In 1905, as part of his special theory of relativity, Albert Einstein published the point that a large amount of energy could be released from a small amount of matter. This was expressed by equation E=mc2 (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). But bombs were not what Einstein had in mind when he published this equation.
In 1929, he publicly declared that if a war broke out he would "refuse to do war service, direct or indirect…" His position would change in 1933, as the result of Adolf Hitler's coming into power in Germany.
Einstein's greatest role in the invention of the atom bomb was signing a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt urging that the bomb be built because some physicists feared that Germany might be working on an atom bomb. Among those concerned were physicists Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner. But Szilard and Wigner had no influence on those in power. So in July 1939 they explained the problem to someone who did: Albert Einstein. After talking with Einstein, in August 1939 Szilard wrote a letter to President Roosevelt with Einstein's signature on it, which was delivered to Roosevelt in October 1939.
Germany had invaded Poland the previous month; the time was ripe for action. That October the research of A-bomb began but proceeded slowly because the invention of the atom bomb seemed distant and unlikely. In April 1940 an Einstein letter, ghostwritten by Szilard, pressed the researchers on the need for "greater speed".
As the realization of nuclear weapons grew near, Einstein looked beyond the current war to future problems that such weapons could bring. He wrote to his friend about his fear about the future use of the A-bomb.
The atom bombings of Japan occurred three months after Germany gave in.
In November 1954, five months before his death, Einstein summarized his feelings about his role in the creation of the atom bomb: "I made one great mistake in my life…when I signed a letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification—the danger that the Germans would make them."
Pink has never been one of the favourite colours of the fashion industry, as it's often seen as silly and not cool enough. But this spring, it's having its moment in the spotlight, all thanks to the fact that the colour is no longer all about being girly and sweet. Instead, pink is taking on a new meaning of independence and power.
This shift happened last month during the Women's March. Tens of thousands of women filled the streets of major cities in the US and in countries all around the world to protest(抗议)against the disrespect to women. What was unusual about the protests is that a lot of people taking part were wearing pink hats, making the streets appear like a "sea of pink". Even though the hats were without any slogan (标语),their pink colour is thought to have sent out a message that is louder than any words. "We women have power and we're not going to sit down and shut up," Aileen Gildea, one of the protesters in the US, told The Boston Globe.
Now young people are changing their attitudes to pink. They are no longer trying to escape pink, but give new meanings to it instead.
"Women who came before us had to get away from the symbols used to make women seem less capable. Younger women don't have that reaction. They're more interested in breaking and rebuilding those symbols," Audrey Gelman, a businesswoman in the US, told The Wall Street Journal.
So sometimes it's not the thing itself that needs to be changed, but the way we look at it. And in the case of pink, what used to be seen as silly may be turned into something really serious.
A rare virus infection has appeared in the central United States, a team of doctors has just reported. The virus causes fevers, a drop in the blood's infection-fighting white cells and a reduction in the blood platelets(血小板). Up to now, there have been eight confirmed cases. Seven men became very sick with the disease but recovered. The eighth man died.
The disease was first noticed in June, 2009. Two Missouri farmers came to the hospital. They reported headaches, nausea, high fevers, and diarrhea (腹泻). And they were very, very tired. Blood tests showed the men had low white-blood-cell counts. Both men reported they had been recently bitten by ticks(蜱). The first man said his wife removed a tick from his body the day before his fever began. The second farmer had been "ticked" a lot. He told doctors he had averaged 20 tick bites a day for almost two weeks. His last tick bite had been about three days before his fever struck.
Ticks spread many diseases, so the doctors tested for common ones. Their tests didn't turn up anything. Antibiotics(抗生素) failed to help. But that was not surprising as it turned out that both men were infected with a virus.
Although doctors guessed the virus came from the bite of an infected tick, they couldn't be sure. So Harry Savage of the CDC(Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) and his colleagues hunted ticks at 12 places, including the farms belonging to the first two Missouri patients. In all, they collected 56,428 of the tiny animals. There were three different species of ticks in their collection. But the result is still unknown. Get to know more news, please click here.
The worst tourist(旅行者) in the world may be Nicholas Scottie of San Francisco. Once he flew from the US to his hometown in Italy. He had some trouble on his journey. The night before, he stayed up late to deal with some e-mails, so when he boarded the plane he decided to have a sleep. Hours later, he was woken up by some noise and he found the plane had landed.
As he thought he had arrived home, Mr Scottie got off the plane. He thought he was in Rome. However, the truth was that the plane made a one-hour stop to get oil at John F. Kennedy International Airport of New York.
Mr Scottie waited at the airport for some while, but nobody was there to meet him. He thought maybe they were held up by heavy traffic which was very common in Rome. He decided to give his family a phone call. Unfortunately, he found he had left his cellphone at the hotel in San Francisco. Therefore, he decided to go home by himself. While he was walking in the city, Mr Scottie found that the old “Rome" had changed a lot. Many old buildings were replaced by high modern ones. He also found that many people spoke English instead of Italian and that many street signs were written in English. What made him most surprised was that drivers' awareness of traffic safety was improved and he hardly found any driver speeding on the road. All cars were driving in line. The condition was widely different from that in the past. He was feeling proud.
Mr Scottie knew very little English, so he asked a policeman (in Italian) the way to the bus station. He happened to meet a policeman who was also born in Italy and answered him in the same language. Mr Scottie thanked him, left, quickly found the bus station and got on a bus. He looked outside of the bus window.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
After twelve hours' travelling round on a bus, Mr Scottie thought to himself that Rome had changed so much that he even failed to find his home.
Paragraph 2:
To get him on a plane back to San Francisco, the police sent him to the airport in a police car with sirens(警报器) on.
