王乙锟 北京一零一中学高一阅读书目：国家地理科学探索丛书 物理科学系列：《力与运动》《走进电的世界》生命科学系列：《你和你的基因》《观察细胞》《保护地球母亲》
I have got a lot of interesting scientific knowledge from the books of National Geographic Reading Expeditions, some of which are about life, physics. I really can’t help losing myself in the colorful pictures and clear words in the books. After reading the books, I have been considering a question: What if we lived without science?
Great changes have taken place in the world with the help of science. In the past, life was nasty, brutish and short. It is hard to imagine how our forefathers could do without so many conveniences that modern science brings about. Back then, only a small group of people enjoyed the very few comforts. But the majority of people didn’t even have sufficient food, let along their privilege to be educated. Anyway, it is science that changes the world and makes people’s life better and better, although it also leads to some bad aspects at the same time.
From the discovery of the gravity to the first step on the moon, we human beings have experienced a long process of developing science. And now, this process is still continuing much faster. New organisms are already being engineered, and new genetically modified crops promise benefits from higher yields and less use of harmful chemicals and so on. A lot of examples are showing this point. In the future, changes are likely to be even much greater as science reaches out to shape life itself. Maybe one day, the possibility that life existed on Mars billions of years ago will be potentially one of the greatest discoveries of our time. It is the force of the competition, we human beings’ inquiring mind and initiative that bring about the non-stopped development of science. Therefore, it is difficult and impossible to prevent science from changing the world and our life as well.
At present, we are in two minds about science. On the one hand, we are enjoying the sweet life as a result of the evelopment of science, and expect it to continue. And we are showing our interests into some scientific expeditions, such as the astronomy, the alien civilization, etc. On the other hand, we are distrustful of it, due to the lack of understanding of science. Some people thus far are still very superstitious, and they would even believe in superstitions rather than believe in science.
Stephen Hawking, one of the most remarkable scientists in the world, once said, “In a democratic society, the public needs to have a basic understanding of the science, so that it can make informed decisions and not leave them in the hands of experts.” This has reminded me of Professor Alan G. MacDiarmid from America, the person who got the Nobel Prize for chemistry in the year of 2000. In his lecture at Peking University this year, he put forward that science is people. He also expounded the importance of the basic science for the public. Evidently, every one of us does need science, or we can’t live without it.
Now that everyone needs science, why not take advantage of some means to give the public the right basic scientific knowledge? So when they face the problems such as acid rain, the greenhouse effect, nuclear weapons, environment destruction and some other problems, they can also make informed decisions on these subjects, just as what Hawking said. One aspect relies on what is taught in schools. But science is often taught in an uninteresting way and most students just learn it by rote to pass examinations. However, the final goal of learning science is not to pass examinations or to get a higher score; instead, we should try to make full use of it to change our world and life. While learning, we should try to ask more questions and we should have the courage of suspecting the knowledge in the books, as some of the scientific conclusions are likely to be corrected in the future. Who knows. So not only must we change our attitude towards science, but also the way of teaching and learning science.
In addition, science is always changing at a fast rate, and who we learn at school isn’t that sufficient to last a lifetime. So the mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, magazine and publishing company will play an important role in reporting the latest science in time. Moreover, the mass media can also popularize basic science to the public, because only in this way will more people realize what on earth science is.
“Scientists and engineers tend to express their ideas in the form of equations because they need to know the precise values of quantities. But for the rest of us, a qualitative grasp of scientific concepts is sufficient, and this can be conveyed by words and diagrams, without the use of equations”, said Stephen Hawking.
I agree with him very much, and, I’m fond of the wonderful words above, from Stephen Hawking.
For the development of science, are you ready?
英文读后感-The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle
张沛竹 北京市海淀区育英中学高二（八）班阅读书目：百慕大三角 The Bermuda Triangle （DK英汉对照百科读物）
After reading The Bermuda Triangle, I became very curious about the Bermuda Triangle area. Why did the Flight 19 disappear? Why did clouds in the sky suddenly turn yellow?
From the book I knew that in the Bermuda Triangle area, the compasses and other instruments stop working. If it is true, that will be terrible. We can’t work out which direction we are going to. The main part of the Triangle lies between southern Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, but odd things also happened in the Sargasso Sea and all the way south to Barbados.
Up till now, many strange things have happened in this area. There are four major types of odd things that people can not explain. The first is about the yellow cloud in the sky. Some pilots and ships’ captains reported that they saw a yellow fog in the Bermuda Triangle. When they approached the area, the sky suddenly turned yellow, the sea and the sky seemed to join together. As a result, they could not tell where they were, or in what direction they were heading.
The second odd thing is the missing of ships, planes and sailors. Ever since old times, reports have been accumulated about missing sailing ships and sailors. In modern times, planes and pilots also got lost. Over 1,500 people have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle area in the past 50 years.
The third strange thing is that in this area compasses and other instruments stop working. Even the satellite connection is gone.
The last strange thing is that people see strange lights and unidentified ships in this area. And more UFOs are reported in this area than in any other parts of the world.
Many modern reports about the Bermuda Triangle show that a strange yellow fog frequently emerges above the sea. In 1966, a tug called the Good News was going to Fort Lauderdale from Puerto Rico. She was pulling a cargo barge behind her on the end of a strong line. The Good News was a very powerful ship. However, when she got to the are a of her mid-voyage between Puerto Rico and Port Lauderdale, the instruments on the ship suddenly went mad. Most of them stopped working. The compass ran around and around crazily. When the sailors looked out, they found a yellow fog covering the barge. At the end of the line, the sea and sky seemed to join together. Captain Henry and his crew tried their best and finally the ship’s engines were turned to full power, and the cargo barge came out the fog.
After consulting many books, I found that the tale of yellow fog has been of a current basis. People did not mention that fog in the past. I personally perceive that the yellow fog is a natural phenomenon of modern times. The sea area between Puerto Rico and Port Lauderdale has been heavily polluted in the past several decades. Large quantity of hydrochloric acid water has been thrown into the sea. Chemical analyses show that hydrochloric acid is one of the principal pollutants in the water. Still more data indicate that manganese nucleus has been found among the mineral deposits in the seabed of this area. Beneath the surface of the seawater grows a red plant called sargassum. This plant can produce oxygen. When manganese joins the oxygen, they become manganese dioxide (MnO2), which in turn interacts with the hhydrochloric acid contained in the water. When the heating condition is satisfied, a yellow gas of chlorine will be generated. As the following formula shows:
Thus, the yellow fog around the cargo is most probably the chloric gas. As for the heaviness felt by the tug, I think we need to take the nervousness of the sailors into consideration. So my claim is that the strange yellow fog is not a wicked stranger of any kind, but a Frankenstein of our own.
I am also curious about the experience of Catalina. Catalina is a flying boat. On June 11, 1986, she was on her way to Jacksonville. When Martin Caidin and his friends were enjoying their flying, they found that the clear sky was suddenly full of cloud. Soon they were trapped in the cloud and all the instruments on the plane stopped working. When they were flying blindly, Cardin found a small hole in front of the cockpit. The hole went down through the cloud all the way to the ocean. They soon discovered that they were flying at the same speed with the small hole, so they grasped the chance and flew within the sight of the small piece of blue sea. After struggling for a couple of hours, suddenly they found themselves flying in a clear blue sky again. They were safe and sound now.
In my opinion, the yellow cloud they encountered and the small hole of blue sea must be a waterspout. The Bermuda Triangle area is also known for its unusual weather. Sudden storms are common and some weather conditions can produce waterspout. As we know, most waterspouts have a hole in the middle which is known as the “eye of waterspout”. This “eye” is in fact a small area where air in enclosed by the circling clouds moving in very quick speed. If the objects pulled up by the quick wind can manage to fly at the same speed with this “eye”, they may fortunately get through the waterspout without being destroyed. Cardin and his friends were those lucky ones who were caught in the middle of the “eye” and their well-equipped plane enabled them to fly at the same speed with it. Thanks to their plane and their good luck, they survived the waterspout and finally got to safety.
The strange phenomena in the Bermuda Triangle area tell us that human beings are only one part of the nature. Through the long history of development, men got to know more and more about the world we are living in. However, there are still more natural phenomena we do not know. Whilst we try to ask the nature to give us more, we need to pay close attention to what we have done to the nature. And to know this world and the universe our planet belongs to, we human beings still have a long way to go.
英文读后感-Marry Money or Marry the One You Love
Marry Money or Marry the One You Love
孙 屹 上海中学高二（5）班 阅读书目：傲慢与偏见 Pride and Prejudice （书虫· 牛津英汉双语读物）
Many people simply regard Pride and Prejudice as a love story, but in my opinion, this book is an illustration of the society at that time. She perfectly reflected the relation between money and marriage at her time and gave the people in her works vivid characters.
The characters have their own personalities. Mrs. Bennet is a woman who makes great efforts to marry off her daughters. Mr. Bingley is a friendly young man, but his friend, Mr. Darcy, is a very proud man who seems to always feel superior. Even the five daughters in Bennet family are very different. Jane is simple, innocent and never speaks evil of others. Elizabeth is a clever girl who always has her own opinion. Mary likes reading classic books. (Actually she is a pedant.) Kitty doesn’t have her own opinion but likes to follow her sister, Lydia. Lydia is a girl who follows exotic things, handsome man, and is somehow a little profligate. When I read the book, I can always find the same personalities in the society now. That is why I think this book is indeed the representative of the society in Britain in the 18th century.
The family of gentleman in the countryside is Jane Austen’s favourite topic. But this little topic can reflect big problems. It concludes the stratum situation and economic relationships in Britain in her century. You can find these from the very beginning of this book.
The first sentence in this book is impressive. It reads: “It is a truth well known to all the world that an unmarried man in possession of a large fortune must be in need of a wife”. The undertone is very clear: the foundation of the marriage at that time is not emotion but possession.
People always think that Austen was an expert at telling love stories. In fact, the marriage in her book is not the result of love, but the result of economic needs. After reading this book, I know the truth is that a poor woman must be in need of a husband, a wealthy man.
I couldn’t forget how eager Mrs. Bennet wants to marry off her daughters. If you want to know why she is so crazy about these things, I must mention the situation in Britain at that time. Only the eldest son had the privilege of inheriting his father’s possessions. Younger sons and daughters who are used to luxurious lives have no choice but marry a man or woman in possession of a large fortune to continue their comfortable lives. Thus, we can see that getting married is a way to become wealthier, particularly for women without many possessions. Jane Austen told us that money and possession determined everything, including marriage and love in her century.
In “Pride and Prejudice”, the sister of Mr. Bingley strongly opposed his plan of marrying Jane because the Bennets don’t have many possessions and their social positions are much lower than them. From this, we can see there are a lot of obstacles for a not very rich woman to marry a wealthy husband. The society, the relatives would not allow them to get married.
In modern society, although the marriages of economic needs have decreased rapidly, the concept of “money determines everything” is still rooted in some people’s mind. A lot of parents try hard to interfere their children’s marriages. Education background, possessions, jobs remains the main reason that may influence one’s marriage. Marry for money is still a big problem in our society. We can’t help thinking: can money determine everything?
Austen left this problem for us to think. The genius of Jane Austen lies in this perfect simplicity, the simplicity that reflects big problems. Although Austen was only 21 when she wrote “Pride and Prejudice”, her sharp observation of social lives makes the style of this book surprisingly mature and lively. The plots in her works are always very natural. The development of the plot is as inevitable as a problem in mathematics. I think the depth of Pride and Prejudice is the reason that makes this book prominent and classic. Today, her book still can be the guide telling us the economic relationships both at her time and in modern time.
From:https://www.330011.com/Article/dhq/201212/1704.html