By Bob Greene

These are times when the cult of celebrity seems especially empty， when our national love affair with multimillion-dollar shortstops and with beautiful actresses whose flawless faces are enough to guarantee huge box-office weekends feels devoid of meaning.2

However， every time severe epidemics break out， the world will rush to turn its pleading eyes in the direction of men and women whose names and faces we dont even know.3

They are the men and women who， wearing lab coats in medical and scientific facilities， are working—as they do every day—toward the conquest of disease. The wider world seldom gives them a thought until suddenly we realize that we need them. Until abruptly， in the midst of our constant cultural obeisance to flashiness and surface glamour，4 we are forced to stop and recognize that we need help.

Times like these dont come along very often. When they do， it is probably a good idea to pause and reflect upon the quiet work done every day by those men and women in the laboratories.

There were two men， now dead， who， toward the end of their lives， could pass through any airport in the country without being recognized. They saved the worlds children： Saying those words is not much of an exaggeration5. Yet， by the time they were old men， they were less applauded than the average NBA forward or prime-time television make-believe cop.6

But talk about the definition of heroism7.

In the early 1950s， the world was in utter terror because a relentless， paralyzing virus was spreading and turning into the cruelest of epidemics.8 In hospitals across the United States， children were confined to iron lungs because polio had robbed them of the power to breathe on their own.9 Parents were fearful of letting their sons and daughters play outdoors or swim in public pools， yet the caution wasnt helping. The disease was winning.

In separate American laboratories， two men working separately—Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Albert Sabin—were determined to defeat the poliovirus10， to end the heartbreak. Salk developed the first， injectable polio vaccine； Sabin developed an oral vaccine that would eventually supplant it.11 Years later， as they were entering the winter of their lives， I sought both of them to speak about what it was like to be working， with the clock ticking， against such a disease.

“I never thought it couldnt be done，” Salk told me.“Yes， of course there were doubters. But I didnt pay attention to anybody.”

There is self-confidence， and then there is self-confidence. Growing up， Salk was not the kind of boy who often heard cheers. As one biographical sketch of him put it： “To his schoolmates Salk was a person of little importance. A thin， small-boned child， untalented at games and not gifted in class， he was tolerated but not sought after.”12 Yet he was there when the time of reckoning13 arrived， when the world needed someone to come through.

“You ask me what persuades a man that something is doable？ Your self persuades you that something is doable，”Salk said.

Why， of all the doctors in the world， did it fall upon him to finally stop polio in its tracks？

“I didnt think I was the person appointed to do this，”Salk said. “I was simply granted14 the opportunity to help. We do not all see the world in the same way. There are those of us who see it in terms of solvable problems. If you have a problem that can be solved， then it will be solved.”

And the frustrations that came with trying， on deadline—in every sense of that word—to stop a crippling15 virus？

“Youre not on a golf course，” Salk said. “You dont say to yourself， ‘Todays the day Im going to break par16. What you do is have a continuing dialogue with nature. You ask questions in the form of experiments. And you get answers. Yes or no. Yes or no. Yes or no. And then you use those answers to ask your next question， and you keep doing it until you have the ultimate answer.”

Sabin was looking for the answer at the same time.

“You had an epidemic involving thousands upon thousands of children，” Sabin said.“There was obviously a great need， and when there is a need like that， youve got to keep working even when you have no idea what the outcome is going to be.”

Despondency， he said， was always lurking over his shoulder.17

“There were many times when not only did my colleagues tell me it couldnt be done，” he said. “They told me to throw the whole thing down the rathole18. And I confess to wondering at times whether they might not be right.”

“But I kept at it. I kept asking myself， ‘What do I have to do？ What is the next step？… In the middle of the night you often wake up with an idea. You have a notebook by your bed so you can write these things down， so that theyre not lost in the morning.”

“The fear. The fear！ You never lost sight of the human side of what you were doing. You were driven on by the knowledge that there was human misery， and that you could use your knowledge to help eliminate19 it.”

Jonas Salk died in 1995 at the age of 80； Albert Sabin died in 1993 at the age of 86.

I can still hear Dr. Sabins voice：

“There is a line—believe it is by Sir Francis Drake20—that a superior officer of mine during World War II quoted to me. I shall never forget it： ‘Grant us to know that it is not the beginning， but the continuing of the same until it is thoroughly finished， that yieldeth the true glory.”21

1. lab coat： 實(shí)驗(yàn)室工作服。

2. 許多時(shí)候，對名人的狂熱崇拜似乎頗為空洞和膚淺，比如舉國上下都喜愛那些身家數(shù)百萬的棒球游擊手和擁有完美容顏、能帶來可觀的周末電影票房收入的漂亮女演員，但這種追捧其實(shí)毫無意義。cult： 狂熱崇拜；shortstop：（棒球運(yùn)動(dòng)中第二壘與第三壘之間的）游擊手；devoid of： 缺乏，沒有。

3. epidemic： 流行病，傳染??；pleading：懇求的。

4. abruptly： 突然地，唐突地；obeisance： 致敬；flashiness： 浮華，奢華；glamour： 魅力，誘惑力。

5. exaggeration： 夸張，夸大。

6. forward：（籃球、足球、曲棍球等運(yùn)動(dòng)中的）前鋒；prime-time： 黃金時(shí)段；make-believe： 虛假的，假裝的。

7. heroism： 英勇，英雄氣概。

8. utter： 完全的，徹底的；relentless： 無情的，殘酷的；paralyzing： 使麻痹的，使癱瘓的。

9. iron lung： 鐵肺，人工呼吸器的一種；polio： 即poliomyelitis，脊髓灰質(zhì)炎，俗稱小兒麻痹癥。

10. poliovirus： 脊髓灰質(zhì)炎病毒。

11. injectable： 可注射的；oral： 口服的；supplant： 代替，取代。

12. 在一篇關(guān)于他的人物小傳中有著這樣的描述：“對索爾克的同學(xué)而言，他只是一個(gè)無足輕重的人。這個(gè)身材瘦削的小個(gè)子并未在課余玩樂時(shí)展現(xiàn)天賦，也未曾在學(xué)業(yè)上表現(xiàn)優(yōu)異，他僅僅是集體所容納的普通一員，而非出色的榜樣和眾人的焦點(diǎn)?！眀iographical sketch：略傳，人物小傳。

13. reckoning： 懲罰。

14. grant： 準(zhǔn)許，允許。

15. crippling： 造成嚴(yán)重?fù)p害的。

16. par：（高爾夫球的）標(biāo)準(zhǔn)桿數(shù)。break par指打出低于標(biāo)準(zhǔn)桿的成績。低于標(biāo)準(zhǔn)桿的數(shù)越大，成績就越好。

17. despondency： 沮喪，泄氣；lurk：潛伏，潛藏。

18. down the rathole： 白白浪費(fèi)掉。

19. eliminate： 消除，根除。

20. Francis Drake： 弗朗西斯·德雷克（1540/1543—1596），英國航海家，是第一個(gè)環(huán)球航行的英國船長。

21. 我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記這句話：“我們要記住，真正的榮光并非來自開端，而是誕生于對同一事物堅(jiān)持不懈后終得以圓滿完成的那一刻?！眣ieldeth： 產(chǎn)生，得出，是古英語中yield的第三人稱單數(shù)形式。