英語の翻訳お願いします。
Let‘s start with this odd couple, so often cast as adversaries.
FUNDAMENTAL RESEACH, A NECESSARY RESPONSIBILITY OF DEVELOPED NATIONS
To find out how the world functions, from the atom to the galaxies, from minerals to living beings, is an exalting quest. This progress of knowledge is independent of any practical result that might ultimately be derived from such an effort. The journey of the Voyager spacecraft to the edge of the solar system needs no other justification than the harvest of knowledge that rewarded us. The discovery of the double helix structure of the genetic code would have been satisfaction enough, even without the phenomenal practical possibilities that we envision today.
Trapping a single atom in a cell and “cooling”it with laser beams down to one millionth of a kelvin is another marvelous experiment, just mastered recently, and （so far）devoid of any practical use.
One can sometimes justify fundamental research by projecting the potential, hidden applications that it might spawn. The study of the electronic properties of solids was pregnant with the invention of the transistor, the fabulous development of microelectronics, the advent of digital technology. Spectroscopy gave birth to the invention of the laser, which revolutionized communications.
But apart from of any potential payoff, I believe that the quest for knowledge for the sake of knowledge is irreplaceable. It seems to me essential that a developed nation participate in this expansion of knowledge for the good of all mankind, and that it devote to this effort a fraction of its resources, even without any film hope of material benefit in return. If unexpected applications do materialize as a bonus, so much the better.
A few remarks are in other, however. This“pure”science does have an obligation. It must produce truly original results. There is no place for research which merely reproduces, expect for a detail or two, an experiment already successfully performed. But how does one judge the degree of novelty? At present, this difficult evaluation is carried out informally, by the seat of the pants so to speak, by the scientific community-not entirely without errors or injustices, to be sure, but, by and large, with fairly satisfactory results.
A word of caution：it does sometimes happen that, in order to reach a particular goal, several avenues prove feasible, utilizing very different means, some quite elaborate, others much simpler or considerably less costly. Should one, for instance, send humans into space, or should one rely on unmanned spacecraft? One must constantly remain alert to the danger that research might get mired in enormous projects of doubtful utility. This is the responsibility that scientists must assume on behalf of the taxpayers of their respective countries.
お礼
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