VOA标准英语2013--Despite Paralysis, Hawking's Mind Soars

 

Despite Paralysis¹, Hawking²'s Mind Soars

When he turned 70 in 2012, Hawking was honored with a special exhibit at London’s Science Museum. The tribute gave visitors an inside look at the life and work of one of the world's greatest minds.

“We have some of the first drafts of Hawking’s key scientific papers," astronomy curator Alison Boyle says. "And we wanted to do a survey of the key highlights of his career from the early 1960s and 1970s, right through now, and we also have examples of all the popular work he’s done over the years.”

Universe equation

Born in Oxford³, England, in 1942, Hawking studied at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He became a math professor at Cambridge and held that post for more than 30 years. In 2009, he left to head the Cambridge University Center for Theoretical Physics.

Hawking has spent his life working on big, bold ideas, according to David Devorkin, historian and curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. 

“His primary passion is to understand physical reality," Devorkin says. "What is time? What is space? What is mass, and what do they have to do with one another other? The big push at Cambridge is to reduce the universe to one equation that encompasses⁴ everything.”

Bridging the gap

Hawking’s work has focused on bridging the gap between Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity -which explains how the pull of gravity controls the motion of large objects like planets- and the theory of quantum physics, which deals with the behavior of particles on the subatomic scale.

Hawking found a wider audience for those ideas with the 1988 publication of his best-selling book, “A Brief History of Time.” 

“The idea [is] that the universe is a logical one and one that follows certain rules," Devorkin says. "It’s out of that that he felt the necessity of a fundamental theory, because if the universe is knowable or logical, we should be able to figure out that logic⁵, and that’s what the fundamental theory is.”

Seminal⁶ work

Hawking is also celebrated⁷ for his seminal work on the strange cosmic phenomena⁸ known as black holes.

The London exhibit displayed the model Hawking once used to explain his ideas about the unimaginably dense⁹, heavy objects whose powerful gravity swallows up everything that comes close, even light.

“It shows the gravitational pull of a black hole," says Science Museum curator Alison Boyle. "So when a massive star collapses¹⁰ in on itself, it will keep and keep collapsing¹¹ until it gets to a point of infinite density¹². And that’s called a singularity, and that’s what’s right inside a black hole.”

Hawking applied¹³ the idea of singularity to the origin of the universe, which most scientists believe happened about 13 billion years ago in a cataclysmic explosion called the Big Bang.

“Much of our understanding of processes in the Big Bang come from Hawking’s work linking black hole physics to Big Bang physics," Devorkin says, "and he did a better job at it than anyone else.”

Another of the physicist's noted¹⁴ contributions is a theory dubbed¹⁵ Hawking Radiation. It proposes that black holes emit radiation and eventually evaporate and vanish. It’s an alternative explanation of the structure of the universe that also points to how it might end.

Overcoming the odds¹⁶

Since 1970, Hawking has been almost completely paralyzed by ALS, an incurable¹⁷, neurodegenerative condition. Confined to a wheelchair, he uses an advanced computer synthesizer to speak.

Despite his disabilities, he continues to work, write and travel. At age 65, he was invited aboard a special zero-gravity jet to fulfill¹⁸ his dream of experiencing the weightlessness of a space-faring astronaut. 

“It was amazing," Hawking said. "The Zero-G part was wonderful, and the High-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come!”

New era

Speaking at a 2008 ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the U.S. space agency, NASA, Hawking called for a new era in human space exploration, comparable, he said, to the European voyages to the New World more than 500 years ago.

“Spreading out into space will have an even greater effect," Hawking said. "It will completely change the future of the human race and maybe determine whether we have any future at all.”

Hawking also posed some fundamental questions.

“What will we find when we go into space?" he asked. "Is there alien life out there, or are we alone in the universe?”

Questions inspired by an indomitable mind, and Stephen Hawking's neverending quest to solve the mysteries of the universe. 

1 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

2 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 encompasses   

v.围绕( encompass的第三人称单数 )；包围；包含；包括

参考例句：

• The job encompasses a wide range of responsibilities. 这项工作涉及的职责范围很广。
• Its conservation law encompasses both its magnitude and its direction. 它的守恒定律包括大小和方向两方面。 来自辞典例句

5 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

6 seminal   

adj.影响深远的；种子的

参考例句：

• The reforms have been a seminal event in the history of the NHS.这些改革已成为英国国民保健制度史上影响深远的一件大事。
• The emperor's importance as a seminal figure of history won't be diminished.做为一个开创性历史人物的重要性是不会减弱的。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

9 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

10 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

11 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

12 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

13 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

14 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

15 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

17 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

18 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。