Her childhood interest in science was a prefiguration of her future career as a researcher.

prefiguration 由前缀 pre-（表示"预先、提前"）和词根 figura（拉丁语，意为"形状、形象"）加上名词后缀 -tion 构成，字面意思是"预先形成的形象"。这个词指"早期迹象"或"预示"，表示某种事物在早期阶段就显现出未来发展的征兆。