Nobel laureates sometimes display as much ingenuity when deciding how to spend their prize money as they did on the work that won them the award in the first place.
有的諾貝爾獎得主使用獎金的方式就像他們的獲獎作品一樣匠心獨運。

When Sir Paul Nurse won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2001, he decided to upgrade his motorbike. A fellow winner in 1993, Richard Roberts, installed a croquet lawn in front of his house. Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek, who won in 2004, said the prize meant "financial independence."
2001年獲得諾貝爾醫學獎后，保羅?納斯爵士決定升級摩托車。1993年諾貝爾醫學獎得主之一理查德?羅伯茨在家門口鋪了一個槌球草坪。2004年諾貝爾文學獎得主、奧地利作家埃爾弗里德?耶利內克表示，獎金意味著“財務獨立”。

Lars Heikensten, executive director of the Nobel Foundation, said there were no obvious shopping trends among laureates.
諾貝爾獎基金會執行董事拉斯?黑肯斯坦表示，諾獎得主沒有明顯的消費趨勢。

"I think it depends a lot on which country they come from, their personal finances... what kind of incomes they have when they get the prize, and where they are in life," he said.
“我認為，這在很大程度上取決于他們來自哪國、個人財務狀況如何……獲獎時收入怎樣、生活狀況如何，”他說。

Real estate, however, is a popular option, at least among those willing to reveal what they spend the money on.
然而，房地產是個受歡迎的選擇，至少在那些愿意透露花錢方式的得主中是這樣。

Over a million dollars sounds like a lot but it is often shared between several winners, diluting their Nobel spending power.
一百多萬美元的獎金聽起來很多，但往往是幾個得主共享，分攤后能花的就不多了。

Wolfgang Ketterle at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who shared the 2001 physics prize with two colleagues, put his share towards a house and his children's education.
麻省理工學院物理學教授沃夫岡?克特勒與兩位同事平分了2001年諾貝爾物理學獎，他用自己那份獎金買了棟房子，剩下的則用作孩子的教育資金。

"Since half goes to taxes in the US, there was nothing (more) left," he said.
“因為一半獎金在美國交了稅，剩下的就沒（多少）了，”他說。

Phillip Sharp, the American co-winner of the 1993 medicine prize, decided to splash out on a 100-year-old Federal style house.
美國的菲利普?夏普是1993年諾貝爾醫學獎得主之一，他用大筆獎金買了幢有百年歷史的聯邦風格別墅。

"I took that money and bought a little bit bigger house... It's a beautiful old place," he told AFP, adding that "The money is a nice part of the process" but "the important thing about the prize is the recognition."
“我拿到那筆錢，然后就買了幢大點的別墅……真是個漂亮的老房子，”他告訴法新社記者。他還說：“獎金是這個獎項的美妙之處，但重要的是，這個獎是一種認可。”

For winners of the peace prize the decision is often more clear-cut, as the honour tends to go to politicians, organisations and activists who are under more public scrutiny.
對于和平獎得主，獎金的去向則比較明確，因為得獎的往往是公眾關注比較多的政治家、組織和活動家。

Many, like US President Barack Obama in 2009 and the European Union in 2012, donate to charities.
許多得主都將獎金捐贈給慈善機構，比如2009年獲獎的美國總統奧巴馬以及2012年獲獎的歐盟。

Others support pet projects: the 2008 winner, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, said he would finance a conflict resolution group he had set up.
也有人用在個人偏愛的項目上：2008年的得主、芬蘭前總統馬爾蒂?阿赫蒂薩里表示，他將資助自己成立的一個沖突化解組織。

But there has been one notable exception to the charitable giving.
但這項獎金也有個用于慈善之外的著名案例。

Former US president Woodrow Wilson won the prize in 1920 but left it in a Swedish bank to earn interest, apparently because he was concerned about life after retirement in an age when former presidents got no government pension, according to one biography.
美國前總統伍德羅?威爾遜贏得了1920年的大獎，但把獎金存進了瑞典銀行生利息，根據一本傳記的觀點，他這么做顯然是因為擔心退休后的生活，因為在那個年代，總統退休后沒有政府養老金。

Literature laureates tend to be more private about how they use the money, but the choice is often equally straightforward.
文學獎得主往往不會公開獎金使用方式，但他們的選擇通常也很明確。

"Even if Nobel-winning authors are quite well known, many of them will not have made much money from writing," said Anna Gunder, a Nobel literature expert at Uppsala University.
“雖然獲得諾貝爾獎的作家都頗有名氣，但很多人沒靠寫作賺到錢，”瑞典烏普薩拉大學的諾貝爾文學專家安娜?甘德說。

While the prize might keep the wolf from the door for some years, giving them freedom to write, it can also briefly have the opposite effect.
雖然獎金能讓他們過幾年衣食無憂的生活，令他們能自由寫作，但也可能在短時期內產生相反效果。

"It really changes their careers... During the first year after they've won they often write less, but they generally continue after a year or two," said Gunder.
“獎金真的會改變他們的職業生涯……得獎后一年內，他們的寫作量往往會降低，但通常一兩年后就會恢復正常，”甘德說。

Vocabulary

laureate: 獲得榮譽者；獲獎者
croquet: 槌球游戲
splash out: 大手大腳地花錢
keep the wolf from the door: 勉強度日，免于饑餓

英文來源：hindustantimes
譯者：楊軒
審校&編輯：丹妮