填空题
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. {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}}
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Time chose as runner-up President Franklin Roosevelt to
represent the triumph of freedom and democracy over fascism, and Mahatma Gandhi
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. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}He was slow
to learn to speak and did not do well in elementary school. He could not stomach
organized learning and loathed taking exams.
In 1905, however,
he was to publish a theory which stands as one of the most intricate examples of
human imagination in history. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}}
{{/U}}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.
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{{/U}} {{/U}}"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 pacifist, signed a letter to President Roosevelt
urging the United States to develop an atomic bomb before Nazi Germany did.
{{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}Einstein did not work on the
project.
Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey in
1955.
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.