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Einstein Named "Person of the Century"
Albert Einstein, whose theories on space time and matter helped unravel (解决) 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 ( 同义的) 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.46
Time chose as runner-up President Franklin Roosevelt to represent the triumph of freedom and democracy over fascism, and Mahatma Gandhi as an icon (象征) 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 (象征，体现) 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 1879.47 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.48 Everything else--mass, weight, space, even time itself-- is a variable (变量) . And he offered the world his now-famous equation ( 方程式):energy equals mass times the speed of light squared--E=mc2.
49"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. 50 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.
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Why Would They Falsely Confess?
Why on earth would an innocent person falsely confess to committing a crime? To most people, it just doesn't seem logical. But it is logical, say experts, if you understand what can happen in a police interrogation (审讯) room. Under the right conditions, people's minds are susceptible(易受影响的) to influence, and the pressure put on suspects during police grillings (盘问) is enormous.46"The pressure is important to understand, because, otherwise, it's impossible to understand why someone would say he did something he didn't do. The answer is: to put an end to an uncomfortable situation that will continue until he does confess." Developmental psychologist Allison Redlich recently conducted a laboratory to determine how likely people are to confess to things they didn't do. 47 The researchers then intentionally crashed the computers and accused the participants of hitting the "alt" key to see if they would sign a statement falsely taking responsibility.
Redlich's findings clearly demonstrate how easy it can be to get people to falsely confess:59 percent of the young adults in the experiment immediately confessed. 48 Of the 15-to-16-year-olds, 72 percent signed confessions, as did 78 percent of the 12-tol3-year-olds.
"There's no question that young people are more at risk," says Saul Kassin, Professor at Williams College, who has done similar studies with similar results. 49 Both Kassin and Redlich note that the entire "interrogation" in their experiments consisted of a simple accusation--not hours of aggressive questioning-- and still, most participants falsely confessed. Because of the stress of a police interrogation, they conclude, suspects can become convinced that falsely confessing is the easiest way out of a bad situation.50
A. In her experiment, participants were seated at computers and told not to hit the "alt" key, because doing so would crash the systems.
B. "In some ways," says Kassin, "false confession becomes a rational decision."
C. "It's a little like somebody's working on them with a dental (牙齿的) drill," says Franklin Zimring, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
D. "But adults are highly vulnerable too."
E. How could an innocent person admit to doing something he didn't do?
F. Redlich also found that the younger the participant, the more likely a false confession.
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The Mysteries of Nazca
In the desert of Peru, 300 kilometers from Lima, one of the most unusual artworks in the world has mystified (迷惑) people for decades. 46 But from high above, these marks are huge images of birds, fish, seashells, all beautifully carved into the earth.
The Nazca lines are so difficult to see from the ground that they weren't discovered until the 1930s, when pilots spotted them while flying over the area. In all, there are about 70 different human and animal figures on the plain, along with 900 triangles, circles, and lines.
Researchers have figured out that the lines are at least 1,500 years old, but their purpose is still a mystery.47 However, it would probably be very tricky to land a spaceship in the middle of pictures of dogs and monkeys.
In the 1940s, an American explorer named Paul Kosok suggested that the drawings are a chronicle (记录) of the movement of the stars and planets.48 Later, an astronomer tested his theory with a computer, but he couldn't find any relation between the lines and movements in space.
Another explanation is that the lines may have been made for religious reasons. British researcher Tony Morrison investigated the customs of people in the Andes Mountain and learned that they sometimes pray by the side of the road. It's possible that in the past, the lines of Nazca were created for a similar purpose.49 But the local people have never constructed anything this big.
Recently, two other scientists, David Johnson and Steve Mabee, have speculated that lines could have been related to water. Nazca is one of the driest places in the world and receives only 2cm of rain every year. While Johnson was searching for ancient water sources in the area, he noticed that some waterways built by ancient people were connected with the lines. Johnson believes that the Nazca lines are a giant map of the underground water in the area. 50
A. Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs.
B. The largest picture may have been the sites for special ceremonies.
C. He called Nazca "the largest astronomy book in the world".
D. A Swiss writer named Erich von Daniken wrote that the Nazca lines were designed as a landing place for UFOs.
E. Other scientists are now searching for evidence to prove this.
F. Seen from the ground, it looks like lines scratched into the earth.
