Host： OK， the phone rings， really early in the morning. The caller ID says the calls from Sweden. If youre an academic or scholar， even if youre on furlough， especially this week， you know youd better pick up the phone， because it could be this guy.

Staffan Normark： The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has today decided to award the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to James Rothman， Randy Schekman， and Thomas Südhof.

Host： Typically， a Nobel Prize winner gets the call early in the morning…very early if the recipient is here in the U.S. And Staffan Normark might be the guy on the other end of the line. Hes the permanent secretary with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and its his job to call recipients to tell them theyve won a Nobel Prize in one of three fields， physics， chemistry， and economics.

So， Staffan， youve making these calls for the past few years. Is there a typical reaction from a winner？

Staffan： Therere many…many reactions. Erm…its usually not the laureate that is answering， usually its the wife. But the reaction is， of course， extremely different. Some of the laureates just get completely silent. In other cases， it could be “Oh my God，” or if they are strolling around somewhere in Europe， that they have to sit down on a bench and， you know， just get some fresh air. So its very， very different reactions， I must say.

Host： You ever got like a toddler on the line who doesnt know what the calls about and then just puts the phone down and hangs up？

Staffan： Er…We try to be very precise. When we phone up， we might have little tad of Swedish accent， saying for example， “This is an important call from Stockholm.” And usually then they dont hang up.

Host： Are there any rules like the announcement that we heard earlier？ Was that announcement made after the call was already made to the laureate？ Or how does it work？

Staffan： It works so that we make a decision in the Academy usually in the morning， and then after that， we go into a separate room， me and the secretary， and then we make the phone calls.

Host： I mean， as…as we suggested earlier， that your phone calls can be pretty darn early in the morning if the winner happens to be in California. What happens if you dont get through though？ I mean， youre not just gonna leave a message， are you？

Staffan： Usually， we get hold of them. But it has happened that they dont. And then， what we do is， we are sending an email at the same time that he or she has been awarded the Nobel Prize. And then it becomes public a little bit later.

Host： What is the best， most memorable， reaction youve ever gotten to calling somebody and telling theyre， they were a Nobel laureate？

Staffan： I think， you know， one of the excitements is of course when…when perhaps the laureate is not expecting anything， its a total surprise for the individual. And I made such calls and its fantastic. You， you can hear children noises in the background， and you just enter with your telephone call a normal day， somewhere， with a very， very unexpected call. I must say that is [an] extremely gratifying task to be able to do so.

Host： Yeah， definitely. Staffan Normark with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. If you ever get a call from him from Sweden， be polite. Chances are hell have good news for you.

主持人：好，電話響了，是在早上很早的時段。來電顯示表明電話來自瑞典。如果你是一名研究人員或者學者，即使你是在休假，如果這周你接到這個電話，你也明白你最好接電話，因為打電話來的有可能是這家伙。

斯塔凡·諾馬克：卡羅林斯卡學院諾貝爾大會今天決定把2013年的諾貝爾生理學與醫(yī)學獎共同頒給詹姆斯·羅斯曼、蘭迪·謝克曼及托馬斯·蘇德霍夫。

主持人：通常，諾貝爾獎的獲獎?wù)邥谝淮笤缃拥竭@個電話，如果獲獎?wù)呤窃诿绹募永Ｄ醽喼莸脑?，就真的會很早。而斯塔凡·諾馬克可能就是在電話另一頭的人。他是瑞典皇家科學院常任秘書長，他的工作就是給諾貝爾獎獲獎?wù)叽螂娫?，通知他們，他們獲得了以下三個獎中的一項：物理、化學，或經(jīng)濟學。

好了，斯塔凡，在過去的幾年里，你一直在打著這類通知電話。有沒有哪種反應(yīng)很具代表性？

斯塔凡：獲獎?wù)叩姆磻?yīng)有許多……許多種。呃……接電話的通常不是獲獎?wù)弑救?，而是他的妻子。但獲獎?wù)叩姆磻?yīng)當然是非常不一樣的。有些獲獎?wù)咄耆萑氤聊?。有些人呢，“老天爺啊”就是他們的反?yīng)，或者說如果有人正好在歐洲的某地漫步，他們得在長椅上坐下來，你知道，要緩過氣來。所以我得說，人們的反應(yīng)很不一樣。

主持人：有沒有發(fā)生過這樣的事情：接電話的是還不懂事的小孩子，根本弄不明白怎么回事，接著就把電話掛了。

斯塔凡：呃……我們會盡量做到言簡意賅。我們在打電話的時候，會用有一點瑞典口音的英語說，比如說，“這是一個來自斯德哥爾摩的重要電話”。一般情況下，他們不會把電話掛了的。

主持人：像我們剛剛聽到的通告，是否要遵循什么慣例嗎？你們會在給獲獎?wù)叽蜻^電話之后再向公眾宣布嗎？具體是怎么運作的？

斯塔凡：具體的過程是學院會在上午做出決定，然后我與另外一位秘書各自走進一個房間，打電話通知獲獎?wù)摺?/p>

主持人：我的意思是，像……像我們剛才說的，你們的通知電話對于生活在美國加利福尼亞州的人來說早得有點離譜。如果你們沒能與對方通上電話怎么辦？我是說，你們不會留電話留言吧，對不對？

斯塔凡：我們通常都能找得到他們。但如果真的聯(lián)系不上，那么，我們的做法是同時給獲獎?wù)甙l(fā)一個電子郵件，把獲獎的事告訴他們。然后會在晚些時候再向公眾宣布。

主持人：在你告訴一個人他獲得了諾貝爾獎時，你經(jīng)歷過的最棒的，最讓人難忘的反應(yīng)是什么？

斯塔凡：我想，你知道，最刺激的反應(yīng)之一就是對方完全沒有預(yù)料到，獲獎消息對這個人來說是事先毫無征兆的事。我曾經(jīng)打過這種電話，感覺真是好極了。你在電話里可以聽到孩子們在旁邊吵吵鬧鬧，而你通過這個電話，這個別人毫無防備的電話進入了對方正常的日常生活。我得說，完成這樣一個任務(wù)讓人非常有滿足感。

主持人：是的，肯定是如此。剛才參加節(jié)目的是瑞典皇家科學院的斯塔凡·諾馬克。不管在什么時候，如果你接到他從瑞典打來的電話，要客客氣氣的，因為他很可能有好消息要告訴你。