The Spider’s Bite　我被蜘蛛咬傷的故事

何江　黃文君

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 on fire. After wrapping my hand with several layers of cotton， then soaking 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 hand burn—one minute， then two minutes—until my mom put out the fire.

You see， the part of China I grew up in was a rural village and at that time， pre-industrial. When I was born， my village had no cars， no telephones， no electricity， not even running water. And we certainly didnt have access to modern medical resources. There was no doctor my mom could bring me to see about the spider bite.

For those who study biology， you may have grasped the science behind my moms cure—heat deactivates proteins and a spiders venom is simply a form of protein. Its cool how that folk remedy actually incorporates basics about chemistry， isnt it？ But I am a Ph.D. student in biochemistry at Harvard. I now know that better， less painful and less risky treatments existed. So I cant help but ask myself why I didnt receive one at the time.

Fifteen years have passed since that incident. Im happy to report that my hand is fine. But this question lingers and I continue to be troubled by the unequal distribution of scientific knowledge throughout the world. Weve learnt to edit the human genome and unlock many secrets of how cancer progresses. We can manipulate neural activity literally with a switch of light. Each year brings more advances in biomedical research—exciting transformative accomplishments. Yet， despite the knowledge weve amassed， we havent been so successful in deploying it to where it is needed most. According to the World Bank， 12 percent of the world population lives on less than $2 a day. Malnutrition kills more than 3 million children annually. 300 million people are afflicted by malaria globally. All over the world， we constantly see these problems of poverty， illness and a lack of resources impeding the flow of scientific information. Life-saving knowledge we take for granted in our modern world is often unavailable in these underdeveloped regions. And so， in far too many places， people are still essentially trying to cure a spider bite with fire.

While studying at Harvard， I saw how scientific knowledge can help others in simple yet profound ways. The bird flu pandemic in the 2000s looked to my village like spell cast by demons. Our folk medicine didnt even have half measures to offer. Whats more， famers didnt know the difference between common cold and flu. They didnt understand that the flu was much more lethal than common cold.

Most of them were also unaware that the virus could transmit across different animal species. So when I realized that simple hygiene practices like separating different animal species could help contain the spread of this disease and that I could help make this knowledge available to my village， that was my first “ah-ha” moment as a budding scientist. But it was more than that. It was also a vital inflection point of my own ethical development， my own self-understanding as a member of the global community.

Harvard dares us to dream big， to aspire to change the world. Here on this Commencement Day， were probably thinking of the grand destinations and big adventures that await us. As for me， Im also thinking of the farmers in my village. My experience here reminds me how important it is for researchers to communicate our knowledge to those who need it. Because by using the science we already have， we could probably bring my village and thousands like it into the world you and I take for granted every day. And thats an impact every one of us can make！

But the question is： will we make the effort or not？

More than ever before， our society emphasizes science and innovation. But an equally important emphasis should be on distributing the knowledge we have to those who need it. Changing the world doesnt mean everyone has to find the next big thing， it can be as simple as becoming better communicators and finding more creative ways to pass on the knowledge we have to people like my mom and farmers in the local community.

Our society also needs to recognize that the equal distribution of knowledge is a pivotal step of human development. And well work to bring this into reality. And if we do that， then perhaps a teenager in rural China who is bitten by a poisonous spider will no longer have to burn his hand， but will know to seek a doctor instead.

我讀中學的時候，被一只毒蜘蛛咬傷了右手。我跑去向媽媽求助，但她并沒有帶我去看醫生，而是在我手上點火。她在我的手上纏了幾層棉布，把它們用酒浸泡后，讓我咬住一根筷子，同時點燃了棉布。熱浪飛快地穿透棉布，開始炙烤我的右手。灼熱的劇痛讓我想哇哇大叫，但是口中的筷子阻止我出聲。我只好眼睜睜地看著右手被火灼燒著——一分鐘，兩分鐘，直到我媽媽將火熄滅。

你能看出，我長大的地方是中國的農村，那個時候，我的家鄉還處在前工業化時代。我出生的時候，我們村沒有汽車，沒通電話，沒有電，甚至連自來水都沒有。更不用說，我們沒有機會接觸到現代的醫療資源。我被蜘蛛咬傷的時候，我媽媽都找不到一個醫生為我處理傷口。

在座各位如果有生物研究背景的話，或許已經理解到我媽媽的治療手法隱藏著科學依據——高熱能讓蛋白質失活，而蜘蛛的毒素只是一種形式的蛋白質。當你想到這種土方法實際上包含了化學的基本原理時，是不是還覺得挺酷的？但是，我已經是哈佛大學生物化學專業的博士了，我現在知道了治療咬傷其實有更好的、讓人免遭巨大痛苦和風險的療法。所以，我忍不住問自己，為什么當初我就不能接受一次這樣的治療呢？

我被蜘蛛咬傷的事件已經過去了15年之久。我很高興地向在座的各位報告一下，我的手現在沒什么事兒。但是這個問題一直在我腦海中揮之不去，我繼續被科學知識在全球范圍內不平等傳播的事實所困擾。我們已經學會了如何編輯人類的基因，如何解鎖癌癥演化的一系列秘密。我們已經能用一束光控制大腦神經元的活動。每一年，生物醫藥領域都在進步——令人振奮、充滿顛覆性的成就不斷涌現。然而，盡管我們的知識不斷累進，我們仍然不能成功地將其應用到需求最迫切的地方。根據世界銀行的統計，世界上還有12%的人口每天的生活費用不足兩美元。每年超過300萬兒童會死于營養不良，還有3億的地球人口受到瘧疾的折磨。在全球范圍內，我們不斷地看到貧困、疾病和資源缺失的問題阻礙著科學信息的流動。那些我們在現代社會認為理所當然的、可以拯救生命的知識在欠發達地區往往難以獲取。正因如此，目前為止在世界上太多的地方，人們基本上還是在用火燒的辦法治療蜘蛛的咬傷。

在哈佛的學習期間，我看到了科學知識如何以一種簡單但是深刻的方法幫助他人。本世紀初，禽流感對我們村的村民來說，如同惡魔施加的詛咒。我們當地土醫一點兒法子都沒有。農民們甚至無法區分普通感冒和流感。他們不明白流感其實比普通感冒更具有致命性。

他們中的大部分人也不知道感冒病毒可以在不同的物種之間傳播。因此，當我意識到，簡單的衛生措施——譬如把不同種動物分隔開來——就可以抑制這些疾病的傳播，并且我可以把這樣的知識帶給我們村莊的時候，我作為嶄露頭角的科學家遇到了第一個頓悟時刻。但是它的意義不僅僅局限于此，這是我自身品德培養以及我理解自己作為國際社區成員責任的關鍵轉折點。

哈佛讓我們敢于擁抱大的夢想，渴望改變世界。在畢業典禮這樣特殊的日子，我們可能暢想到的都是偉大的終點和等待我們的巨大冒險。對我來說，我也會想到我們村莊的農民。我自己的經歷在提醒我，對于研究者來說，將我們的知識傳遞給那些真正需要它們的人是多么重要。因為通過應用我們已經擁有的科學知識，我們也許就能夠把我的家鄉，以及千萬萬萬個同樣的村莊帶入到這個我們認為理所當然的世界中來。并且，這是一種我們每個人都力所能及的改變。

但問題是：我們要不要去努力呢？

我們的社會比以往何時都更加強調科學和創新。但是同樣需要被強調的，就是如何把我們所擁有的知識傳遞給需要它們的人。改變世界不意味著每一個人都必須找到下一個重大突破，它可以十分簡單，簡單到成為一個更好的交流者，打磨更加具有創意的方法，把知識傳遞給像我媽媽和我故鄉農民們一樣的人。

我們的社會也需要認識到知識的平等傳播是人類進步的關鍵一步。我們要努力把這一愿景轉化為現實。如果我們真的這樣做了，那么以后，一個中國的鄉村少年被毒蜘蛛咬傷了以后，就再也不用受火療的罪，而是知道去看醫生了。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）