知性英语－阿尔伯特-爱因斯坦

 
　　Why was Einstein so clever?

　　Was there something special about his brain?

　　In fact scientists have examined Einstein's brain very thoroughly¹ and found that the part of the brain that has to do with visual imaging and mathematical thinking was in fact enlarged. However, this does not altogether account for his greatness.

　　There were other factors that helped nurture² this genius. Einstein had a very supportive and encouraging environment in which to grow up. His parents allowed him to develop his curiosity. His mother taught him to play the violin and he played it very well. His uncle also encouraged him enormously. Einstein, you know, was not very interested in school and would much prefer to think things out for himself.

　　Do you know he even failed at his first attempt to get into a prestigious³ school in Switzerland? He was born in Germany in a town called Wurm on the 14th of March 1879. But his family moved to Switzerland when he was 16 years old. Do you know what subject caused him to fail? Yes, you guessed it - English! He didn't give up though, and studied hard and tried again, and was accepted the next year. Even at university he sometime missed classes because he had too much on his mind and could not tear himself away. Fortunately, he had a good friend who took notes for him.

　　Einstein always looked at problems from every angle and was convinced that there is a unifying⁴ cause that relates everything together.

　　Of course he is most famous for his theory of relativity. Everyone knows the equation E=mc2. You can look in the science section for an explanation for this. Einstein liked to use the example of a tall building to explain the understanding behind this equation. Imagine you are in an infinitely⁵ tall building and you are coming down inside it in an elevator. You don't realize you are falling because you are doing everything you can normally do - you can bend over, bounce a ball, talk and so on. You won't worry about crashing because, remember, the building is infinite. Of course, people outside will be able to see you falling! You won't worry about that - in fact you may think that those people are flying up as you are going down! It all depends on your point of view and its all relative to where you are and how fast you are going!

 
　　Einstein was also passionately⁷ interested in peace and could not live in his homeland after the rise of Hitler. He lived in the United States but traveled extensively around the world. He was always able to reach out to children and loved to answer their questions. He believed that we should share our talents and resources to make our world better. He was passionate⁶ about social justice and social responsibilities and said that he wanted his life to be guided by Kindness, Beauty and Truth.

　　One of his last acts was to allow his name to be added to a manifesto⁸ urging all nations to give up nuclear weapons. He died in Princeton, New Jersey⁹, on April 18th 1955. Before he died he stated that he would allow his brain to be preserved for science.

　　Einstein's theories are still valid¹⁰ today. For the last 30 years of his life he was working on the Unified¹¹ Field Theory. He was not able to prove this in his lifetime and in fact although great advances have been made in this area of Physics it is still not proven. Perhaps you can help to lead us to the answer!

1 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

2 nurture   

n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持

参考例句：

• The tree grows well in his nurture.在他的培育下这棵树长得很好。
• The two sisters had received very different nurture.这俩个姊妹接受过极不同的教育。

3 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

4 unifying   

使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外，他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
• There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题，把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。

5 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

6 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

7 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

8 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

9 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

10 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

11 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。