor me, I am also thinking of the farmers in my village.
My experience herereminds me how important it is for researchers to communicate
our knowledge to thosewho need it. Because by using the science we already have,
we could probablybring my village and thousands like it into the world you and I
take forgranted every day. And that’s an impact every one of us can make!
But the question is, will wemake the effort or not?
More than ever before, oursociety emphasizes science and innovation. But an
equally important emphasisshould be on distributing the knowledge we have to
where it’s needed. Changingthe world doesn’t mean that everyone has to find the
next big thing. It can beas simple as becoming better communicators, and finding
more creative ways topass on the knowledge we have to people like my mom and
the farmers in theirlocal community. Our society also needs to recognize that the
equaldistribution of knowledge is a pivotal step of human development, and work
tobring this into reality.
And if we do that, then perhaps a teenager in rural China who is bittenby a
spider will not have to burn his hand, but will know to seek a doctorinstead.

蜘蛛咬伤轶事
在我读初中的时候， 有一次，一只毒蜘蛛咬伤了我的右手。我问我妈妈该怎么处理---
我妈妈并没有带我去看医生，她而是 决定用火疗的方法治疗我的伤口。
她在我的手上包了好几层棉花，棉花上喷撒了白酒，在我的嘴里 放了一双筷子，然后打
火点燃了棉花。热量逐渐渗透过棉花，开始炙烤我的右手。灼烧的疼痛让我忍不住 想喊叫，
可嘴里的筷子却让我发不出声来。我只能看着我的手被火烧着，一分钟，两分钟，直到妈妈熄灭了火苗。
你看，我在中国的农村长大，在那个时候，我的村庄还是一个类似前工业时代的 传统村
落。在我出生的时候，我的村子里面没有汽车，没有电话，没有电，甚至也没有自来水。我
们自然不能轻易的获得先进的现代医疗资源。那个时候也没有一个合适的医生可以来帮我处
理蜘蛛咬伤 的伤口。
在座的如果有生物背景的人，你们或许已经理解到了我妈妈使用的这个简单的治疗手段< br>的基本原理：高热可以让蛋白质变性，而蜘蛛的毒液也是一种蛋白质。这样一种传统的土方
法实际 上有它一定的理论依据，想来也是挺有意思的。但是，作为哈佛大学生物化学的博士，
我现在知道在我初 中那个时候，已经有更好的，没有那么痛苦的，也没有那么有风险的治疗
方法了。于是我便忍不住会问自 己，为什么我在当时没有能够享用到这些更为先进的治疗方
法呢?
蜘蛛咬伤的事故已经过 去大概十五年了。我非常高兴的向在座的各位报告一下，我的手
还是完好的。但是，我刚刚提到的这个问 题这些年来一直停在我的脑海中，而我也时不时会
因为先进科技知识在世界上不同地区的不平等分布而困 扰。现如今，我们人类已经学会怎么
进行人类基因编辑了，也研究清楚了很多个癌症发生发展的原因。我 们甚至可以利用一束光

来控制我们大脑内神经元的活动。每年生物医学的研究都会给我们 带来不一样突破和进步
---其中有不少令人振奋，也极具革命颠覆性的成果。然而，尽管我们人类已经 在科研上有
了无数的建树，在怎样把这些最前沿的科学研究带到世界最需要该技术的地区这件事情上，< br>我们有时做的差强人意。世界银行的数据显示，世界上大约有12%的人口每天的生活水平
仍然低 于2美元。营养不良每年导致三百万儿童死亡。将近3亿人口仍然受到疟疾的干扰。
在世界各地，我们经 常看到类似的由贫穷，疾病和自然匮乏导致的科学知识传播的受阻。现
代社会里习以为常的那些救生常识 经常在这些欠发达或不发达地区未能普及。于是，在世界
上仍有很多地区，人们只能依赖于用火疗这一简 单粗暴的方式来治理蜘蛛咬伤事故。
在哈佛读书期间，我有切身体会到先进的科技知识能够既简单 又深远的帮助到社会上很
多的人。本世纪初的时候，禽流感在亚洲多个国家肆虐。那个时候，村庄里的农 民听到禽流
感就像听到恶魔施咒一样，对其特别的恐惧。乡村的土医疗方法对这样一个疾病也是束手无< br>策。农民对于普通感冒和流感的区别并不是很清楚，他们并不懂得流感比普通感冒可能更加
致命。 而且，大部分人对于科学家所发现的流感病毒能够跨不同物种传播这一事实并不清楚。
于是，在我 意识到这些知识背景，及简单的将受感染的不同物种隔离开来以减缓疾病传
播，并决定将这些知识传递到 我的村庄时，我的心里第一次有了一种作为未来科学家的使命
感。但这种使命感不只停在知识层面，它也 是我个人道德发展的重要转折点，我自我理解的
作为国际社会一员的责任感。
哈佛的教育 教会我们学生敢于拥有自己的梦想，勇于立志改变世界。在毕业典礼这样一
个特别的日子，我们在座的毕 业生都会畅想我们未来的伟大征程和冒险。对我而言，我在此
刻不可避免的还会想到我的家乡。我成长的 经历教会了我作为一个科学家，积极的将我们所
会的知识传递给那些急需这些知识的人是多么的重要。因 为利用那些我们已经拥有的科技知
识，我们能够轻而易举的帮助我的家乡，还有千千万万类似的村庄，让 他们生活的世界变成

一个我们现代社会看起来习以为常的场所，而这样一件事，是我们每 一个毕业生都能够做的，
也力所能及能够做到的。
但问题是，我们愿意来做这样的努力吗?
比以往任何时候都多，我们的社会强调科学和创新。但我 们社会同样需要注意的一个重
心是分配知识到那些真正需要的地方。改变世界并不意味着每个人都要做一 个大突破。改变
世界可以非常简单。它可以简单得变成作为世界不同地区的沟通者，并找出更多创造性的 方
法将知识传递给像我母亲或农民这样的群体。同时，改变世界也意味着我们的社会，作为一
个 整体，能够更清醒的认识到科技知识的更加均衡的分布，是人类社会发展的一个关键环节，
而我们也能够 一起奋斗将此目标变成现实。
如果我们能够做到这些，或许，将来有一天，一个在农村被毒蜘蛛咬 伤的少年或许不用
火疗这样粗暴的方法来治疗伤口，而是去看医生得到更为先进的医疗护理。