憧憬未来 Dreaming of the future

I was ten years old in 1966, when theoriginal Star Trektelevision seriesfirst ran. This was the time of the moonrace, when everyone predicted that we were at the start of a new spaceage. My family lived in Florida and anuncle worked at Cape Canaveral, so, of course, I dreamed of growing up to be anastronaut. Almost none of thosedreams—personal or societal — have come true. After all, I’m not writing this from my office on the moon.

1966年，原版电视连续剧《星际迷航》第一次播出时我只有10岁。那是月球竞赛的时代，在这个时代每个人都预言我们处于新太空时代的开端。我们一家人居住在弗罗里达州，我的叔叔在卡纳维拉角(美国的航空海岸)工作。因此，我的理想自然是成为一名宇航员。可惜，无论是个人理想还是社会理想几乎都没有实现。毕竟，我此刻不是在月球上的办公室写这篇文章。

Unlike the current, brain-dead, shoot-em-upmovies, the original Star Trekserieswas deeply philosophical. It picturedalternative societies—both utopias and dystopias.  But, the thing that really attracted me as ateenager was the Star Fleet Academy—a university for future Star Fleetofficers.  Maybe, it would be up andrunning by the time I turned 18.

跟如今那些脑洞大开的枪战片不同，《星际迷航》电视连续剧具有深刻的哲理。此电视剧交替描述了乌托邦和反乌托邦两个社会。然而，在我青年时代真正吸引我的是一所培养未来星际军舰军官的星际舰队学院。我十八岁的时候可能就开始希望自己能够进入这一星际舰队学院。

As I got older, I became more interested inthe Vulcan Science Academy—a research institution located on the planetVulcan. Graduates of the VSA could solveany technical or scientific problem within the hour-long TV episode.

随着年龄的增长，我对研究机构瓦肯科学院越来越感兴趣。瓦肯科学院的毕业生都很优秀，他们可以在一小时电视剧集的时间内解决任何技术或科学问题。

I had no luck getting into either StarFleet or the VSA, but I’ve recently had the pleasure of visiting a number ofimpressive research academies in China. These are specialized research centers, funded by both the centralgovernment and provincial governments. They are mostly separate from universities — although they do havedoctoral students.  In the US most ofthis type of research is done at universities, so we don’t have suchorganizations that are designed to provide research on social and economicissues directly to government officials at all levels

很不幸，我没有进入星际舰队和瓦肯科学院，但最近我有幸参观了中国的一些研究机构，它们给我留下了深刻的印象。这些都是中央政府和省级政府共同资助的专业研究中心。尽管有许多博士生在这里做研究，但他们大部分都不属于大学。在美国，这种研究大部分在大学进行，因此我们并没有这种专门给各级政府官员提供研究社会和经济问题的机构。

For example, the Hunan Academy of SocialSciences, in Changsha, is doing interesting economic analysis designed toinform both the Hunan government and the central government about the possibleconsequences of the trade war.

例如，长沙的湖南社会科学院正在进行一项有趣的经济分析，该分析旨在向湖南省政府和中央政府报告贸易战带来的潜在影响。

I also got a chance to visit the HunanHybrid Rice Research Institute, which has greatly improved the yield of rice,feeding hundreds of millions around the world. In Hebei province, the Zhangjiakou Academy of Agricultural Sciences ismaking similar improvements in the yield of millet.  Both organizations are working to make thoseadvances available to farmers in Africa. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that five researchorganizations in China are key components of its South-South Cooperationprogram.

同时，我有幸参观了湖南杂交水稻研究所，该研究所大幅提高了水稻的产量，给全世界数亿人口提供了粮食。同样地，河北省的张家口农业科学院也在谷子产量方面取得了巨大的进步。两个机构都致力于给非洲的农民带去福音。联合国粮农组织表示，五个中国研究机构为南南合作项目做出了巨大贡献。

The Chinese Academy of Sciences includes104 research institutes with leading researchers in all sciences.  I had the opportunity to visit the Instituteof Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, which is advancing the newscience of using ancient DNA to explore human history.

中国科学院有104个研究机构，其研究人员都是业内著名人士。我也有幸参观了古脊椎动物和古人类研究所，它的研究成果推动了利用古人类DNA来探索人类历史的新科学发展。

China is now working to upgrade itsmanufacturing, to produce more high value-added products, and to become aleader in technological innovation. 

中国正致力于升级制造业，从而生产更多高附加值产品，最终成为技术创新的先驱。

In a 2017 speech to the CAS, Premier LiKeqiang said: “Manufacturing is the key to the nation's economic development,and the economic restructuring requires making the sector stronger. But the sector is still on the low to mediumtier compared with other leading countries, thus it is vital to improve thequality and upgrade to increase competitiveness.

2017年，李克强总理在中科院的演讲中表示，“制造业是国家经济发展的核心，经济重建要求制造业更加强大。但是，与发达国家相比，我们的制造业依旧处于中低端水平。因此，提升产品质量，提高竞争力刻不容缓。”

The upgrade depends on innovations, andmanufacturers should make technological breakthroughs by focusing on qualityand branding and using top manufacturing countries as benchmarks.”

产业升级和创新相辅相成，制造商应该聚焦于质量和品牌，以制造大国为基准，实现技术突破。

Private companies are essential to thiseffort.  For example, Alibaba, iFlytek,and others are pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence and Huawei isone of the world’s leading innovators in 5G.

私营企业也发挥着重要作用。例如，阿里巴巴，科大讯飞及其他企业正在拓展人工智能发展的无限可能，同时华为公司成为了5G领域的全球领先创新者之一。

But, fundamental scientific research isalso key to the transformation of the economy.  These research academies, which are present in every large city in thecountry, are working  with industry topush the technology out of the laboratory and into the economy.   I’m still hoping that warp drive is on theagenda.

然而，基础科学研究也是经济转型的重要影响因素。这些研究机构分布在每个城市，他们和工业联手推动了技术从实验室到经济的转型。我希望，利用翘曲引擎实现超光速旅行的理想能早日实现。