内容正文:
单元综合检测(一)
Ⅰ.阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2.5分,满分37.5分)
A
When Alfred Nobel created the prizes that bear his name,he decided that they be given for work done in the previous year.But it has led to all kinds of trouble—as it did once again this month,when the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology was awarded to a dead man.
It is a complex story,one that could not have been foreseen when Nobel,the Swedish inventor,died in 1896.But it all traces back to his will,written at a time when international prizes were an original idea.
Nobel did not say why he wanted to reward scientists who “made the most important discovery” during the previous year.One can guess that he wanted to reward presentday innovation and not to give tombstone awards to Galileo,Hippocrates,and other scientists from centuries past.
But will and science often got involved.The oneyear timing proved impractical;scientific findings generally need to be tested,sometimes for decades,before their value is appreciated.
Perhaps to avoid the Galileo problem,the Nobel Foundation did state clearly that the award be given only to living people;that rule was made formal in the 1970s.But the rule against posthumous (死后的)awards has now been violated several times—most recently this month,when the prize in medicine was given to Dr.Ralph M.Steinman,a scientist at Rockefeller University,who died three days before his election.His discovery,called dendritic cells(树突细胞),took place in 1973.
The first posthumous winner was the poet Erik Karlfeldt.Karlfeldt had refused his selection in 1918 because he was a longtime member of the Swedish Nobel Academy.When he was selected again in 1931,he had died that April.
What happens if a candidate dies?The Nobel Foundation might consider changes at its next meeting.One possibility would be to withhold(阻止)the announcement of an award until a Nobel official hears the winner's voice on the famous notification calls.
【语篇解读】 诺贝尔奖是一个国际奖项,用来奖励前一年在科学上取得重大发现的人。诺贝尔基金会明确说明这个奖项只颁给活着的人,但科学发现需要时间来检验。诺贝尔奖能颁给死去的