1 . Today, poetry and science are often considered to be mutually exclusive(互相排斥)career paths. But that wasn’t always the case. The mathematician Ada Lovelace and the physicist James Clerk Maxwell were both accomplished poets. The poet John Keats was a licensed surgeon. Combining the two practices fell out of favor in the 1800s. But translating research into lyrics, haiku, and other poetic forms is resurging(再现)among scientists as they look for alternative ways to inspire others with their findings.
“Poetry is a great tool for questioning the world,” says Sam Illingworth, a poet and a geoscientist who works at the University of Western Australia. Through workshops and a new science-poetry journal, called Consilience, Illingworth is helping scientists to translate their latest results into poems that can attract appreciation from those outside of their immediate scientific field.
Stephany Mazon, a scientist from the University of Helsinki in Finland, joined one of Illingworth’s workshops. In the workshop, she was grouped with other scientists and tasked with writing a haiku, a 17-syllable-long poem, which spotlighted water, a fluid that featured in all of the group members’ research projects. “It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly easy to write the poem,” Mazon says. She plans to continue writing. “We do a disservice(伤害)to ourselves to think that scientists can’t be artistic and that art can’t be used to communicate scientific ideas,” Mazon says.
That viewpoint is echoed by Illingworth, who thinks science communication initiatives are too often dominated by public lectures with their hands-off PowerPoint slides. “Actually, when science communication involves writing and sharing poems, it invites a two-way dialogue between experts and nonexperts,” he says. Scientist-poet Manjula Silva, an educator at Imperial College London, agrees. Poetry provides a way to translate complex scientific concepts into a language that everyone can understand, Silva says.
Scientists and poets are both trying to understand the world and communicate that understanding with others. The distinction between scientists and poets is less than people might think. We’re all just people with hopefully really interesting things to say and to share.
1. What is the purpose of mentioning the celebrities in paragraph 1?| A．To display they were talented. |
| B．To confirm they were out of favor. |
| C．To encourage different career paths. |
| D．To show poetry and science can be combined. |
| A．Promote a new science-poetry journal. |
| B．Inspire outsiders to pursue their careers in science. |
| C．Encourage science communication through poems. |
| D．Get scientists to exchange ideas about the latest research. |
| A．Conventional. | B．Effective. | C．Innovative. | D．Complex. |
| A．Scientists Take on Poetry |
| B．Scientists and Poets Think Alike |
| C．Poetry: A Great Tool to Question the World |
| D．Science Communication: A Two-way Dialogue |
2 . For the past five years, Paula Smith, a historian of science, has devoted herself to re-creating long-forgotten techniques. While doing research for her new book, she came across a 16th-century French manuscript（手稿）consisting of nearly 1,000 sets of instructions, covering subjects from tool making to finding the best sand.
The author's intention remains as mysterious（神秘）as his name; he may have been simply taking notes for his own records. But Smith was struck mainly by the fact that she didn't truly grasp any of the skills the author described. "You simply can't get an understanding of that handwork by reading about it," she says.
Though Smith did get her hands on the best sand, doing things the old-fashioned way isn't just about playing around with French mud. Reconstructing the work of the craftsmen（工匠）who lived centuries ago can reveal how they viewed the world, what objects filled their homes, and what went on in the workshops that produced them. It can even help solve present-day problems: In 2015, scientists discovered that a 10th-century English medicine for eve problems could kill a drug-resistant virus.
The work has also brought insights for museums, Smith says. One must know how an object was made in order to preserve it. What's more, reconstructions might be the only way to know what treasures looked like before time wore them down. Scholars have seen this idea in practice with ancient Greek and Roman statues. These sculptures were painted a rainbow of striking colours. We can't appreciate these kinds of details without seeing works of art as they originally appeared-something Smith believes you can do only when you have a road map.
Smith has put the manuscript's ideas into practice. Her final goal is to link the worlds of art and science back together: She believes that bringing the old recipes to life can help develop a kind of learning that highlights experimentation, teamwork, and problem solving.
Back when science—then called “the new philosophy”—took shape, academics looked to craftsmen for help in understanding the natural world. Microscopes and telescopes were invented by way of artistic tinkering（修补）, as craftsmen experimented with glass to better bend light.
If we can rediscover the values of hands-on experience and craftwork, Smith says, we can marry the best of our modern insights with the handiness of our ancestors.
1. How did Smith, feel after reading the French manuscript?| A．Confused about the technical terms. |
| B．Impressed with its detailed instructions. |
| C．Discouraged by its complex structure. |
| D．Shocked for her own lack of hand skills. |
| A．restore old workshops | B．understand the craftsmen |
| C．improve visual effects | D．inspire the philosophers |
| A．To reveal the beauty of ancient objects. |
| B．To present the findings of old science. |
| C．To highlight the importance of antiques. |
| D．To emphasise the values of hand skills. |
| A．Craftsmen Set the Trends for Artists |
| B．Craftsmanship Leads to New Theories |
| C．Craftsmanship Makes Better Scientists |
| D．Craftsmen Reshape the Future of Science |
3 . It is that time of the year, when a handful of world’s leading scholars, social activists and researchers are rewarded with what is often cited as the most prestigious acknowledgement of human effort-the Nobel Prize. Here’s a look at who has won the prize and for what.
Physiology or Medicine
Swedish geneticist Svante Peabo won the first Nobel of the year, for starting the field of ancient DNA studies. He is well-known for extracting, sequencing, and analyzing ancient DNA from Neanderthal bones.
Physics
Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger’s work in quantum (量子) technology landed them the second Nobel Prize announced in 2022. Although Aspect is from France, Clauser from the U.S, and Zeilinger from Austria, the three separately performed “groundbreaking experiments” as one team. “Their results have cleared the way for new technology,” the committee stated.
Chemistry
The Nobel Prize for chemistry went to another trio, Carolyn R. Bertozzi from the U.S., Morten Meldal from Denmark and K. Barry Sharpless from the U.S. “for the development of click chemistry and biorthogonal chemistry,” the committee stated. Dr. Bertozzi is the eighth woman chemist to be awarded the prize, while Dr. Sharpless is the fifth scientist to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.
Economics
The Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to three American economists, Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig “for research on banks and financial crises,” the Nobel Prize committee announced on Monday. By studying the history of American economics, particularly the Great Depression of the 1930s,they improved how we understand the role of banks during times of hardship and the bank’s impact on societal functions.
1. What prize is related to the research with bones?| A．Physiology. | B．Chemistry. | C．Physics. | D．Economics. |
| A．About societal functions. | B．About the history of America. |
| C．About banks and financial crises. | D．About the Great Depression of the 1930s. |
| A．Their winners are from different countries. | B．They have three winners. |
| C．They improve new technology. | D．They help people understand hardship. |
4 . Virtually, there is nothing that man cannot do. Only what he has to do is keep doing and doing without being discouraged. Success will come someday or other, though it may apparently be the conception about something that it cannot be done.
What the world-famous scientist Sir Isaac Newton had done by twelve years’ constant hard work was burnt out by his pet dog. But that could not discourage him a little.
All the great men in history have written their names in golden letters by means of perseverance.
| A．Every action has its reaction. |
| B．It is a unique precondition to success in life. |
| C．In human life, perseverance plays a very important role. |
| D．Their success will always remain as perfect examples to us. |
| E．Columbus has left us an adventurous story of perseverance. |
| F．The task that is easily done at the first attempt is undoubtedly very easy. |
| G．He was able to do it again through years of hard work and perseverance. |
5 . Eugene Newman Parker, a leading figure in heliospheric(日球层的) physics for the past half century, passed away peacefully at his home in Chicago on Mar. 15. He was 94.
Hailed(誉为) as a visionary in the field of heliophysics, Parker revolutionized our understanding of the sun and its effects on Earth and other bodies within the solar system. NASA even stated that “the field of heliophysics exists in large part because of Dr. Eugene Parker. In 2018, Parker became the first living scientist to witness the launch of a spacecraft that was named in his honor.
Parker is best known for his groundbreaking theory on the existence of a phenomenon called “solar wind”, a continuous stream of charged particles that flow off the sun. It can become violent, causing space weather that impacts the Earth. When Parker’s research was published in 1958, his theory was initially met with skepticism(怀疑) and ridicule by the scientific community. The general view at the time was that the space between planets was an absolute vacuum(真空), and was thus completely empty of any matter. But, there were no errors in his study or his calculations, and the theory was later proven to be correct in 1962, when a NASA spacecraft mission to Venus revealed the constant presence of a supersonic wind—exactly as Parker had predicted.
That experience likely led to the advice Parker often gave young researchers: “If you do something new or innovative, expect trouble. But think critically about it because if you’re wrong, you want to be the first one to know that.” Parker never co-authored a paper with his students, thus urging them to be independent.
Parker was humble, straightforward, and wise. His son Eric said, “My sister Joyce and I didn’t get a real feel for what a ‘big dog’ our dad was in the field.” They got an even better sense when a month after Parker’s death, they traveled to Lund, Sweden, to accept on his behalf the Crafoord Prize in Astronomy.
1. What can we learn from the second paragraph?| A．A spacecraft was named in memory of Parker. |
| B．The sun has less effects on Earth than expected. |
| C．Parker deserved credit for his great contributions. |
| D．NASA provided new insights into the lunar effect. |
| A．It went against the popular opinion at that time. |
| B．Some mistakes were found in his calculations. |
| C．The presence of a supersonic wind was proven by NASA. |
| D．Matter was believed to exist in the space between planets. |
| A．seek close cooperation | B．avoid high expectations |
| C．learn by trial and error | D．compete against others |
| A．straightforward and generous | B．responsible and accessible |
| C．intelligent yet conservative | D．distinguished yet modest |
6 . The Nobel Prize has been awarded to women 60 times between 1901 and 2022. These women have made outstanding contributions to the worlds of medicine, science, literature and so on. Here are four of them.
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Award: Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Year: 1964
Dorothy Hodgkin was a British chemist whose interest in research began when, as a child, she received a chemistry book containing experiments with crystals. She studied at Oxford University and developed protein crystallography, which advanced the development of X-rays. This earned her the Nobel Prize.
Gertrude B. Elion
Award: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Year: 1988
Gertrude Elion won the Nobel Prize for her discoveries of important principles for drug treatment. Elion had watched her grandfather die of cancer, so she decided to fight the disease throughout her life. Elion, together with George Hitchings, with whom she shared the award, created a system for drug production that relies heavily on biochemistry.
Toni Morrison
Award: Nobel Prize in Literature
Year: 1993
Toni Morrison, whose book “Beloved” earned her the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award, was the first Black woman to ever receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Ohio, Morrison was a writer whose works are mostly about life in the Black community. She taught writing and served as an honorary professor at Princeton University.
Esther Duflo
Award: Nobel Prize in Economics
Year: 2019
Esther Duflo shared her prize with her research colleagues Michael Kremer and Abhijit Banerjee, who is her husband. Duflo has spent much of her career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned her doctorate degree in 1999. Duflo and her partners were awarded the Nobel Prize for their approach to fighting poverty around the world.
1. What won Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin the Nobel Prize?| A．Her book about crystals. | B．Her contribution to X-ray development. |
| C．Her research on medicine. | D．Her discovery of a new protein crystal. |
| A．Educational issues. | B．Community service. |
| C．Writing techniques. | D．Black American's life. |
| A．They won the Nobel Prize in the same year. |
| B．They devoted themselves to fighting diseases. |
| C．They shared the Nobel Prize together with others. |
| D．Their life experiences committed them to their fields. |
7 . Monica Bertagnolli is an oncologist (肿瘤学家) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. Growing up in Wyoming, she was well aware of the lack of health care resources in rural areas. Access to in-depth care for cancer patients is hard to get. She’s worked throughout her career to change that.
In Wyoming, there’s a great distance to travel between where people live and where they can find a cancer specialist. “If you need treatments and they have to be administered every day, and if it’s 120 miles from where you live, that ends up being a huge barrier to receiving the kind of care you need.”
And now Monica serves as the vice president of the Coalition (联盟) of Cancer Cooperative Groups (CCCG) — an international network of individuals who work to improve the quality of life and survival of cancer patients by increasing participation in cancer clinical trials.
She said, “One of the really important things is, we’re trying to make sure that cancer clinical trials can get to every single patient who needs them in my own state.” The coalition set up sites in northern and southern Wyoming that are able to run clinical trials. Before those trials became available, patients would usually go to Denver or Salt Lake City — a three-to-seven-hour drive.
Monica’s efforts to increase access to the health care needs of her rural Wyoming patients also include helping to develop new policies that will allow patients to participate in more clinical trials, and linking them with a regional doctor who can get them the access to the care they need.
In addition to the clinical trials, Monica said that technology’s progress like better cell phone and internet service in the mountains of Wyoming, as well as social media, has helped rural residents stay in touch with loved ones and medical professionals despite their distance. She is trying to advocate strongly for those changes to continue.
“I still consider myself part of Wyoming and I am very devoted to making sure that patients can get access to care.”
1. What do rural cancer patients in Wyoming need most?| A．Health care. | B．Better housing. |
| C．Further education. | D．Public transportation. |
| A．By offering clinical trials. | B．By advocating financial aid. |
| C．By improving internet service. | D．By training medical professionals. |
| A．Determined and loyal. | B．Honest and generous. |
| C．Grateful and courageous. | D．Devoted and responsible. |
| A．Technology: A push for progress | B．Monica: A helper for cancer patients |
| C．CCCG: A pioneer for cancer treatment | D．Clinical trials: A hope for cancer patients |
8 . Characteristics of an excellent scientist
The dictionary defines a scientist as a person having professional knowledge on one or more sciences, especially natural science or physical science.
Curiosity
An excellent scientist must be very curious about things. Scientists such as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse discovered things mainly because they wanted to know how things work.
Patience
Becoming a scientist takes a long time.
Ethical (道德的) qualities
In order to truly discover and use knowledge for the greater good, a scientist must have a desire to improve people’s life as well as the environment, since they are linked and they can affect one another in the long run.
Working habits
| A．To make discoveries, you have to think differently. |
| B．There are very few jobs that take longer than this one. |
| C．It also defines a scientist as someone who uses scientific methods. |
| D．A scientist must report findings honestly regardless of personal interests or public opinion. |
| E．One of the main places that many scientists work in is the research laboratory. |
| F．An excellent scientist even takes notes of the smallest observation and keeps it in mind. |
| G．Without a drive to ask questions or even wonder, a scientist will never get to the first stage of the scientific process. |
9 . Lam Hon-ming, director of the State Key Laboratory at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is a top expert in soybean (大豆) research. Since 1998, Lam’s team has been cooperating with scientists in Chinese mainland. In 2010, he came across Zhang Guohong, an agricultural expert from Gansu, China, at a national soybean conference. With the same major, they hit it off and decided to improve farmers’ lives and promote local agriculture.
Farmers in Gansu depend largely on the weather for their livelihood, mainly on rainfall, which is also a cause of severe poorness in the area. In 2016, they developed three new soybean varieties suited to salty soil and rare rainfall of Northwest China. All received official government approval.
As the land in Northwest China is not suitable for the growth of common varieties of soybeans, local farmers never planted soybeans, and it became a major problem for spreading new soybeans. Lam and Zhang increased communication with farmers through various ways. To ensure farmers’ income, Lam struck a partnership with a Hong Kong food company that will purchase all soybeans at market price when they are harvested.
By 2020, the planting area of the three approved soybeans in Gansu had gone beyond 2.4 million square kilometers, covering 46 of the province’s 80-plus counties, and the output had reached 7.71 million kilograms, adding about 30 million yuan to local farmers’ income.
Zhang said that Professor Lam’s contribution has greatly pushed the poorness relief and agricultural research in Northwest China. “It is hard to keep doing agricultural research with less funding. And it is more difficult to travel from Hong Kong to the poor areas of the Northwest to do agricultural research,” he added. In the future, Lan will continue to work with mainland scientists and lead more “Hong Kong power” into the development of the country’s Northwest.
1. What can we know about the two scientists from Paragraph 1?| A．They are friends since 1998. | B．They both major in agriculture. |
| C．They once served in the same lab. | D．They met by chance in Hong Kong. |
| A．Rainfall is not enough. | B．The locals lived a poor life. |
| C．Little land is rich in nutrition. | D．The farmers never planted soybeans. |
| A．More work needs to be done. | B．All farmers become better-off. |
| C．The two scientists are successful. | D．Soybeans grow throughout Gansu. |
| A．Dependent. | B．Honest. | C．Open-minded. | D．Devoted. |
10 . China’s long history has seen many scientists making great contributions to the development of ancient China and even the world. We have selected several greatest scientists in ancient China and hope to help you learn more about Chinese science and technology.
Zhang Zhongjing (150-219) was a Chinese physician in Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). He founded medication principles and summarized the medicinal experience before his time. His famous work “ Shang Han Za Bing Lun ” had a major influence on the practice of traditional Chinese medicine. Today, this great book was still considered very important in the practice of Chinese medicine.
Li Daoyuan (AD 427 or 469-527) was a great Chinese geographer during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). He wrote the famous work “ Commentary to the River Classic ” (Shui Jing Zhu). The book is a great work on the ancient geography of China and it sums up China’s geography and its surrounding areas before Northern Wei Dynasty.
Sun Simiao was an outstanding medical scientist in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He was called “ China’s King of Medicine ” for his important contributions to Chinese traditional medicine. Sun authored two books — “Qian Jin Yao Fang” and “Qian Jin Yi Fang” that were both landmarks in Chinese medicine history.
Shen Kuo was a great Chinese scientist and politician of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). He compiled (汇编) an scientific work “Dream Pool Essays”, which involves a lot descriptions about the animals and plants in the country. Shen also first described the magnetic needle compass, which would be used for navigation (航行). His discovery of concept of true north towards the north pole was four hundred years earlier than Europe.
| A．encourage readers to learn from these great scientists |
| B．explain what contributes to the development of ancient China |
| C．broaden readers’ horizons on Chinese science and technology |
| D．introduce the great medical contributions Chinese scientists made |
| A．Zhang Zhongjing’s | B．Li Daoyuan’s | C．Sun Simiao’s | D．Shen Kuo’s |
| A．He was a Chinese physician in Han Dynasty. |
| B．He worked on the ancient geography of China. |
| C．He was regarded as “China’s King of Medicine”. |
| D．He described the animals and plants a lot in his work. |
