1 . Hedy Lamarr, a Hollywood actress, who was called “the most beautiful woman in the world,” starred in dozens of films over a career that lasted decades. But there was more to Lamarr than met the eye. An enthusiastic inventor, she worked on everything from a tablet to frequency hopping — a World War II-era secure communications technology that’s used today in wireless internet, GPS, and cellphones, which makes her regarded as the “mother of Wi-Fi.”
The Austrian-born Lamarr grew up in Vienna without a lot of education in science. Her natural curiosity drove her to explore and understand the world around her.Therefore, her father, who was also interested in science and technology, often walked with her around the city, pointing out what made things work.
Lamarr's informal scientific training continued when, as a young girl in 1933, she married a wealthy arms merchant who worked with the German and Italian military. When all of these generals and admirals were coming around, she listened, absorbed and learned.
The marriage didn’t last, and Lamarr set out to seek her acting career. When she got to Hollywood in the 1930s, she quickly became an international icon(偶像). After watching World War II break out, with growing concern, Lamarr began inventing on her own. As an Austrian, she thought she should do more to contribute to the allies’s(同盟国) war efforts.
In Hollywood, Lamarr met George Antheil, a composer who would become her cooperator on the frequency-hopping technology. Together, they invented a system that made it harder for the enemy to track or jam signals on radio-guided weapons. However, it wasn’t until 1997, three years before her death, that Lamarr received professional acknowledgment(认可) for her invention.
Lamarr played the role she expected to play in Hollywood-a beautiful object to admire on the big screen. However, She never yielded to society’s expectation to women. Her story really encouraged young people, and especially young women, to go into fields that are traditionally male-oriented, and not to judge a book by its covers.
1. What mainly made Lamarr develop her interest in science?| A．Her father. | B．Her first husband and his friends. |
| C．Her own curiosity. | D．Her teachers. |
| A．She was the most beautiful woman in the world at one time. |
| B．She was gracefully beautiful as well as scientifically intellectual. |
| C．She encouraged young women to invent. |
| D．She decided to give up her acting career after World War II broke out. |
| A．worried about | B．looked down on |
| C．disagreed with | D．gave in to |
| A．A Great Inventor. |
| B．A Famous Actress. |
| C．A Film Star With A Great Contribution. |
| D．A Wireless Communication. |
2 . There was once a man who penned comics(漫画) under the name Stan Lee. This man originally wished to leave comics behind and write serious literature. But he never made that career change.
Born Stanley Martin Lieber in 1922 in New York City, he has contributed more to the world than just a few fun stories. At 17, Lee began working as an assistant for the Timely comics group (today’s well-known Marvel Comics). Two years later he was given a chance to write for his first comic, “Captain America”. His skills in the business led him to become the comic-book division’s editor-in-chief until 1972.
After working with comics for many years, Lee became tired of the material he was told to write. For a long time, comic books were considered silly stories. The characters weren’t complex, and the dialogue was short and simple. Lee wanted more from his work.
The Fantastic Four was born after his wife asked, “Why don’t you write one book the way you would like to do it?” With that comic, Lee helped change comics from simple action stories to the complex narratives (叙述文) they are today. However, he still hasn’t done changing the industry.
In the early 1960s, Stan Lee and another writer created the Spider-Man character. In one edition of Spider-Man, Lee wrote a story in which the superhero’s friend almost dies from drug abuse. From the 1950s until 2011, comic publishers followed the rules given by the Comics Code Authority (CCA), who disapproved of drug use in comics.
But Lee published the comic without CCA’s agreement. The story sold, and there was a positive response to the story’s focus on a serious problem in society. The CCA ended up changing its rules to allow more inspirational stories like this.
From this victory, Lee went on to create more interesting and realistic characters that dealt with both super and real life problems.
1. The underlined part “that career” in Paragraph 1 refers to the job as _____.| A．a superhero | B．a comic actor |
| C．a comic book creator | D．a serious literature writer |
| A．In 1939. | B．In 1941. | C．In 1960. | D．In 1972. |
| A．Spider-Man was published. |
| B．Stan Lee left the comic industry. |
| C．Stan Lee’s wife began to work on comics. |
| D．The comics began to tell complex stories. |
| A．Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee himself. |
| B．Stan Lee likes to discuss social issues in his comics. |
| C．The story of Spider-Man came from Stan Lee’s friend. |
| D．The CCA has been carrying out rules without changing them. |
