1 . 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.

Francoise Barre-Sinoussi shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008 for the discovery of HIV. She has always loved nature and spent her school vacations     1     (observe) animals and plants in the parks of her home town of Paris, France. According to Barre-Sinoussi     2     (she), it was by accident that she     3     (eventual) ended up working at the famous Institute Pasteur. She came from     4     humble background and     5     (force) to choose the cheapest school available in the region. At age 19 she enrolled in the biomedical science programme at the University of Paris, where she would skip class     6     (work) at the Pasteur Institute. She began working there as a volunteer and then received her PhD in 1975. At age 35, Barre-Sinoussi and her team separated     7     would later be named HIV. That     8     (discover), in 1983, led to blood tests to spot the infection and finally     9     drugs that began to keep AIDS patients alive. Sincethen AIDS has been transformed from a death sentence to a     10     (manage) disease.

3 . According to Michael Gelb, the author of ‘Think Like Da Vinci’, any living person can bring out their inner Da Vinci by committing themselves to several ‘Da Vincian’ principles.

According to Gelb, although not everyone is born with the gifts and the abilities of Leonardo Da Vinci, it is possible for any person to use the fundamentals of Da Vinci’s approach to learning to guide us to toward the realization of our own full potential.     1    

Leonardo possessed an intense curiosity about the world around him. It was this undiscouraged curiosity that began in childhood and continued throughout his life that drove Leonardo into becoming one of the greatest thinker’s humanity.     2     Quite the contrary, Leonardo was a man of action, possessing an unstoppable determination in pursuit of knowledge.

The young Leonardo loved nature. Leonardo would wonder around the Tuscany countryside asking questions he did not himself yet understand. Questions such as: Why shells exist on the tops of mountains alongside seaweed usually found in the sea. Why lightning is visible whereas thunder is not and takes a longer time to travel.     3     His questions took him under the water (he designed a snorkel as well as diving equipment and even a submarine) and into the sky (he also invented flying machines and a parachute).     4     Gelb recommends a series of exercises which include:

Keeping a journal or notebook – Leonardo always carried a notebook with him so that he could jot down ideas, thoughts, impressions and observations as they occurred.

Asking questions - Making a list of a hundred questions in your notebook on any given topic that comes into your head.

Be willing to make lots of mistakes – Leonardo was not afraid to make mistakes and appear foolish.

    5    

In Lin Qiaozhi’s eyes, life is precious. When others entrusted her with their lives, it was virtue     1     carried her through a life of hard choices. She did not choose     2     (marry) as the majority of girls did, but chose to study medicine.     3     (fortunate), her brother responded against her choice and complained about it, thinking of the high tuition fees. Atter graduation, Lin Qiaozhi won a scholarship from a union and     4     (hire) as a resident physician in a famous hospital. Once     5     (appoint) as scholar to a clinic in a faraway country, she impressed her colleagues by     6     (reject) a well-paid offer. In the decades after liberation, Lin Qiaozhi was elected     7     leaders in numerous key     8     (position) and led all the staff to the medical cause of China. She published     9     great deal of medical research,     10     made her well known to the world.

Two scientists, Germany’s Benjamin List and Scotland-born David MacMillan, have won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for     1     (develop) a molecule-building（分子建构）tool that can produce many important compounds in a “greener” way.

The process of making molecules     2     (require) the linking of individual atoms together in specific positions. This can be very slow and difficult. For many years, chemists only used either complex enzymes（酶）     3     metal catalysts（催化剂）.

That all changed in 2000, when List and MacMillan     4     (independence) reported that small organic molecules can be used to do the same job.

The process has made the production of some drugs much     5     (easy). It noted that an     6     (estimate) 35 percent of the world’s total GDP, in some way involves chemical catalysis.

Speaking after the     7     (announce), List said the award came as a “huge surprise”. He said at the beginning he did not know that MacMillan was working on the same subject, and he thought his effort might turn out to be, what he called,    8    “stupid idea”.

MacMillan said the start of his catalysis work was a pretty simple idea     9     really sparked a lot of different research. He added, “The part we’re just so proud of is that you don’t have to have huge amounts of equipment and money     10     (do) fine things in chemistry.”

The difference between a novelist and a professor is that the former     1     (most) uses his extraordinary creative genius to inspire people’s passion by writing novels，while the latter     2     (pay) more attention to academic research. A politician wants     3     (found) his own theories and tries to come to power. A scientist hopes to make remarkable achievements and have more inventions and patents. Take Albert Einstein for example. He made numerous     4     (contribute) to the world，the most well-known 60.     5     (be) the general theory of relativity and the famous formula E=mc². He earned a doctorate in physics in 1905 and gradually became famous as the new Isaac Newton. Circumstances changed in 1933，     6     Hitler came to power in Germany. Einstein，who was Jewish，found the doors of academic institutions     7     (close) to him. As     8     consequence，he had to flee Germany. He finally took up a position as a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton，USA. Einstein was not only a genius，but also a very gentle man. He had a thick moustache and long white hair. Despite his peculiarities，he     9     (admire) by his friends and neighbours whom he encountered. It was on 18 April 1955     10     Einstein passed away, and the whole world mourned the great loss of a brilliant scientist.

10 . It’s a sunny afternoon, and my wife Barbara is at the park again, counting and recording the number of eggs laid by monarch butterflies.     1     Nobody is Paying Barbara, but she considers herself lucky to be a “Citizen Scientist”.

When volunteers participate as assistants in activities like these, they are engaging in citizen science, a valuable research technique.     2     Some of them are science teachers or students, but most are simply amateurs who enjoy spending time in nature. They also take pride in aiding scientists and indirectly helping to protect the environment. The movement they are involved in is not a new one.     3     One of the earliest projects of this type is the Christmas Bird Count, started by the National Audubon Society in 1900. And citizen science projects are developing more than ever.

In formal studies, Professional scientists and other experts need to maintain the highest possible standards.     4     Some might argue that citizen scientists cannot maintain the necessary attention to detail, or that amateurs will misunderstand the context of the investigation and make mistake when collecting and organizing. In other words, can citizen science be considered truly reliable?

    5     The first focused on volunteer knowledge and skills. In this study, a scientist asked volunteers to identify types of crabs. He found that almost all adult volunteers could perform the task well. The second study compared professional and non-professional methods. Both proved successful. Results like these suggest that research assisted by amateurs can be trusted when scientists organize it.