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1、大学英语精读第二册第5单元the professer and the yo-yoSeen through the eyes of a young friend Einstein was a simple, modest and ordinary man.The professor and the Yo-yo My father was a close friend of Albert Einstein. As a shy young visitor to Einsteins home, I was made to feel at ease when Einstein said, I have
2、something to show you. He went to his desk and returned with a Yo-Yo. He tried to show me how it worked but he couldnt make it roll back up the string. When my turn came, I displayed my few tricks and pointed out to him that the incorrectly looped string had thrown the toy off balance. Einstein nodd
3、ed, properly impressed by my skill and knowledge. Later, I bought a new Yo-Yo and mailed it to the Professor as a Christmas present, and received a poem of thanks. As boy and then as an adult, I never lost my wonder at the personality that was Einstein. He was the only person I knew who had come to
4、terms with himself and the world around him. He knew what he wanted and he wanted only this: to understand within his limits as a human being the nature of the universe and the logic and simplicity in its functioning. He knew there were answers beyond his intellectual reach. But this did not frustra
5、te him. He was content to go as far as he could. In the 23 years of our friendship, I never saw him show jealousy, vanity, bitterness, anger, resentment, or personal ambition. He seemed immune to these emotions. He was beyond any pretension. Although he corresponded with many of the worlds most impo
6、rtant people, his stationery carried only a watermark - W - for Woolworths. To do his work he needed only a pencil and a pad of paper. Material things meant nothing to him. I never knew him to carry money because he never had any use for it. He believed in simplicity, so much so that he used only a
7、safety razor and water to shave. When I suggested that he try shaving cream, he said, The razor and water do the job.But Professor, why dont you try the cream just once? I argued. It makes shaving smoother and less painful. He shrugged. Finally, I presented him with a tube of shaving cream. The next
8、 morning when he came down to breakfast, he was beaming with the pleasure of a new, great discovery. You know, that cream really works, he announced. It doesnt pull the beard. It feels wonderful. Thereafter, he used the shaving cream every morning until the tube was empty. Then he reverted to using
9、plain water. Einstein was purely and exclusively a theorist. He didnt have the slightest interest in the practical application of his ideas and theories. His E=mc2 is probably the most famous equation in history - yet Einstein wouldnt walk down the street to see a reactor create atomic energy. He wo
10、n the Nobel Prize for his Photoelectric Theory, a series of equations that he considered relatively minor in importance, but he didnt have any curiosity in observing how his theory made TV possible. My brother once gave the Professor a toy, a bird that balanced on the edge of a bowl of water and rep
11、eatedly dunked its head in the water. Einstein watched it in delight, trying to deduce the operating principle. But be couldnt. The next morning he announced, I had thought about that bird for a long time before I went to bed and it must work this way He began a long explanation. Then he stopped, re
12、alizing a flaw in his reasoning. No, I guess thats not it, he said. He pursued various theories for several days until I suggested we take the toy apart to see how it did work. His quick expression of disapproval told me he did not agree with this practical approach. He never did work out the soluti
13、on. Another puzzle that Einstein could never understand was his own fame. He had developed theories that were profound and capable of exciting relatively few scientists. Yet his name was a household word across the civilized world. Ive had good ideas, and so have other men, he once said. But its bee
14、n my good fortune that my ideas have been accepted. He was bewildered by his fame: people wanted to meet him; strangers stared at him on the street; scientists, statesmen, students, and housewives wrote him letters. He never could understand why he received this attention, why he was singled out as
15、something special.NEW WORDS modesta. having or expressing a not too high opinion of ones merits, abilities, etc. 谦虚的 yo-yon. 游游（一种用线扯动使用权忽上忽来的轮形玩具） easen. freedom from work, discomfort, trouble, difficulty, worry, etc. 悠闲；舒适；自在；安心 display n. show 展示 loopvt. 把（绳等）打成环n. 圈；环 stringn. 细绳；线；弦 balancen. condition of being steady 平衡v. keep in a state of balance properlyad. really; completely 非常；完全地 impressvt. have a strong effect on the mind or feelings of 给.深刻的印象 mail vt. send by post poemn. piece of writing in verse 诗 personalityn. character 个性 logicn. the science or method of reasoning 逻辑(学)
