On these islands, he observed the world’s largest turtles, the iguana lizards, and finches, a type of bird. These birds were on different islands and varied from each other, especially in their beaks.
Darwin took many notes on this long adventure. When he returned to England, his body was broken and he was essentially ill for the rest of his life. However, he came to the interesting conclusion that certain finches adapted better to their environment in a process called natural selection. Those species more fitted to their environment would be the ones most likely to breed and succeed in producing the next generation.
In 1859, he wrote On the Origin of Species, which became the most significant book ever written on the theory of evolution. His ideas have had more influence than anyone concerning how living species developed over time.
Questions
1. Darwin failed in the three schools of ______.
A. Science, Philosophy, Medicine
B. the Classics, Medicine, Theology
C. History, Science, Medicine
D. the Classics, Language, Religion
2. Darwin’s theory of evolution came from his study of _______.
A. giant turtles B. finches
C. iguana lizards D. many animals
3. On the Origin of Species is about _______.
A. scientific discoveries
B. very old life forms
C. development over time
D, animal descriptions
Key: 1-3 BBC
4. Marie Curie Radium and Radioactivity
Marie Curie (1867 — 1934) was born in Poland. Her parents gave her the name Manya Skladowska. She admired her father who was a middle school teacher of physics in the city of Warsaw.
Her mother was an excellent pianist and some have said she received her brains from her father and her good hand co-ordination from her mother. She studied very hard and won the gold medal for academic work in her high school. It was the third time a member of her family of four children had won the first place prize.
At this time, Poland was controlled by Russia. Her father wanted freedom for his country and when he voiced his opinions, he lost his teaching job. He never regained a job with a good salary again, so his family became very poor.
Her mother died when she was ten years old. Without money, it was difficult for the bright Skladowska children to go to college.
Marie’s older sister Bronya wanted to study at the Sorbonne, a French university in Paris. Marie offered to work as a governess to pay for her sister’s education if Bronya would help Marie after her graduation. This did occur and Marie started college at the Sorbonne at the age of 25.
One day a Polish professor was visiting Paris and Marie came to his apartment. The young professor Pierre Curie also was there. He was the head of the university library of chemistry and physics. The two became friends and later married.
They did their research together. They discovered two new radiocative elements in pitchblendeores. They were called polonium and radium. They isolated the pure elements in 1902 and received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903.
In April 1906, Pierre slipped on wet pavement and was killed when a heavy truck ran over him. Marie was deeply saddened. However, she took her husband’s position as a professor at the Sorbonne and continued her research. She was the first woman in France to become a professor in a university.
Marie gave the name radioactivity to the penetrating power of certain types of waves. In 1911, she received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She died from radium poisoning, a martyr to her own work.
Questions
1. Marie Curie was inspired to study science because of her _______.
A. middle school teacher B. mother
C. sister D. father
2. Marie shared the Nobel Prize for Physics by discover ring _______.
A. two new elements B. uranium
C. radium D polonium
3. A martyr to her own work means she _______.
A. worked too hard
B. died in her library
C. was affected by radium rays
D. sacrificed her personal life for her work
Key: DAD
5. Issac Newton
Newton (1642 — 1727) was an English mathematician who laid the foundations for physics as a modern scientific discipline. Everyone knows the story that when he was sitting under a tree, he watched an apple fall to the ground. As he thought about the reason of its falling, he reasoned that both apples and planets are similar in that they are objects that respond to a force that attracts them. The year of this observation was 1666 when he was 24 years old.
Newton was educated at Trinity College in Cambridge. He was so brilliant that he was offered a full professorship at age 27 in mathematics, also at Cambridge. However, he didn’t publish his theory of planet movement for 21 years because everyone thought his reasoning was faulty. He told his friends that he would print nothing about his ideas because it would attract too much attention, which would interfere with his scientific work.
However, in 1687, he finally published a three volume book entitled Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Today, it is considered the greatest scientific work ever written.
Newton believed that the law of gravity made the universe run like a huge clock, as if designed by a master designer. Scientists who read this work during his lifetime did not believe Newton’s theory of gravitational pull was correct. One claimed that Newton would not have twenty followers of his research in his lifetime. Actually, there were even less, because very few scientists seemed interested in his work.
Newton said, “Just give me the mass, and the position of the motion of a system of heavenly bodies at any given moment and I will calculate their future positions and motions by a set of rigid and unerring mathematical calculation. I will calculate the tides of the oceans and the motions of the waters and the earth. For the earth attracts the moon and the moon attracts the earth, and the force of each in turn tends to keep them in a state of perpetual resistance.”
Newton also developed the mathematical system that is called calculus. His studies of white light led to the understanding that light is made up of many colors. However, the most important was his theory of gravitational pull, which is the basis of all flights into space today.
Questions
1. In his lifetime, Newton’s theory of gravity was _______.
A. respected B. strange
C. not believed D. welcomed
2. Newton believed the universe was _______.
A. formed naturally B. running in perfect order C. a big puzzle D. difficult to explain
3. The moon and the earth stay in perfect balance because of _______.
A. attraction B. resistance
C. motion D. attraction and resistance
Key: 1-3 CBD
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