居里夫人

山东 孙启禄

玛丽·居里是第一个荣获诺贝尔科学类奖项的女科学家，也是第一个两度荣获诺贝尔奖的科学家。

体裁文章词数 建议用时约3817分钟人物传记

难词探意

1. obsessive /əb΄sesɪv/ adj. 着迷的

2. penniless /΄peniləs/ adj. 穷困的

3. trivial/΄trɪviəl/ adj. 琐碎的

4. extract/΄ekstrækt/ v. 提取；提炼

Only one person in history has received two Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields.That person is Marie Curie. Outwardly shy and retiring, this obsessive genius was not only the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, but the only woman to win twice for the discovery of radium and polonium (钋).

Marie was born on 7 November, 1867 in Warsaw. Aged 24, she moved to Paris, which was supposed to be a temporary move. Her plan was to gain her teacher's diploma and then return to Poland. But Parisian labs and loves changed the course of her life forever.

At first, Parisian life was a real challenge for a penniless student who was struggling to communicate in French and renting a tiny,freezing attic room where she piled all her clothing on her bed to keep warm at night.Finding work was also testing for a young girl in the male-dominated world of science. Marie repeatedly tried to find a job in a lab, but kept being met with rejection. Eventually she was given the chance to carry out some trivial tasks.But her technical proficiency immediately attracted attention, gaining the respect of her colleagues. It was while working in these labs that she met a certain scientist named Pierre Curie, later her husband.

In June 1898, Marie and Pierre extracted a black powder 330 times more radioactive than uranium (铀), calling their discovery polonium.Marie was unashamedly open about the fact that her native Poland inspired the name. Six months later, the Curies announced they'd found another new chemical element, radium. In 1903, Becquerel and the Curies shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of so-called “radioactivity”. This was groundbreaking. No woman had ever won a Nobel Prize before. But just when the Curies seemed to be flying high, Pierre had a tragic accident and died instantly.

Sadly, Marie moved the family to the outskirts of Paris, where Pierre's father played a big role in helping to bring up his granddaughters. Torn between family and science,Marie continued to throw herself into her work.Marie died in 1934. Her death was almost certainly the result of over-exposure to radiation,as she was so obsessed with her work.

1. Why did Marie move to Paris?

A. To find a job.

B. To have a travel.

C. To search for her husband.

D. To gain a teacher's diploma.

2. What's the meaning of the underlined word“testing” in paragraph 3?

A. Boring. B. Challenging.

C. Interesting. D. Amazing.

3. What made Marie gain the respect of her colleagues?

A. Her poor living conditions.

B. Her independent personality.

C. Her technical performance.

D. Her relationship with Pierre Curie.

4. What's polonium named after?

A. A country.

B. A prize.

C. A black powder.

D. A famous person.

At first, Parisian life was a real challenge for a penniless student who was struggling to communicate in French and renting a tiny,freezing attic room where she piled all her clothing on her bed to keep warm at night. 起初，对于一个身无分文、用法语交流困难的学生来说，巴黎的生活是一个真正的挑战，她租了一间小而冰冷的阁楼房间，在那里她会把所有的衣服都堆在床上以便晚上保暖。

【点石成金】该句中who引导定语从句，student是先行词， 该定语从句中包含另一个由where引导的定语从句，room为先行词。

爱因斯坦的《悼念玛丽·居里》译文节选

我幸运地同居里夫人有二十年崇高而真挚的友谊。我对她的人格的伟大愈来愈感到钦佩。 她的坚强，她的意志的纯洁，她的律己之严，她的客观，她的公正不阿的判断——所有这一切都难得地集中在一个人的身上。她在任何时候都意识到自己是社会的公仆，她极端地谦虚，永远不给自满留下任何余地。 由于社会的严酷和不平等，她的心情总是抑郁的。 这就使得她具有那样严肃的外貌，很容易使那些不接近她的人发生误解——这是一种无法用任何艺术气质来解释的少见的严肃性。一旦她认识到某一条道路是正确的，她就毫不妥协地并且极端顽强地坚持走下去。