第1段

Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived. Born Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for her work on radioactivity, and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics, and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Noble Prize.

    玛丽·居里可能是有史以来最著名的女科学家。她出生于1867年的波兰，以她在放射性研究方面的工作而闻名，并两次获得诺贝尔奖。与丈夫皮埃尔·居里和亨利·贝克勒尔一起，她在1903年获得了诺贝尔物理学奖，并在1911年成为独立获得诺贝尔化学奖的唯一女性。她是第一个获得诺贝尔奖的女性。

第2段

From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education. Because her father lost his savings through bad investment, she then had to take work as a teacher. From her earnings, she was able to finance her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education.

从小起，玛丽就因其惊人的记忆力而引人注目，在16岁时完成中学教育并获得金牌。由于她的父亲因投资失败而失去了积蓄，她不得不开始承担教师的工作。凭借自己的收入，她能够资助姐姐布朗妮娅在巴黎的医学学习，并约定布朗妮娅日后会帮助她接受教育。

第3段

In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne.  She often worked far into the night and lived on little more than bread and butter and tea. She came first in the examination in the physical sciences in 1893, and in 1894 was placed second in the examination in mathematical sciences. It was not until the spring of that year that she was introduced to Pierre Curie.

1891年，这个承诺得到了兑现，玛丽去了巴黎，在索邦大学开始学习。她经常工作到深夜，靠着一些面包、黄油和茶度日。1893年，她在物理科学考试中名列第一，1894年在数学科学考试中名列第二。直到那年春天，她才与皮埃尔·居里相识。

第4段

Their marriage in 1895 marked the start of a partnership that was soon to achieve results of world significance. Following Henry Becquerel’s discovery in 1896 of a new phenomenon, which Marie later called ‘radioactivity’. Marie Curie decided to find out if the radioactivity discovered in uranium was to be found in other elements. She discovered that this was true for thorium.

他们于1895年结婚，这标志着一个即将取得世界性成果的合作的开始。在1896年亨利·贝克勒尔发现了一种新现象之后，玛丽·居里决定研究铀中发现的放射性是否存在于其他元素中。她发现钍也具有放射性。

第5段

Turning her attention to minerals, she found her interest drawn to pitchblende, a mineral whose radioactivity, superior to that of pure uranium, could be explained only by the presence in the ore of small quantities of an unknown substance of very high activity. Pierre Curie joined her in the work that she had undertaken to resolve this problem, and that led to the discovery of the new elements, polonium and radium. While Pierre Curie devoted himself chiefly to the physical study of the new radiations, Marie Curie struggled to obtain pure radium in the metallic state. This was achieved with the help of the chemist Andre—Louis Debierne, one of Pierre Curie’s pupils. Based on the results of this research, Marie Curie received her Doctorate of Science, and Marie and Pierre shared with Becquerel the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.

她把注意力转向矿物质，发现自己对铀矿感兴趣，这种矿物质的放射性优于纯铀，只能通过矿石中存在少量未知高活性物质来解释。皮埃尔·居里加入了她解决这个问题的工作，并导致了新元素钋和镭的发现。皮埃尔·居里主要从事新辐射的物理研究，而玛丽·居里努力获得纯态的金属镭。这在化学家安德烈-路易·德比尔纳的帮助下实现，他是皮埃尔·居里的学生之一。基于这项研究的结果，玛丽·居里获得了她的科学博士学位，她和皮埃尔与贝克勒尔共同分享了因发现放射性而获得的诺贝尔物理学奖。

第6段

The births of Marie’s two daughters, Irene and Eve, in 1897 and 1904 failed to interrupt her scientific work. She was appointed lecturer in physics at the Ecole Normale Superieure for girls in Serves. France (1900), and introduced a method of teaching based on experimental demonstrations. In December 1904 she was appointed chief assistant in the laboratory directed by Pierre Curie.

1897年和1904年，玛丽生下了两个女儿伊雷妮和伊芙，但这并没有打断她的科学工作。她被任命为塞尔维斯的女子高等师范学校的物理讲师（1900），并引入了基于实验演示的教学方法。1904年12月，她被任命为皮埃尔·居里指导的实验室的首席助手。

第7段

The sudden death of her husband in 1906 was a bitter blow to Marie Curie, but was also a turning point in her career: henceforth she was to devote all her energy to completing alone the scientific work that they had undertaken. On May 13, 1906, she was appointed to the professorship that had been left vacant on her husband’s death, becoming the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. In 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the isolation of a pure form of radium.

1906年，丈夫突然去世对玛丽·居里来说是一个沉重的打击，但也是她职业生涯的转折点：从那时起，她将全部精力投入到完成他们共同开始的科学工作上。1906年5月13日，她被任命为丈夫去世后空缺的教授职位，成为索邦大学的第一位女教师。1911年，她因分离出纯度高的镭而获得诺贝尔化学奖。

第8段

During World War I, Marie Curie, with the help of her daughter Irene devoted herself to the development of the use of X-radiography, including the mobile units which came to be known as ‘little curies’, used for the treatment of wounded soldiers. In 1918 the Radium Institute, whose staff Irene had joined, began to operate in earnest, and became a centre for nuclear physics and chemistry. Marie Curie, now at the highest point of her fame and, from 1922, a member of the Academy of Medicine, researched the chemistry of radioactive substances and their medical applications.

在第一次世界大战期间，玛丽·居里在女儿伊雷妮的帮助下致力于发展X射线摄影技术，包括被称为「小居里」的移动装置，用于治疗受伤的士兵。1918年，伊雷妮加入的镭研究所开始正式运作，并成为核物理学和化学的中心。玛丽·居里现在已经达到了最高的声望，并于1922年成为医学院院士，研究放射性物质的化学性质及其医学应用。

第9段

In 1921, accompanied by her two daughters, Marie Curie made a triumphant journey to the United States to raise funds for research on radium. Women there presented her with a gram of radium for her campaign. Marie also gave lectures in Belgium, Brazil, Spain and Czechoslovakia and in addition, had the satisfaction of seeing the development of the Curie Foundation in Paris, and the inauguration in 1932 in Warsaw of the Radium Institute, where her sister Bronia became director.

1921年，玛丽·居里与两个女儿一起踏上胜利之旅，到美国募集用于放射性研究的资金。那里的妇女为她捐赠了一克拉的镭作为她的活动基金。玛丽还在比利时、巴西、西班牙和捷克斯洛伐克讲授课程，并且看到了巴黎居里基金会的发展和1932年华沙镭研究所的揭幕，她的姐姐布朗妮娅成为所长。

第10段

One of Marie Curie’s outstanding achievements was to have understood the need to accumulate intense radioactive sources, not only to treat illness but also to maintain an abundant supply for research. The existence in Pairs at the Radium Institute of a stock of 1.5 grams of radium made a decisive contribution to the success of the experiments undertaken in the years around 1930. This work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron by Sir James Chadwick and, above all, for the discovery in 1934 by Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie of artificial radioactivity. A few months after this discovery, Marie Curie died as a result of leukaemia caused by exposure to radiation. She had often carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in her pocket, remarking on the pretty blue-green light they gave off.

玛丽·居里的杰出成就之一是她理解了积累强放射性源的必要性，不仅用于治疗疾病，还为研究提供充足的供应。在巴黎的镭研究所拥有1.5克拉的镭库存，对于1930年左右的实验的成功起到了决定性的贡献。这项工作为詹姆斯·查德威克爵士发现中子以及伊雷妮和弗雷德里克·焦耳-居里于1934年发现人工放射性铺平了道路。在这一发现几个月后，玛丽·居里因暴露于辐射导致的白血病去世。她经常把装有放射性同位素的试管放在口袋里，说它们发出漂亮的蓝绿色光芒。

第11段

Her contribution to physics had been immense, not only in her own work, the importance of which had been demonstrated by her two Nobel Prizes, but because of her influence on subsequent generations of nuclear physicists and chemists.