Einstein Named “Person of the Century”

Albert Einstein, whose theories on space time and matter helped unravel the secrets of the atom and of the universe, was chosen as “Person of the Century” by Time magazine on Sunday.

A man whose very name is synonymous with scientific genius, Einstein has come to represent more than any other person the flowering of 20th century scientific though that set the stage for the age of technology.

“The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic, but technological—technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science,” wrote theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in a Time essay explaining Einstein’s significance. _____ (1) _____.

Time chose as runner-up President Franklin Roosevelt1 to represent the triumph of freedom and democracy over fascism, and Mahatma Gandhi2 as an icon for a century when civil and human rights became crucial factors in global politics.

“What we saw was Franklin Roosevelt embodying the great theme of freedom’s fight against totalitarianism, Gandhi personifying the great theme of individuals struggling for their rights, and Einstein being both a great genius and a great symbol of a scientific revolution that brought with it amazing technological advances that helped expand the growth of freedom, ”said Time Magazine Editor Walter Isaacson.

Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879. _____ (2) _____. He was slow to learn to speak and did not do well in elementary school. He could not stomach organized learning and loathed taking exams3.

In 1905, however, he was to publish a theory which stands as one of the most intricate examples of human imagination in history. _____ (3) _____. Everything else—mass, weight, space, even time itself—is a variable. And he offered the world his now-famous equation: energy equals mass times the speed of light squared—E=mc2.

_____ (4) _____. “There was less faith in absolutes, not only of time and space but also of truth and morality. ”

Einstein’s famous equation was also the seed that led to the development of atomic energy and weapons. In 1939, six years after he fled European fascism and settled at Princeton University, Einstein, an avowed pacifist4, signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the United States to develop an atomic bomb before Nazi Germany did. _____ (5) _____. Einstein did not work on the project.

Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey in 1955.

詞匯：

unravel [?n'r?v?l] vt. 解開 personify [p?(:)'s?nifai] vt. 象征，體現(xiàn)

synonymous [si'n?nim?s] adj. 同義詞 intricate ['intrikit] adj. 復(fù)雜的

runner-up 亞軍，第二名 constant ['k?nst?nt] n. 常量

icon ['a?k?n] n. 象征;圖符 variable ['vε?ri?bl] n. 變量

totalitarianism [,t??t?l?`te?r??n?z?m] n. 極權(quán)主義

equation [i'kwei∫?n] n.等量

注釋：

1. President Franklin Roosevelt ：美國第32任總統(tǒng)羅斯福 (1882-1945)

2. Mahatma Gandhi ：印度政治和精神領(lǐng)袖、改革家甘地(1869-1948)

3. He could not stomach organized learning and loathed taking exams. ：他無法忍受一切都安排得死死的教學(xué)，討厭考試。

4. avowed pacifist ：公開承認(rèn)的和平主義者

練習(xí)：

A. “Indirectly, relativity paved the way for a new relativism in morality, art and politics,” Isaacson wrote in an essay explaining Time’s choices.

B. How he thought of the relativity theory influenced the general public's view about Albert Einstein.

C. “Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein.”

D. Roosevelt heeded the advice and formed the “Manhattan Project” that secretly developed the first atomic weapon.

E. In his early years, Einstein did not show the promise of what he was to become.

F. In his “Special Theory of Relativity,” Einstein described how the only constant in the universe is the speed of light.

答案與題解：

1. C 本文主要講愛因斯坦為20世紀(jì)人類科學(xué)作出的重大貢獻(xiàn)。本段是理論物理學(xué)家史蒂芬·霍金在《時代》雜志上發(fā)表的一片評價愛因斯坦所做貢獻(xiàn)的文章中的幾句話，他說世界在過去的100年發(fā)生的變化比以往任何一個世紀(jì)都大得多，其原因不在于政治或經(jīng)濟，而在于技術(shù)----由于基礎(chǔ)科學(xué)的進(jìn)步而直接造就的新技術(shù)者兩句話并未提及愛因斯坦，因此此處選C最合適：“顯然，沒有一位科學(xué)家能比愛因斯坦更好地代表這些科學(xué)進(jìn)步?！眛hose 在此發(fā)揮了銜接作用。

2. E 本段簡要介紹愛因斯坦早年生平。E說：“愛因斯坦在小時候并未顯示日后會成為大科學(xué)家的任何天賦。”后一句話實際上是對E的詳細(xì)解釋。

3. F 本段主要介紹愛因斯坦提出的相對論。第一句話告訴我們1905年的時候愛因斯坦發(fā)表一個人類歷史上展現(xiàn)出最具奇巧想象力的理論，第三、四句話是具體解釋相對論，F(xiàn)說：“在‘特殊相對論‘中，愛因斯坦描述了宇宙中為什么唯一恒定的是光速?！庇纱丝磥鞦放在此處最合適，其中constant 和variable意思相反，構(gòu)成詞匯銜接(lexical cohesion)。

4. A 本段是伊薩克森在《時代》雜志上的一篇文章中對相對論的深遠(yuǎn)意義所做的評述，他說：“相對論間接地位道德、藝術(shù)和政治領(lǐng)域中新相對主義的出現(xiàn)鋪平了道路?！焙笠痪涫菍Υ说倪M(jìn)一步解釋。

5. D 本段主要講愛因斯坦與原子能和原子武器發(fā)展的關(guān)系。前一句告訴我們愛因斯坦1939年在一封信給羅斯福總統(tǒng)的敦促美國搶在納粹德國之前研制原子彈的信上簽了名。D說：“羅斯福對這項建議十分關(guān)注，遂制定了秘密制造第一顆原子彈的‘曼哈頓計劃’?！焙笠痪湔f愛因斯坦未參與這項計劃，其中 the project 指的就是 the “Manhattan Project”。

報考選擇：職稱英語報考科目|級別選擇|報名條件及相關(guān)問題解答

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