上海新世紀英語高二全部課文及重點詞組

the highlight of our friendship came in our junior year, when ryan asked me to hold the flag that would mark the spot where he would begin his olympic torch run. when he asked me, i didn’t know what to say. “why me?” i asked. he gently responded that he would be honoured if i would accept this position. he said that the olympic committee sent a letter saying that the person that holds the flag must be someone important to him, and i was important to him because i was the only true friend he had ever made that talked to him and not to his wheelchair. how could i refuse such a gracious compliment and request?
on june fifth, i took the flag and reached ryan’s starting point early. by then, the streets had begun to fill with students from the surrounding schools and the area residents. everyone was excited. then came the van that carried the torch runners. all of the runners got out except ryan. they lined up outside of the van and began to chant his name. ryan! ryan! then all of the people that lined the streets joined in. ryan! ryan! all i could do was not to cry.
the lift then lowered ryan to the ground. there he was, in all his glory. people saw him for ryan and not for his wheelchair. it all became slow motion at the sight of the arriving torch. i gave ryan a hug and then stepped into my spot. the runner lit ryan’s torch and then ryan began his journey. as he took off down the street, the chanting became louder and louder. the excitement filled the air. i could not have been any prouder of ryan! he deserved this moment in time---a historic moment that he was a part of and allowed me to be a part of, too.
that moment will last in time forever. it expressed the whole meaning of the flame: love, enthusiasm, and brotherhood. it showed us all that love is really what makes this small world go around.
25. the father of modern physics
albert einstein was born of jewish parents in 1879 in germany. he did badly in most subjects at school, but was fascinated by mathematics, which he did quite well. when he was fifteen, his family moved to italy, and from there he went to switzerland to attend a polytechnic school.
after gaining a teaching qualification from the polytechnic, einstein took a post as a junior clerk in an office. einstein was happy to get such an easy job, because it gave him plenty of time to think about physics. it was the “thought experiments” that he carried out in his head that led to a new understanding of space, time and gravity(引力).
in 1905, when he was twenty-six years old, einstein began to publish his thoughts. one of his theories provided an explanation for a puzzling effect, called the photoelectric effect(光電效應), which had been noticed some years earlier. it was in 1921 that he was awarded the nobel prize for physics for his work on the photoelectric effect.