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 the 20th century scientific thought 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 一 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.

　　词汇：

　　unravel 解开 personify 象征，体现

　　synonymous 同义的 intricate 复杂的

　　runner-up 亚军，第二名 constant 常量

　　icon 象征;图符 variable 变量

　　totalitarianism 极权 equation 等式

　　注释：

　　1.President Franklin Roosevelt:美国第 32 任总统罗斯福(1882—1945)

　　2.Mahatma Gandhi:印度政治和精神领袖、改革家甘地(1869—1948)

　　3.He could not stomach organized learning and loathed taking exams.他无法忍受一切都安排得 死死的教学，讨厌考试。

　　4.avowed pacifist:公开承认的和平主义者

　　练习：

　　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.

　　答案与题解：

　　1.C本文主要讲爱因斯坦为20世纪人类科学作出的重大贡献。本段是理论物理学家史蒂 芬?霍金在《时代》杂志上发表的一篇评价爱因斯坦所作贡献的文章中的几句话，他说世界 在近100年里发生的改变比历史上任何一个世纪的改变都大得多。原因不是政治的或经济 的,而是基础科学的发展直接引发的科技。这两句话并未提及爱因斯坦，因此此处选C最合 适：“很显然，没有哪个科学家比艾尔伯特?爱因斯坦更能代表这些进步。"those在此发挥了 衔接作用。
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