英语 读物

Lead-in

科学巨人爱因斯坦的格言警句。

The Greatest Albert Einstein Quotes

 Imagination is more important than knowledge.

 I never think of the future; it comes soon enough.

 Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

 Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.

 Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.

 The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax.

 Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

 Peace can not be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

 Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living by it.

 Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.

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 Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.

 We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

 The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…the solution to this problem lies in the heart of humankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.

Word count: 190

Level: **

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主打

麦克斯韦教授如何改变了我们的世界。

The Great Unification

This year, Italy celebrated 150 years since its unification, and America is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the civil war. Amid all these historical events, it is easy to overlook another significant unification set in spring 1861.

In March of that year, James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist, published the first piece of a four-part paper entitled On Physical Lines of Force (《论物理的力线》). In that paper, he revealed electricity, magnetism (磁) and light to be different manifestations (表现) of the same phenomenon.

By the mid-19th century, scientists had a fair understanding of each of the three components of electromagnetism (电磁学). However, no one could explain precisely why that was. Maxwell’s aim was initially to find a mathematical link between electricity and magnetism. But later his calculation made it clear that light is, in fact, an electromagnetic wave (电磁波). Physics had got its first unified theory.

2011 is full of anniversaries of notable events from the history of sciences. Chemists will be celebrating 350 years since the birth of modern chemistry; one hundred years ago in May, Ernest Rutherford (欧内斯特·卢瑟福), a New

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Zealand-born British scientist, put forward the model of the atom; and thirty years ago, Alan Guth (阿兰·古斯), an American particle physicist (粒子物理学家), published a paper suggesting the theory of inflationary universe (宇宙膨胀理论).

All these are worthy intellectual accomplishments, yet they pale in comparison with Maxwell’s. Maxwell’s greatness lies in that he showed that nature ought not to be taken at face value. He paved the way for the pursuit of physicists’ holy grail (圣杯): the grand unified theory, a set of equations which would explain all there is to know about physical reality.

Maxwell’s name means little to those without a scientific interest. But his life’s work is among the most enduring scientific achievements of all time, and he’s on a par with those of his more widely renowned peers, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

Word count: 328

Level: ****

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拓展

他才是《生活大爆炸》剧组中真正的科学家！

The Real TBBT Scientist

David Saltzberg, the science advisor to The Big Bang Theory (《生活大爆炸》) explains to you how he works for the crew (剧组).

Q: Do you write part of the scripts or you just answer the writers’ questions?

A: The writers send the scripts to me about a month in advance. Sometimes the science is already in there and I just fix it up a little if needed. Some of the writers themselves are big fans of science and know an impressive amount.

Q; Have you ever been on the set? If you have, what do you think of it?

A: I have gone to the taping of nearly every episode, just in case there is a last minute science question, but there rarely is. It is filmed in front of a live studio audience of a few hundred people so it is like attending live theater.

Q: What does the scienctific community think about Sheldon’s lines?

A: I don’t know how Jim Parsons does it. His lines are not only pronounced correctly, but really sound like a physicist saying them. Jim says he does not understand the science, but I don’t believe him. I think he works incredibly hard

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each week and comes in understanding what he is saying.

Q: What do your scientist friends think about this job?

A: The response I have received is overwhelmingly positive. We had a positive full page review in Science magazine (《科学》杂志). American Physical Society (美国物理学会) wrote to me that they loved the show and they even sent the cast (全体演员) physics toys.

Q：Have you ever met anyone with any of the characters’ personality?

A: While I have not met anyone quite so extreme, I am amazed by how often others tell me they have met Sheldons in their labs. Quite a few women have told me about how they had to dodge (躲避) the Howard Wolowitzes in their departments. I haven’t met anyone with Raj’s particular problem, but I sympathize. Leonard seems perfectly normal to me.

Word count: 332

Level: ***

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好书推荐

它是世界上最坏的狗狗，也是最好的狗狗。

Marley and Me

Looking for a heartwarming story about the life of a dog? Try John Grogan’s bestselling book Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog. This story of a young family making their way through life with the help of an extremely naughty dog will have you laughing out loud one moment, and then wiping a tear the next.

The book starts with a young couple, John and Jenny, newly married, looking for a new challenge in life. They are deeply in love, with a great house, great careers, and not a care in the world. Not until they bring Marley home, little did they know that their lives would never be the same again.

A little ball of fur when he was born, Marley turns out to be a ninety-seven pound Labrador retriever (拉布拉多猎犬) with a surprising amount of energy. Crashing through screen doors, destroying carpets, eating jewelry are all in a day’s work for him. Yet Marley has unconditional (无条件的) love for his family. Just as his ruinous (破坏性的) powers appear endless, there is no bounds to his love and loyalty.

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In this book John Grogan takes us along to some of Marley’s craziest adventures. Marley is thrown out of the obedience school (宠物训练学校) because he has humiliated the proud dog trainer; the family want to have a dinner in a restaurant but Marley ends up dragging the metal table and running across a couple of blocks, chasing another dog he’s spotted in street….

It is an excellent book that can be enjoyed by all sorts of people. The stories are funny, the drama is heartwarming and sincere, and the dog is a complete mess. In the end, Marley reminds us all that life should be lived to its fullest, and that we should love people unconditionally.

Word count: 302

Level: ***

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科技

2022世界杯遭遇高温挑战？人工造云来解围！

Pie in the Sky!

Scientists at Qatar University claim to have developed artificial clouds to provide shade for stadiums and training grounds at the 2022 World Cup.

The decision to award Qatar the tournament sparked controversy (争议) when it was announced in December 2010.

With temperatures soaring as high as 50 degrees Celsius in the summer, there was speculation the World Cup would take place in the winter. It was also suggested that some matches could be played in other areas of the Arabian Gulf. But FIFA have since dismissed (不予考虑) both ideas, insisting the tournament will go ahead in the summer and all matches will take place in Qatar.

Now, Qatar plans to air condition their World Cup stadiums via solar power, and scientists have designed the “clouds,” which will be produced at a cost of $500,000 each.

Saud Abdul Ghani, head of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at the university, said the “clouds” are made from a lightweight

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carbon structure, and carry a giant envelope of material containing helium gas (氦气). Four solar-powered engines will move the structure via remote control.

The primary function of the clouds will be to float above the various stadiums in order to filter both direct and indirect UV rays (紫外线), as well as to control temperatures at pitch level.

It is said that commercial models could be used at beaches and car parks.

Mohammed Bin Hammam, the Qatari President of the Asian Football Confederation (亚足联), has said his country is “well equipped to challenge the summer heat.”

Word count: 257

Level: ***

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文化

愤怒的小鸟带来欢乐无限。

The Joy of Angry Birds

It’s not a complicated game, and it doesn’t involve any clever new technology. But it’s great fun. It is, of course, Angry Birds (《愤怒的小鸟》).

You may have either played it, or seen someone else playing it. But if not, here is the basic idea.

Use your mobile phone touch-screen to shoot a series of colored birds, one after another, towards buildings containing one or more green pigs. The goal is to kill all the pigs by getting things to fall on them, knocking them to the ground or blowing them up. This usually requires multiple attempts as you try different strategies. Once you’ve finished a level, another slightly harder one appears, then another, and another.

It is hugely popular: about 30 million copies of the game have been downloaded in the past year. But Angry Birds is more than just mobile-phone game; it speaks for the pop-culture gaming trend of the year in three ways.

First, it can be enjoyed by people of all ages, and by both casual and hardcore gamers. Each attempt at a level takes just a few seconds, but it can be played for

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hours on end. It’s simple enough to pick up quickly, yet also has depth and replay value for the more obsessive gamer. Secondly, it runs on a phone, rather than a console (家用游戏机). Games have become a key selling point for smartphones. Finally, this is the perfect game for the age of economic recession. It’s either free or costs only a couple of pounds.

Rovio, the Finnish developer behind Angry Birds, is trying to make full use of its hit. He is working on versions of Angry Birds for gaming consoles and PCs, along with a line of stuffed birds and pigs.

Word count: 290

Level: ***