A Pioneer for all People
Though he was one of China’s most famous scientists, Yuan Longping considered himself a farmer, because he worked the land to do his research.
Known as “Father of Hybrid Rice (杂交水稻)”, Dr. Yuan graduated from Southwest Agricultural (农业的) College in 1953. From then on, finding ways to grow more rice was his life goal. As a young man, he saw the great need for increasing (增长) the rice production (生产). At that time, hunger was a serious problem in many parts of the countryside. Dr. Yuan searched for a way to get more rice with the same size of the fields. In 1974, he became an agricultural pioneer in the world to grow rice that has high production and that is called super hybrid rice.
In the 1980s, he went around the world and gave advice about growing rice to farmers in other countries. In 2004, he won the World Food Prize for his work.
Dr. Yuan was quite satisfied with his life. He would much rather keep time for his hobbies. He enjoyed playing the violin, swimming and reading. Spending money on himself meant very little to him, so he gave millions of yuan to help some researchers with their research in farming.
Long ago Dr. Yuan had a dream about rice plants as tall as sorghum (高粱). With his hard work, he grew the rice that could feed more people. President Xi Jinping praised him for his great contributions (贡献) to China’s food safety and world corn development.
阅读短文，回答下列问题。
1. Why did Dr. Yuan consider himself a farmer?
2. What is Dr. Yuan known as?
3. When did Dr. Yuan win the World Food Prize?
4. Did Dr. Yuan help other researchers?
5. What did Dr. Yuan make contributions to according to the passage?
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1. What sports does Alan like?
2. What does Alan think of baseball?
3. Where are Helen’s books?
4. Who has four basketballs?
5. What sport is easy for David?
In the early 19th century (世纪), many people in Britain were moving from the countryside to cities to work in factories. Life was difficult for these people. Most factory workers had to work long hours and lived in small rooms. They weren’t very happy with city life and missed their farms in the countryside.
Richard Vaughan Yates was a factory owner. He worried about his workers. So he decided to provide his workers with a green space near his factory in Toxteth in south Liverpool. There his workers could enjoy plants, just like they did in the countryside. He paid the famous gardener (园艺家) Joseph Paxton to build Britain’s first town park, Princes Park. And Princes Park opened in 1842. Then, the next year, Birkenhead, a town near Liverpool, paid Paxton to build another park, Birkenhead Park, and it opened in 1847. Finally, factory workers in Liverpool had places near their homes to relax after a hard day at work.
Soon other towns and cities in Britain learned about Liverpool’s parks. By 1990, many big towns and cities in Britain had one park. The famous architect (建筑师) Rogers said “parks are one of Britain’s great creations (创作)”. It’s hard to disagree with him. With parks, we can have a break from the stress of our lives. And that’s very important.
1. Did most factory workers like their city lives in the early 19th century?2. How did Richard Vaughan Yates help his workers?
3. When did Birkenhead Park open?
4. What do you think of the city parks? why? (写出至少2点原因)
Jing Baoshan is 69 years old. He lives a quite special life in Pinglu, Shanxi. Jing’s given name, “Baoshan”, means “protecting (保护) the mountains”.
In 1970, 18-year-old Jing joined the People’s Liberation Army of China, and then he worked in the Tanggula Mountains for 17 years. In 1987, Jing returned to his hometown in Pinglu and became a forest ranger (护林员). He loved the forest and said the trees were all his children.
Jing patrolled (巡查) the forest once a week. He took a hatchet (手斧) to protect himself from dangerous animals during the 30-km walking. At the lookout tower (塔), he also used a telescope (望远镜) to watch the forest once an hour and reported to his workmates every three days. He wrote his diary under a candle and talked to stars when he felt lonely (孤独的).
Jing retired (退休) in 2012. During his 25 years of service, Jing helped fight forest fires many times. There was a forest fire in 2000. Unluckily, four villagers died. He cried (哭) sadly and decided to protect the forest for the rest (剩下的) of his life. Jing didn’t leave the forest after he retired. He kept protecting it as a volunteer (志愿者).
1. When did Jing Baoshan become a forest ranger?2. Why did Jing often take a hatchet to the forest?
3. What happened in the year 2000?
4. What do you think of a forest ranger’s job?
On January 9, 1896, Mao Yisheng was born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. He was a famous bridge expert, civil engineering scientist and educator of China. He joined the Communist Party of China in October 1987.
Mao Yisheng moved with his family to Nanjing shortly after he was born. In Nanjing, the young Mao received a modern education that included maths, science and arts rather than a more traditional Chinese classical education. He graduated from Tangshan Engineering College in 1916. In 1917, he was accepted into America’s Cornell University where he earned his Master’s degree. Then he moved to Carnegie Mellon University where he became the first PhD student in the university’s history. His dissertation (博士论文) contributed greatly to bridge theory in the 1920s.
Dr. Mao was considered as the founder (奠基人) of modern bridge engineering in China. He designed Qiantang River Bridge, the first road-and-railway bridge designed and built by a Chinese. His rich experience in building the bridge is worth writing about in international bridges. He also took part in the design of China’s first modern bridge—Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. Moreover, Dr. Mao also led the design of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. He became an academician (院士) of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955, and the first Chinese scientist to be awarded the title of a foreign academician of the United States National Academy of Engineering in 1982.
Upon his return to China, Dr. Mao worked in five famous universities and held the position of president (校长) of four of them. He greatly influenced Chinese engineering education by introducing new teaching methods. What’s more, Dr. Mao was a famous scholar of the history of science in China. He publicly supported popular science education, and wrote a large number of science articles.
Dr. Mao passed away in Beijing at the age of 93. He was awarded the title of “the most beautiful fighter” in 2019. Mao Yisheng played an important role in Chinese structural engineering. Today his bridges connect people throughout the country.
| Personal information | ➢Mao Yisheng (1896—1989) is a bridge expert, scientist and educator. ➢He became a |
| Education | ➢At an ➢After graduating from Tangshan Engineering College, he went abroad for ➢His dissertation made a great |
| Achievements | ➢Dr. Mao was the chief ➢He was an academician of ➢He ➢He wrote many science articles to |
| Praise | ➢Awarded “the most beautiful fighter”, he is of great |
Qian Xuesen, born in Shanghai in 1911 and died in 2009, came from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. He is a world famous scientist, aerodynamicist (空气动力学家), founder (缔造者) of China’s manned space flight, “Father of China’s scientific system” and “King of rocket”.
Qian graduated from Jiaotong University in 1934 and became one of the 20 public students to study in the United States in October. Qian made great achievements in science while studying and working in the United States. He became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (麻省理工学院) at the age of 36．
When the news of the birth of the People’s Republic of China reached the United States in 1949, Qian and his wife Jiang Ying discussed returning to China as soon as possible to serve our motherland.
However, in 1950, when Qian was stopped by US officials on his way to a port to return to China, he was put in jail (监狱). A senior American officer once said that Qian was worth five divisions ((军队编制中的)师) wherever he went. Since then, Qian was persecuted (迫害) by the US government and lost freedom. He lost weight of about fifteen kilograms in a month. The US government searched his home and took away all his belongings by force, including 800 kilograms of books and notebooks.
In 1955, with every effort that Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai had put, Qian, together with his wife and two children, returned to China. For many years, Qian led his team to work hard for our motherland in the field of missile and atomic bomb (导弹和原子弹), which was a great contribution to China’s national security (安全). Many VIPs sang high praise for him. In 1999, he was awarded the “Two Bombs and One Satellite Medal of Merit” (两弹一星功勋奖章).
1. How many other public students went to study in the US besides Qian in October, 1934?2. In which year did Qian become a professor at the MIT?
3. When was the PRC founded (成立)?
4. What was Qian’s value according to a senior American officer’s opinion?
5. Who played an important part in Qian’s returning to China?
Galileo who was a great Italian scientist was born in 1564. When he was in middle school, he planned to become a doctor, but he changed his mind. He liked a different kind of science—physics. In Galileo’s time, not much was known about how objects moved. He did an experiment by dropping two balls in different weights from a high tower and discovered that they hit the ground at the same time!
In later years, Galileo became interested in how the stars and planets moved. He watched the sky with a telescope(望远镜) he built by himself. Once again, he saw things no one had ever seen before. For example, he saw that the moon was not smooth. Then he noticed that the sun had spots(斑点) that seemed to move. Galileo died in 1642, but his work helped to change the world. He is sometimes called the father of modern science because he showed us how important it is to look carefully at things and to test out ideas with experiments.
A Great Scientist — Galileo | |
| The time and place he was born | In 1564 in |
| His job | A scientist |
| His discovery | Two balls in different |
| In later years | Seeing things with a telescope he built on his |
| The reason why he is called the father of modern science | Showing us how important it is to look |
