中英對照讀新聞》Global problems need social science 全球問題需要社會科學視野

即將上任的英國國家學術院執行長海坦．沙阿在科學期刊《自然》撰文，強調社會科學的重要性。（取自網路）

◎劉宜庭

Without human insights, data and the hard sciences will not meet the challenges of the next decade, says Hetan Shah, the incoming chief executive of the British Academy in London.

即將上任的英國國家學術院執行長海坦．沙阿表示，數據和硬科學若缺乏人類的見解，將不足以應付未來10年的挑戰。

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For example, we cannot improve global health if we take only a narrow medical view. Epidemics are social as well as biological phenomena. Anthropologists such as Melissa Leach at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, played an important part in curbing the West African Ebola epidemic with proposals to substitute risky burial rituals with safer ones, rather than trying to eliminate such rituals altogether.

例如，倘若只是採取狹隘的醫學觀點，我們將無法改善全球衛生。流行病是生物學現象，也是社會現象。英國布萊頓薩塞克斯大學梅麗莎．利奇等人類學家，在抑制西非伊波拉疫情上發揮重要作用，透過提出更安全的方式來替代高風險的埋葬儀式，而不是企圖淘汰掉所有葬儀。

In diverse cases, social factors — cultural norms, educational understanding, kin and social networks, power dynamics, or simply the layout of a building — must be accounted for before policy can succeed.

在各種案例中，社會因素（文化規範、教育條件、親緣與社會網絡、權力動態或單純的建築設計）必定是政策能否成功的先決條件。

Without the humanities and social sciences, hard science and technology can do little to resolve complex societal challenges.

沒有人文與社會科學，單憑硬科學和技術無法解決複雜的社會難題。

新聞辭典

science：名詞，科學。例句："Hard" sciences include things like physics, math, and chemistry, while "soft" sciences include things like sociology and philosophy.（「硬」科學指的是物理、數學和化學等，「軟」科學則是指社會學、哲學等。）

challenge：名詞，挑戰、難題；動詞，挑戰。例句：Environmental issues are not just technical challenges that can be solved with a new invention.（環境問題不單只是一項新發明就能解決的技術難題。）

policy：名詞，政策。例句：Data do have huge power to inform government policy.（數據的確具有指示政府政策的強大能力。）

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