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◎高三四班 陳心瑜同學
第一次去加拿大，懷著驚喜和期待的心情踏出了國門，但一想到不是單純的觀光，而是代表著學校進入
加拿大最高研究機構內工作和學習，也不免緊張了起來。
這一次我和李久林都被分配到NRC工作，它相當是台灣國科會和中研院的結合，進行加拿大尖端科技的
研究和開發，和台灣的清華大學也有相當多的合作計劃。因為加拿大是一個新興的國家，外來移民相當的多
，NRC內也是一樣的情況，匯聚了各方的人才，像我待的第二個實驗室就誇張到沒有一個人是加拿大國籍。
渥太華是加拿大的首都，當初設於此的原因，是因為加國英語系和法語系之爭相當的嚴重，只好將它設
於此兩語系的大城—多倫多和蒙特婁—的中央，算是一個相當新的都市。市區內高等政治機關林立，雖然沒
有那麼繁榮，但卻多了濃厚的人文氣息，顯得閒適而井井有條。
在四個人當中，我的遭遇算是最曲折的，不管是接待家庭還是工作，我都換了一次。我的原接待家庭是
薩爾瓦多人，住在魁北克省，屬於加拿大的法語區，因此剛開始住的四天，我唯一的感覺是茫然，路標、商
店到處都是法語，雖然和安大略省只有一河之隔，但感覺卻是天差地別，像兩個完全不同國的國家。後來很
幸運的，我搬到了我的指導教授家，否則我在這六個星期內就必須忍受兩省間的通勤之苦。
我的指導教授和他的太太都是加拿大籍，實在是難得的大好人，幽默善良永遠面帶著笑容，因為我的交
通不便，就熱心地邀我和他們一起住，對我的照顧可說是無微不至。不僅常常做些加拿大式中國料理給我吃
，聊慰我的思鄉之苦，甚至每天還送我上下班，在一次長假中，還親自開車載我們四人去多倫多和尼加拉瓜
大瀑布玩，讓我被加拿大濃厚的人情味深深感動著。
我的工作就沒這麼順利了，
原本的題目是利用固態核磁共振進行對癌細胞的偵測和判定（
Detection and
Classification of Tumor Cells by NMR )，比較不同種類的癌細胞所得出的光譜儀。一開始的主要工作就是閱讀文
獻資料和熟悉基本的操作，了解何為 N
M R ，
這是相當繁瑣的，因為不僅牽涉到很多複雜高深的量子物理，
還要閱讀大量發表過的論文，學習生疏的電腦系統，準備起來相當地吃力，就在我努力了二個禮拜之後，正
要展開我的實驗之際，因為儀器本身的問題，加上它沒有進行過這方面的實驗，使得裝有癌組織的試管在開
始旋轉時，整個破裂在探針內。600 Hz
的固態核磁共振儀正式宣告報銷，必須送至美國維修一兩個月，我的
實驗計畫也就此泡湯了。
後來我轉到另一個實驗室，終日與令人生畏的腦癌細胞為伍，很可惜的，因為只剩三個禮拜，沒有時間
做一個屬於自己較完整的東西，主要是跟著那裡的研究員進行一些實驗的操作，包括蛋白質含量的測定、腦
癌細胞mRNA的反轉錄和cDNA的電泳、基因轉殖以及培養癌細胞等。在這裡的工作其實是一個team work，需
要眾人的合作才能成就一個專題，每個人不僅要負責自己的部分，也須要了解別人在做什麼，而我來最大的
目的就是盡我可能地去學習，因此我的教授也鼓勵我勇敢地發問，
多看看別人在做什麼，充分把握每一個學
習的機會。
這次的計劃是一個相當難能可貴的機會，不僅讓我了解到他們一些從事科學的態度和實驗研究的方法，
也使我學習到很多的新知。更重要的，讓我學到一個道理，就是千萬不要怕發問，敢說才能得到更多的機會
。不論是工作還是日常生活，都是一個令人難忘的絕佳經驗。
My Canada Experience
Bilingual Department
Jacob Jou
How
would you like to walk
around a hospital in scrubs and a lab coat, and
have everyone think you're a doctor？ That's
basically what I did last summer──when I wasn't working, that is. I was posted at the Eye Institute at the General
Campus of
The Ottawa Hospital run by the University of Ottawa.
At
first I was a bit disappointed
to be assigned to the
University because “Natiolnal Research Council”sounds
more
prestigious, but I soon grew to appreciate my assignment.
Working with Dr. May Griffith, I got to dissect animal
embryos,
dehyrdate and section animal, human,
and artificial corneas , perform H&E staining, photograph my cells under a microscope,
perform immunohistochemistry on my sections
using antibodies, and do all kinds of other cool, hands-on things. It was really
interesting to be able to perform new, groundbreaking experiments rather than merely repeating, step by step, what someone else
did hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately, the innovative nature
of the work also means I can't go into too much detail─I had to
sign a confidentiality statement before beginning work. (Who'd
have guessed that Suh-Harn was telling the truth about having to
sign one the year before？)
Four of us agreed that while I had the most, er, economy-class accomodations (read I nearly died), I had the most enjoyable job.
Eric even made time in his busy AIMing and computer-pinballing schedule to visit me for a day at my job, which he said was a
lot of fun.
Between reading books and watching Murder in Small Town X, Charmed, Friends, Weakest Link, Factor, and all kinds of other
American TV shows that
are common in Canada but
an endangered species in Taiwan,
I managed to pass my evenings
--------unfortunately, I had no Internet at home. On the weekends, the four
of us would meet up and go places. We shopped
St.
-Laurent Centre and Rideau Centre, took a ferry ride up the Rideau Canal, visited musuems and landmarks in Ottawa, and walked
along the banks of the Ottawa River together. On one weekend we even made a trip to Toronto
and Niagara Falls with one of the
host families, which was great fun. We went to Silver City Cinemas in Ottawa's
Gloucester suburb many times
as well. Eric
made us watch Tomb Raider (Barf, barf, Angelina Jolie is such a bad actress！), so I made him watch Legally
blonde and The
Princess Diaries ( What , like
it's hard ？ ). All in
all , I found the NRC summer program to be an enjoyable, exciting, and
educational way to spend a summer──and keep in mind that all this is coming from a humanities student！ If you're a science
specialist, who knows how deliriously, unbelievably, out-of-your-mind happy you'll be there？
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