Book3 Unit 6                                                                 

   The New Frontier of Beauty. Beauty is an external topic in people's life, no matter what they are, common people, researchers, scholars, students, parents or whatever. Beauty was ever regarded as aesthetics, and even sensory esthetics. Today, there are more and more people involved in the research in this field. But in today's modern society, what role does people's seeking for beauty play in schience? Is science the "religion" of modern times? Many people look to science to solve our problems, cure our diseases, improve our lives and save the world. Others fear science, protesting that in their race for progress, scientists give too little consideration to the long-term social and environmental implications of their discoveries. Either way, there's no denying the power of science -- and scientists -- to change our lives, for better or worse. Who are our leading scientists, then? Who are these people

      who are shaping our future? What kind of people are they? The texts you're going to read in this unit give us a glimpse of the lives and personalities of three of the most influential scientists of the 20th century: Steven Hawking, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.

Text C

Jerome Weidman

Directions: Some of the figures of speech in the following text have been italicized for your attention. Key in your interpretations in corresponding space below.

   I sighed. Music meant nothing to me; I am virtually tone-deaf (不善于辨别音高的). So I did what I always do when trapped: I sat down, closed my ears from the inside and submerged myself in a sea of thought. [ 2.__________ ]

     After a while, becoming aware that the people around me were applauding, I concluded it was safe to unplug my ears. At once I heard a gentle voice on my right. “You are fond of Bach?” the voice said.

    I knew as much about Bach as I know about nuclear physics. [ 3.__________ ] But I did know one of the most famous faces in the world: I was sitting next to Albert Einstein.

  “I don't know anything about Bach,” I said awkwardly. “I've never heard any of his music.”

    Amazement washed across Einstein's face. [ 4. _________ ] “You have never heard Bach?” He made it sound as if I'd said I'd never taken a bath. [ 5. _________ ]

  “It isn't that I don't want to like Bach,” I replied hastily. “It's just that I'm tone-deaf, and I've never really heard anybody's music.” A look of concern came into the old man's face. “Please,” he said. “You will come with me?”

   He stood up, took my arm and led me upstairs. He obviously knew the house well. On the floor above he opened the door into a book-lined study (排满书的书房), drew me in and shut the door.

    “Now,” he said with a smile. “You will tell me, please, how long you have felt this way about music.”

“All my life,” I said. “I wish you would go back downstairs and listen, Dr. Einstein. The fact that I don't enjoy it doesn't matter.”

      He shook his head. “Tell me, please,” he said. “Is there any kind of music that you do like?”

    “Well,” I answered, “I like songs that have words.”

      He smiled and nodded, obviously pleased. “You can give me an example, perhaps?”

    “Well,” I ventured, “Almost anything by Bing Crosby.”

   He put a record on and in a moment the study was filled with the relaxed voice of Bing Crosby. After three or four phrases he stopped the phonograph. “Now, tell me, please, what you have just heard.”

     The simplest answer seemed to be to sing the lines. I did just that, trying desperately to stay in tune. The expression on Einstein's face was like the sunrise. [ 6._________ ] “You see!” he cried with delight when I finished. “You do have an ear!”[7. __________ ]

     I protested that this was one of my favorite songs, something I had heard hundreds of times, so it didn't really prove anything. “Nonsense!” said Einstein. “It proves everything! Do you remember your first arithmetic lesson in school? Suppose, at your very first contact with numbers, your teacher had ordered you to work out a problem in fractions (分数). Could you have done so?”

   “No, of course not.”

   “Precisely!” Einstein was overjoyed. “It would have been impossible and you would have reacted in panic. You would have closed your mind to fractions. As a result, because of that one mistake by your teacher, it is possible your whole life you would be denied (拒绝给予) the beauty of fractions. But on your first day no teacher would be so foolish. He would start you with elementary things “ then, when you had acquired skill with the simplest problems, he would lead you up to fractions.

      “So it is with music,” Einstein picked up the Bing Crosby record. “This simple, charming little song is like addition. [ 8. __________ ] You have mastered it. Now we go on to something more complicated.” He found another record and set it going. The golden voice of John McCormack filled the room. After a few lines Einstein stopped the record.

     “So!” he said. “You will sing that back to me, please.” I did -- with a good deal of self-consciousness (忸怩) but with, for me, a surprising degree of accuracy.

     “Excellent!” Einstein remarked when I finished. “Wonderful!”

   McCormack was followed by at least a dozen others. I could not shake my feeling of awe over the way this great man, into whose company I had been thrown by chance, was completely absorbed by what we were doing, as though I were his sole concern.

       We came at last to recordings of music without words, which I was instructed to reproduce by humming (哼唱). When I reached for a high note, Einstein's mouth opened and his head went back as if to help me attain what seemed unattainable. Evidently I came close enough, for he suddenly turned off the phonograph. “Now, young man,” he said. “We are ready for Bach!”

      As we returned to our seats in the drawing room, the players were tuning up (调音) for a new selection. Einstein smiled and gave me a reassuring pat on the knee. “Just allow yourself to listen,” he whispered :      “That is all.”

   When the concert was finished I added my genuine applause to that of the others. As the musicians bowed, our hostess approached us. “I'm so sorry, Dr. Einstein, that you missed so much of the performance.”

     Einstein and I came hastily to our feet. “I am sorry, too,” he said. “My young friend here and I, however, were engaged in the greatest activity of which humans are capable.”

     She looked puzzled. “Really? And what is that?”

     Einstein smiled, put his arm across my shoulders, and spoke the ten words that became his epitaph (墓志铭): “Opening up yet another fragment of the frontier of beauty.”

(987 words)

杰罗姆·韦德曼

    当我是个小伙子时，有一次被邀去一位有地位的纽约绅士家中参加宴会。饭后，女主人领着我们来到一个大厅，只见一大帮佣人正在把椅子排成长长的几排。最前面靠着墙的是乐器。显然我正面临着一场晚上的室内乐。

    我叹了口气。我对音乐一窍不通；我实际上是个乐盲。于是，我便采取了被困时一贯的做法：我坐了下来，充耳不闻，让自己沉浸在思想的海洋中。

   过了一会儿，我意识到周围的人们正在鼓掌，便认定可以安全地除去“耳塞”了。立刻我便听到右边传来一个温和的声音。“你喜欢巴赫吧？”那声音说。

    我对巴赫就像对核物理一样一无所知。但我的确知道世界上最著名的一张脸：我正坐在阿尔贝特·爱因斯坦旁边。

    “我对巴赫一点儿都不了解,”我尴尬地说。“我从来没有听过他的任何音乐。”

    爱因斯坦的脸上闪过诧异的神情。“你从没听过巴赫的作品？”他的口气听上去就像是我刚才说我从来没有洗过澡一样。

    “不是我不想喜欢巴赫,”我急忙回答。“只是我是个乐盲，我从来没有真正听过任何人的音乐。”老人的脸上露出了关切的神情。“请你跟我来，好吗？”他说。

   他站起身，抓着我的手臂，带我上了楼。他显然很熟悉这幢房子。他在楼上打开了一间排满书的书房之门，拉着我走进去，然后关上门。

    “好，”他微笑着说。“请你告诉我，你对音乐有这种感觉已经有多久了.”

    “我这一辈子都是这样,”我说。“我希望您能回到楼下去听音乐，爱因斯坦博士。我不喜欢音乐，这无关紧要。”

    他摇摇头。“请告诉我,”他说。“有没有哪种音乐是你喜欢的呢？”

    “呃,”我回答，“我喜欢带歌词的歌曲.”

    他微笑着点了点头，显然很高兴。“也许你可以给我举个例子？”

    “呃，”我大胆地说，“几乎所有平·克劳斯贝唱的歌。”

   他又点了点头。“很好！”他走到房间的一个角落，那儿放好了一台旧的留声机，然后他开始把唱片抽出来。我不安地注视着他。“啊！”他终于说。

    他放上一张唱片，顷刻间书房里便回荡起平·克劳斯贝那从容舒展的歌声。听了三、四句之后，他停下留声机。“现在，请把你刚才听到的告诉我。”

    最简单的回答似乎是把歌词唱出来。我正是这样做的，唱的时候极力不走调。爱因斯坦脸上的表情像日出一般灿烂。“你瞧！”当我唱完时，他欣喜地叫道。“你确实是能欣赏音乐的！”

    我争辩说，那是我最喜欢的歌曲之一，听过几百遍了，所以它真的证明不了什么。“胡说！”爱因斯坦说。“它证明了一切！你还记得你在学校里上的第一节算术课吗？假定，你第一次接触算数时，你的老师就让你做一道带分数的题目。你做得出来吗？”

    “不能，当然不能。”

    “一点没错！”爱因斯坦欣喜万分。“那是不可能的，你的反应会是惊慌失措。你就会对分数产生畏惧不想学的心理。结果，因为老师的这一个错误，你可能终生都无法感受到分数之美。但是，在你的第一天，没有老师会这样愚蠢。他会让你从基本的东西开始──然后，在你掌握了做最简单的题目的技巧时，他会把你领向分数。

   “音乐也是如此，”爱因斯坦拿起那张平·克劳斯贝的唱片。“这首简单、迷人的小歌就像是加法。你已经掌握它了。 现在我们接下去听点更复杂的。”他找出另一张唱片开始放。 约翰·麦科马克的金子般的嗓音充满了整个房间。 几句之后，爱因斯坦停下了唱片。

    “好！”他说。“请你把这一段重唱一遍给我听。”我重唱了一遍，虽然很不自然，但准确程度却高得让我都惊讶。

    “好极了！”当我唱完时，爱因斯坦说。“太棒了！”

   在麦科马克之后我们至少又听了十几位其他歌唱家的歌曲。这位机缘使我有幸结识的伟人，完全被我们正在做的事吸引住了，好像我是他唯一关心的人。这不由使我产生了一种不可动摇的敬畏之情。

     最后，我们听了没有歌词的音乐录音， 爱因斯坦要我把它们重新哼唱出来。当我努力要达到某个高音时，爱因斯坦把嘴巴张开，把头后仰，似乎要帮我达到那似乎不可能达到的高度一样。显然我已经达到了足够的水平，因为他突然关掉留声机。“好了，年轻人，”他说。“我们现在可以听巴赫了！”

      当我们回到客厅里我们的座位上时，乐器演奏者们正在调音准备演奏一首新的曲目。 爱因斯坦微笑着，拍了拍我的膝盖以示鼓励。“就让你自己尽情地去听好了，”他低声说，“如此而已。”

   音乐会结束时，我在其他人的掌声中加上了我真诚的掌声。当音乐家们向观众行礼致意时，我们的女主人走到我们身边。“我真遗憾，爱因斯坦博士，您错过了那么多的演出。”

    爱因斯坦和我急忙起身。“我也感到遗憾，”他说。“不过，我和我这位年轻的朋友刚才做了人类所能做的最伟大的事。”

    她看上去迷惑不解。“真的吗？那是什么？”

    爱因斯坦微笑着， 搭着我的肩膀，说了后来成为他的墓志铭的那9个字。“开辟又一片美的领域。”

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