小学英语英语故事（名人故事）霍金和他的世界

霍金和他的世界斯蒂芬•霍金教授是当代享有盛誉的伟人之一，被称为在世的最伟大的科学家，当今的爱因斯坦他在统一20世纪物理学的两大基础理论一爱因斯坦的相对论和普朗克的量子论方面走出了重要一步1989年获得英国爵士荣誉称号他是英国皇家学会学员和美国科学院外籍院士霍金教授1942年出生于英国牛津，这一天正好是伽利略的300年忌日1963年，霍金教授被诊断患有肌肉萎缩症，即运动神经病1965年获得理论物理学博士学位1974年3月1日，霍金教授在《自然》上发表论文，阐述了自己的新发现一黑洞是有辐射的在几个星期内，全世界的物理学家都在讨论他的研究工作霍金所指的辐射被称为霍金辐射霍金的新发现，被认为是多年来理论物理学最重要的进展该论文被称为“物理学史上最深刻的论文之一”1975—1976年间，在其获得6项大奖中有伦敦皇家天文学会的埃丁顿勋章、梵蒂冈教皇科学学会十一世勋章、霍普金斯奖、美国丹尼欧海涅曼奖、马克斯韦奖和英国皇家学会的休斯勋章1978年他获得物理界最有威望的大奖一阿尔伯特•爱因斯坦奖1979年,被任命为著名的、曾一度为牛顿所任的剑桥大学卢卡逊数学教授1988年，霍金的惊世之著《时间简史从大爆炸到黑洞》A Brief History of Timefrom theBig Bangto BlackHoles发行从研究黑洞出发，探索了宇宙的起源和归宿，解答了人类有史以来一直探索的问题时间有没有开端，空间有没有边界这是人类科学史上里程碑式的佳作该书被译成40余种文字，出版了1000余万册霍金教授的通俗演讲在国际上也享有盛誉，他的足迹遍布世界各地他试图通过自己的书籍和通俗演讲，将自己的思想与整个世界交流2000年初，霍金在美国白宫做了演讲，这是世界之夜Millenium Evenings活动的一部分，克林顿总统亲切会见他并向他表示祝贺2001年10月又一部力作《The Universein aNutshell出版发行该书是《时间简史》的姐妹篇在该书中，霍金揭示了自《时间简史》发表以来，理论物理学的伟大突破1942-1-8出生于英国牛津1963被诊断出肌萎缩性侧索硬化症1973首部著作《空时的大型结构》出版1974宣布发现黑洞辐射，成为英国皇家学会会员1979《广义相对论评述纪念爱因斯坦百年诞辰》出版1985失去语言能力，使用带语音合成器的计算机1988《时间简史从大爆炸到黑洞》获沃尔夫基金奖至今销售2500万册1993《黑洞与婴儿宇宙及其它论文》出版A BriefHistory ofHimStephen WilliamHawking wasborn on8January1942300years afterthe deathof GalileoinOxford,England.His parentshouse wasin northLondon,but during the secondworld warOxfordwas considereda saferplace to have babies.When he was eight,his familymoved to St Albans,a townabout20miles northof London.At elevenStephen wenttoStAlbans School,and thenonto UniversityCollege,Oxford,his fathersold college.Stephen wantedto doMathematics,although hisfather wouldhave preferredmedicine.Mathematics was not availableat UniversityCollege,so hedid Physicsinstead.After threeyears and not verymuch workhewas awarded afirstclass honoursdegree inNatural Science.Stephen thenwent onto Cambridgeto do research inCosmology,there beingno-one workinginthat areain Oxfordat thetime.His supervisorwas DenisSciama,although he had hopedto getFredHoyle whowas workingin Cambridge.After gaininghis Ph.D.he becamefirst aResearchFellow,and lateron aProfessorial Fellowat Gonville and CaiusCollege.After leavingtheInstitute ofAstronomy in1973Stephen came to theDepartment ofApplied MathematicsandTheoretical Physics,and since1979has heldthe postof LucasianProfessor ofMathematics.Thechair wasfounded in1663with moneyleft in the willof theReverend HenryLucas,who had beenthe Member of Parliamentfor theUniversity.It wasfirst heldby IsaacBarrow,and thenin1669by IsaacNewton.Stephen Hawkinghas workedon thebasic lawswhich governthe universe.With RogerPenrose heshowedthat Einstein，s GeneralTheory ofRelativity impliedspace andtime wouldhave abeginningin theBig Bangand anend inblack holes.These resultsindicated it was necessaryto unifyGeneralRelativity withQuantum Theory,the othergreat Scientificdevelopment of the firsthalfof the20th Century.One consequenceof sucha unificationthat hediscovered was that blackholesshould notbe completelyblack,but shouldemit radiation and eventuallyevaporate anddisappear.Another conjectureis that the universehas noedge orboundary inimaginary time.This wouldimply that the waythe universebegan wascompletely determinedby thelaws ofscience.His manypublications includeThe LargeScale Structureof Spacetimewith GF REllis,GeneralRelativity:An EinsteinCentenary Survey,with WIsrael,and300Years ofGravity,with WIsrael.Stephen Hawkinghas threepopular bookspublished;his bestseller ABriefHistoryofTime,BlackHoles andBaby Universesand OtherEssays andmost recentlyin2001,The Universein aNutshell.Professor Hawkinghas twelvehonorary degrees,was awardedthe CBEin1982,and wasmade aCompanionof Honourin

1989.He isthe recipientof manyawards,medals andprizes andis aFellowof TheRoyal Societyand aMemberofthe USNational Academyof Sciences.Stephen Hawkingcontinues tocombine familylife hehas three children andone grandchild,and hisresearch into theoretical physicstogether withan extensiveprogramme oftravel andpubliclectures.My Experiencewith ALSby StephenHawkingI amquite oftenasked:How doyou feelabout havingALS Theanswer is,not alot.I trytolead asnormal alife aspossible,andnotthink aboutmy condition,or regretthe thingsitprevents mefrom doing,which arenot thatmany.It was a greatshock to me todiscover that I had motor neurone disease.I hadnever beenverywell coordinatedphysically asa child.I was not goodat ballgames,and my handwriting wasthedespair of my teachers.Maybe forthis reason,I didn，t caremuch forsport orphysicalactivities.But thingsseemed tochange whenI wentto Oxford,attheage of17,I tookup coxingandrowing.I wasnot BoatRace standard,but I got by atthelevel ofinter-College competition.In mythird yearat Oxford,however,I noticedthat Iseemed to be getting more clumsy,and Ifellover onceor twicefor noapparent reason.But it wasnotuntil I was atCambridge,in thefollowingyear,that myfather noticed,and tookme to the familydoctor.He referredme to aspecialist,and shortlyafter my21st birthday,I wentinto hospitalfor tests.I wasin fortwoweeks,during whichI hada widevariety oftests.They tooka musclesample frommy arm,stuck electrodesinto me,and injectedsome radioopaque fluidinto myspine,and watcheditgoing up and downwith x-rays,as theytilted thebed.After allthat,they didn，t tellme whatI had,except that it wasnot multiplesclerosis,and that I wasan a-typical case.I gathered,however,that theyexpected it to continueto getworse,and that there wasnothing theycoulddo,except giveme vitamins.I couldsee that they didn，t expectthem to have mucheffect.Ididnt feellike askingfor moredetails,because theywere obviouslybad.The realisationthat I had anincurable disease,that waslikely tokill mein a few years,wasa bitof ashock.How couldsomething like that happen tomeWhy shouldI becut offlike thisHowever,while I had beenin hospital,I hadseen aboy Ivaguely knewdie ofleukaemia,in thebedopposite me.It hadnot beena prettysight.Clearly therewere peoplewho wereworse offthanme.At leastmy conditiondidnt makeme feelsick.Whenever Ifeel inclinedto besorryfor myselfI rememberthat boy.Not knowingwhat was going tohappentome,or howrapidly thedisease wouldprogress,I wasata looseend.The doctorstold me to goback toCambridge andcarry onwith theresearch Ihadjust startedin generalrelativity andcosmology.But I wasnotmaking muchprogress,becauseI didn，t havemuch mathematicalbackground.And,anyway,I mightnot livelong enoughto finishmyPhD.I feltsomewhat ofa tragiccharacter.I took to listeningto Wagner,but reportsinmagazine articlesthat Idrank heavilyare anexaggeration.The trouble is onceone articlesaidit,other articlescopied it,because itmade agood story.People believethat anythingthathas appearedin printso manytimes mustbe true.My dreamsat thattime wererather disturbed.Before my condition hadbeen diagnosed,Ihadbeenvery boredwith life.There hadnot seemedto beanything worthdoing.But shortlyafter Icameout ofhospital,I dreamtthat Iwasgoingtobeexecuted.I suddenlyrealised thatthere werealot ofworthwhile thingsI coulddo if I werereprieved.Another dream,that Ihad severaltimes,wasthat I wouldsacrifice mylife tosave others.After all,ifIwere goingto dieanyway,it mightas welldo somegood.But Ididn，t die.In fact,although therewasacloud hangingovermy future,I found,to mysurprise,thatIwas enjoyinglife in the presentmore thanbefore.I beganto makeprogress withmy research,and Igot engagedto agirl calledJane Wilde,whomI hadmet justabout thetime mycondition wasdiagnosed.That engagementchanged mylife.Itgave mesomething tolive for.But italso meantthatIhad to get ajob ifwe weretogetmarried.I thereforeapplied for a researchfellowship atGonvilleandCaius pronouncedKeys college,Cambridge.To mygreat surprise,Igota fellowship,and wegot marriedafewmonths later.The fellowshipat Caiustook careofmyimmediate employmentproblem.Iwaslucky tohave chosentowork in theoretical physics,because thatwas one ofthefew areasin whichmyconditionwouldnot bea serioushandicap.And Iwas fortunatethat myscientific reputationincreased,at thesametime that my disabilitygot worse.This meantthat people were preparedto offerme asequenceof positionsin whichI onlyhad todoresearch,without havingto lecture.We werealso fortunatein housing.When wewere married,Jane wasstill anundergraduate atWestfieldCollege inLondon,so she had togo upto Londonduringtheweek.This meantthat wehadto findsomewhere I could manageon myown,and which was central,because Icould notwalkfar.I askedthe Collegeif theycould help,but wastold by the thenBursar:it isCollege policynotto helpFellows withhousing.We thereforeput ourname downto rentoneofa groupof newflatsthat werebeing builtinthemarket place.Years later,I discoveredthat thoseflatswere actuallyowned bythe College,but theydidn，t tellme that.However,when wereturnedto Cambridgefrom avisit toAmerica afterthe marriage,we foundthattheflats werenot ready.As agreat concession,the Bursarsaid wecould have a roomin ahostel forgraduate students.He said,〃We normallycharge12shillings and6pence anight forthis room.However,as therewillbe twoof youintheroom,we willcharge25shillings.〃We stayedthere onlythree nights.Then we found asmall houseabout100yards frommy universitydepartment.It belongedto anotherCollege,who hadlet itto oneof itsfellows.However hehad movedout to a househehadboughtin thesuburbs.He sub-let the house tous for the remainingthree monthsof hislease.Duringthose threemonths,wefoundthat anotherhouse inthe sameroad wasstanding empty.A neighboursummonedthe ownerfrom Dorset,and toldher thatitwasa scandalthat herhouse shouldbe empty,when youngpeoplewerelooking foraccommodation.So shelet thehouse tous.After wehad livedthereforafew years,we wantedto buythehouse,and do it up.So weasked myCollege foramortgage.However,the Collegedid asurvey,and decideditwasnot agood risk.In theend wegota mortgagefrom abuilding society,and myparents gaveus themoney todoitup.We livedtherefor anotherfour years,but itbecame toodifficult formetomanage thestairs.By thistime,the Collegeappreciated merather more,and therewasadifferent Bursar.They thereforeofferedus aground floorflat in a housethattheyowned.This suitedme verywell,becauseit hadlarge roomsand widedoors.It wassufficiently centralthatIcould getto myUniversitydepartment,ortheCollege,in myelectric wheel chair.It wasalso nicefor ourthreechildren,because itwas surroundedby garden,whichwaslooked afterbytheCollege gardeners.Up to1974,Iwasable tofeed myself,and getin andout ofbed.Jane managedto helpme,and bringup thechildren,without outsidehelp.However,things weregetting moredifficult,so wetooktohavingone ofmy researchstudents livingwith us.In returnfor freeaccommodation,and alot ofmyattention,they helpedme getupandgo tobed.In1980,we changedtoasystem ofcommunityand privatenurses,who camein foran houror twointhemorning andevening.This lasteduntilI caughtpneumonia in

1985.Ihadtohavea tracheotomyoperation.After this,Ihadtohave24hour nursingcare.This wasmade possibleby grantsfrom severalfoundations.Before theoperation,my speechhadbeengettingmoreslurred,so thatonly afew peoplewho knewme well,could understandme.But atleast Icould communicate.I wrotescientific papersby dictatingtoa secretary,and Igave seminarsthrough aninterpreter,who repeatedmy wordsmore clearly.However,the tracheotomyoperation removedmy abilityto speakaltogether.For atime,the onlywayIcouldcommunicate wasto spellout wordsletter byletter,by raisingmy eyebrowswhensomeone pointedtotheright letteron aspelling card.It ispretty difficultto carryon aconversationlikethat,let alonewrite ascientific paper.However,a computerexpert inCalifornia,called WaltWoltosz,heard ofmy plight.He sentme acomputer programhehadwritten,called Equalizer.This allowed metoselect wordsfrom aseries ofmenus onthe screen,by pressingaswitch inmyhand.The programcould alsobe controlledbyaswitch,operated byhead oreyemovement.When I have builtup what I wantto say,I cansend ittoaspeech synthesizer.Atfirst,I justran theEqualizer programonadesk topcomputer.However DavidMason,of CambridgeAdaptive Communication,fitted asmall portablecomputer andaspeech synthesizerto mywheelchair.This systemallowedmeto communicatemuch betterthanI couldbefore.I canmanage upto15words aminute.I caneither speakwhatI have written,or saveittodisk.I canthen printit out,or callit backand speakit sentenceby sentence.Using thissystem,I havewritten abook,and dozensof scientificpapers.I havealso givenmanyscientific andpopular talks.They haveall beenwell received.I thinkthat isinalargepart duetothequality ofthe speechsynthesiser,which ismade bySpeech Plus.One，s voiceisvery important.If youhaveaslurred voice,people arelikely totreat youas mentallydeficient:Does hetake sugarThis synthesiseris byfar thebest Ihave heard,because itvaries theintonation,and doesn，t speaklike aDalek.The onlytroubleisthatitgives mean Americanaccent.Ihavehadmotorneuronediseasefor practicallyall myadult life.Yet ithas notpreventedme fromhaving avery attractivefamily,and beingsuccessful inmy work.This isthanks tothehelp Ihave receivedfrom Jane,my children,and alarge numberof otherpeople andorganisations.Ihavebeen lucky,thatmycondition hasprogressed moreslowly thanis oftenthe case.But itshowsthat oneneed notlose hope.。