PART 3

CLARE: Hi Jake. How are you getting on with the practical teaching?

克莱尔：你好，杰克。你的实践教学进展如何？

JAKE: It's harder than I expected, but I've got some great classes. How about you?

杰克：比我想象的要难，但我上了几堂很棒的课。你呢？

CLARE: Not brilliant. I'm really struggling with my Year 12 science class.

克莱尔：不怎么样。我12年级的科学课上的很吃力。

JAKE: Are they hard to control?

杰克：学生很难管教吗？

CLARE: Well, I don't have discipline problems as such.

克莱尔：不是纪律的问题。

It's just that they don't seem to think that science has anything to do with their lives. It's depressing.

只是他们似乎不认为科学与他们的生活有任何关系，真让人沮丧。

They listen to what I say, and I gave them a test last week and the results weren't too bad, but there's no real engagement.

他们听我讲课，我上周给他们做了个测试，结果还不错，但他们没有真正参与进来。

JAKE: Right.

杰克：这样啊。

CLARE: And as part of my teaching practice, I have to design an experiment for them to do.

克莱尔：作为教学实践的一部分，我必须为他们设计一个实验。

I was wondering about something on the children's diets . . . you know, asking them to record what they eat and maybe linking it to their state of health.

我在想关于孩子们饮食的问题......你知道的，让他们记录下他们吃了什么，也许还能和他们的健康状况联系起来。

JAKE: Mmm. Let's think. So your methodology would involve the children recording what they eat.

杰克：嗯，让我们想想。所以你的方法是让孩子们记录他们吃了什么吗？

OK, but you'd also need to have access to the children's medical records and I don't think people would be happy about that; confidentiality would be an issue.

好吧，但你还需要查阅孩子们的医疗记录，我想人们不会乐意这样做；保密性也是个问题。

If you could get the right data, the conclusions might be significant, but I suspect it's not going to be easy.

如果你能得到正确的数据，结论可能很有意义，但我怀疑这并不容易。

CLARE: Right.

克莱尔：没错。

JAKE: Have you thought about doing an experiment using animals?

杰克：你有没有想过用动物做实验？

CLARE: Wouldn't that be upsetting for the children?

克莱尔：那不会让孩子们难过吗？

JAKE: Well, the animals don't have to be harmed in any way.

杰克：嗯，动物不必收到任何伤害。

It could just be an experiment where they're given a certain diet and the effects are observed.

这可能只是一个给它们特定饮食并观察其效果的实验。

CLARE: Would I have to get permission to use animals?

克莱尔：用动物进行实验需要得到许可吗？

JAKE: Yes, you'd have to submit an outline of the experiment and fill in a form, but it's quite straightforward.

杰克：是的，你得提交一份实验大纲，然后填一张表格，不过这很简单。

CLARE: But if we found out that, say, a particular diet affects the health of animals, the same thing wouldn't necessarily be true for people, would it?

克莱尔：但是如果我们发现，比如说，某种特定的饮食会影响动物的健康，那么同样的事情不一定适用于人类，不是吗？

JAKE: No that's true, but the findings for any experiment are going to be limited. It's inevitable.

杰克：没错，但是任何实验的结果都是有限的。这是不可能避免的。

CLARE: I suppose so. So what animals could I use to investigate the effects of diet? Mice?

克莱尔：我想也是。那么我可以用什么动物来研究饮食的影响呢？老鼠吗？

JAKE: Yes. You'd need experimental mice – ones that have been specially bred for experiments.

杰克：是的。你需要实验小鼠--专门为实验培育的小白鼠。

OK, so what will your experiment be investigating exactly?

好吧，那你的实验具体要研究什么？

CLARE: Well, something to do with nutrition.

克莱尔：和营养相关。

So maybe we could look at food supplements . . . things like extra iron and extra protein, and their impact on health.

也许我们可以看看食物补充剂，比如额外的铁和蛋白质，以及它们对健康的影响。

JAKE: Mmm. That might be rather broad. Maybe just look at the effects of one supplement, like sugar, on the health of the mice?

杰克：嗯。这可能比较宽泛。也许只研究一种补充剂，比如糖，对老鼠健康的影响？

CLARE: In fact, maybe the focus could be on whether mice can control their own diet. . . .

克莱尔：事实上，也许重点可以放在小鼠能否控制自己的饮食上. . .

JAKE: So, what happens when they have access to more sugar, that they don't really need?

杰克：那么，当他们有了更多并不需要的糖，将会发生什么？

CLARE: Exactly. Do they eat it or do they decide to leave it?

克莱尔：没错，看它们是吃还是不吃？

JAKE: Great. Then later on, you could do a follow-up experiment adding another variable.

杰克：太好了。然后，你可以做一个后续实验，加入另一个变量。

Like, you could give some of the mice the chance to be more active, running on a wheel or something, and the others just sit around and don't do much.

比如，你可以给一些小白鼠活动的机会，让它们在轮子上跑什么的，而其他的小白鼠只是坐在那里，什么也不做。

CLARE: Or I could repeat the experiment but change the type of food I provided . . . or use mice with a different genetic structure.

克莱尔：或者我可以重复这个实验，但是改变所提供的食物种类……或者使用不同基因结构的小白鼠。

But I think your idea would be more interesting, I might think about that some more.

但是我觉得你的想法更加有趣，我可以再考虑一下。

CLARE: So can I talk through a possible procedure for the experiment where mice are given a sugar supplement?

克莱尔：那我能讨论一下小白鼠摄入糖分的可能的实验步骤吗？

JAKE: Sure. I did a similar experiment in college actually.

杰克：当然，我大学时做过一次类似的实验。

CLARE: Great. So how many mice would I need?

克莱尔：太好了。那么我需要多少只小白鼠？

JAKE: I'd say about 12. And all young ones, not a mixture of old and young.

杰克：大概12只，而且都是年轻的，不能老的和年轻的混合。

CLARE: OK. And I'd need two groups of equal sizes, so six in each group. And how would I tell them apart?

克莱尔：好的。我需要两组小白鼠，每组6只。那我要怎么区分它们呢？

I suppose I could put some sort of tag on one group . . . or just mark them in some way?

我想我可以给其中一组贴上标签，或者用某种方式标记？

JAKE: You could use food colouring, that wouldn't hurt them.

杰克：你可以用食用色素，这不会伤害他们。

CLARE: Perfect. Then each group would go into a separate cage, and one group, let's call them group A, would be the control group.

克莱尔：太好了。然后每组关在一个单独的笼子里 其中一组，我们叫它A组，作为对照组。

So they'd just have ordinary mouse food. I suppose you can buy that?

他们只吃普通的老鼠食物，你能买到吗？

JAKE: Yes, it comes in dry pellets.

杰克：可以，有干的颗粒。

CLARE: And the other group would have the same as the first group, but they'd also have the extra sugar.

克莱尔：另一组的食物和第一组一样，但有额外的糖。

JAKE: Would you just give them straight sugar?

杰克：你会直接给它们糖吃吗？

CLARE: It might be better to give them something like cereal with it.

克莱尔：也许给他们一些像麦片之类的东西会更好。

JAKE: Mmm. Then you'd need to weigh the mice, I should think once a week. And you'd need an electronic balance.

杰克：嗯。然后你得给小白鼠称体重，我想应该是一周一次。你需要一个电子天平。

CLARE: But we can't hold them on the balance, or it'd affect the reading.

克莱尔: 但是我们不能抓着它们放到天平上，否则会影响读数。

JAKE: Exactly. So you need something called a weighing chamber to stop the mice from running away.

杰克：没错，所以你需要一个叫称重室的东西，来防止小白鼠逃跑。

It sounds complicated, but actually you can just use a plastic box with holes in the top.

这听起来很复杂，但实际上你可以用一个顶部有洞的塑料盒子。

CLARE: OK. So once we've measured the weight gain of each mouse we can work out the average for each group, as well as the standard deviation.

克莱尔：好的。这样一旦我们测量了每只老鼠的体重增长，我们就可以计算出每组的平均值，以及标准差。

And then see where we go from there. That sounds cool, I think the students will enjoy it.

然后看看我们接下来要做什么。听起来很酷，我想学生们会喜欢的。

JAKE: Yes. One thing . . .

杰克：是的。还有一件事……