上海新世紀(jì)英語(yǔ)高二全部課文及重點(diǎn)詞組

in 1914, einstein became a professor of physics at the university of berlin and all went well until hitler came to power in 1933. einstein, who was jewish, spoke out against nazi crimes. as a result, he had to leave germany and spent the rest of his life teaching in the united states at princeton university.
in the long course of research, einstein developed his theories of relativity. these theories were so different and new that most scientists could do not believe or understand them, and it took a long time for them to be accepted.
einstein’s theories also predicted that solid objects can be changed into pure energy. this did lead to the development of nuclear power(核能) and the atomic bomb(原子彈). however, einstein himself protested against nuclear weapons, and became involved in the peace movement after the first world war.
einstein passed away in 1955 at the age of seventy-six. what he left behind is a wealth of ideas that form the foundation of modern physics today.
apart from his scientific work, einstein found much pleasure in simple pastimes. among his hobbies were sailing and playing the violin. besides, he loved the company of children.
although he was one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, einstein did not take himself seriously. once, when asked to enter a newspaper competition to write an article explaining how light is bent by gravity, he joked that the competition was much too difficult for him to enter.
26. the survival of the fittest
for a long time people had wondered how life had developed on earth. the bible(圣經(jīng)) stated that god had created everything in a week. some people did not believe this. “what about fossils?” they asked. “what has happened to the strange creatures which existed so many years ago?” they asked.
charles darwin(查爾斯•羅伯特•達(dá)爾文，英國(guó)生物學(xué)家，進(jìn)化論奠基人), a young man just out of university in 1831, was offered a job on a ship on a voyage of discovery around the world. life on board was tough. darwin was terribly seasick and was only happy when he was ashore collecting plant samples and observing animals. it was to be the most important journey in his life. it lasted for five years; he returned in october 1836.
darwin studied nature in south america and in a group of small islands in the south pacific. on each island there were birds. they were very similar, but the shape of their beaks, and even their eating habits varied. darwin wondered why they were different. then he realized that, long before, they had been the same. each island had different foods available. only the birds that could eat available food could survive, this might depend on having the right shape of beak. he realized that the same process happened with all living things. over millions of years, all plants and animals have gradually changed into the forms we see today. what we call “the survival of the fittest” he named “natural selection”. darwin called this slow process of change “evolution”. it explains why many kinds of creature, whose fossil remains, are no longer alive.