Stephen Hawking is perhaps the world's most famous living physicist. To the public, he's best known as an author of bestsellers such as The Universe in a Nutshell and A Brief History of Time, which have brought an appreciation of theoretical (理论上的)  physics to millions. He is regarded as having one of the brightest minds on the planet. But outstanding astrophysicist (天体物理学家) Stephen Hawking has admitted that he did not learn to read until he was eight years old.

    In a public lecture at the Royal Albert Hall, Professor Hawking also admitted that he was not active in studying while at Oxford University, where he studied physics, and that only the news that he might die young from motor neurone (运动神经元) disease made him focus on his work.

    Professor Hawking said, “My sister Philippa could read by the age of 4 but then she was brighter than me.” He said that he was common at school and was never further than halfway up his class. “My classwork was very untidy, and my handwriting was very bad in the teachers' eyes,” he said. “But my classmates gave me the name Einstein, so probably they saw signs of something better.”

    But he said that it was when doctors told him that he probably only had a few years to live at the age of 21 that he began to focus on his work, which resulted in some of his early achievements. He said, “When you are faced with the possibility of an early death, it makes you realize that life is worth living and there are lots of things you want to do.” Hawking serves as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, where he continues to contribute to both high-level physics and the popular understanding of our universe.

    Nikola Tesla

    Long overshadowed in public memory by his one-time employer, Thomas Edison, Tesla (1856—1943) was a brilliant scientist and engineer who earned more than 700 patents. He is most famous for developing alternating current (交流电), but his work also led to advances in wireless communications, lasers, X-rays, radar, lighting, robotics, and much more.

    Tesla was born to Serbian parents in what is now Croatia, but he emigrated(移民) to the U.S. as a young man, where he eventually became a naturalized citizen. Besides Edison, who later became his bitter rival, Tesla often worked with inventor George Westinghouse. In 1893, the pair demonstrated their advances in lighting and motors in the "White City" at the Chicago World's Fair. In 1895, Tesla and Westinghouse developed the world's first hydroelectric power plant, at Niagara Falls.

    At the turn of the century, Tesla set up a laboratory called Wardenclyffe in the small community of Shoreham, Long Island, where he conducted some of his most ambitious experiments. The building was financed by J. P. Morgan and designed by acclaimed architect Stanford White.

    The most prominent feature was Wardenclyffe Tower, also called Tesla Tower, a 187-foot-tall metal lattice tower topped with a big antenna that was intended to beam communications and even energy across the Atlantic.Tesla ran out of money while building the tower and was foreclosed(取消赎回权) on twice. As with his previous Colorado Springs lab, assets were sold to pay up his debts. In 1917, the U.S. government blew up the tower, fearing that German spies were using it in World War I. The metal was sold for scrap. For decades, the building was used for photo processing.

    "The tower is long gone, but the three-quarter-length statue of Tesla unveiled last week is a fitting memorial," said Alcorn, a retired teacher. "This is the last remaining Tesla laboratory anywhere in the world," she said. "He inspires those who work hard but don't get recognition, and people are starting to recognize how important his contributions are."

    As a sign of that growing appreciation, Elon Musk's start-up electric car company Tesla Motors was named after the visionary inventor in 2003.

    Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had "seven fathers ", because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she hid herself into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.

    In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the University's Writers' Workshop, however, she felt lonely—a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her "creative voice".

    "It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn't think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalanced in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That's when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn't write about."

    Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street , when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children's book, and a shortstory collection.

    There has been a recent trend in the food service industry toward lower fat content and less salt. This trend, which was started by the medical community(医学界)a method of fighting heart disease, has had some unintended side(effect) such as overweight and heart disease—the very thing the medical community was trying to fight.

    Fat and salt are very important parts of a diet. They are required(process) the food that we eat, to recover from injury and for several other bodily functions. When fat and salt(remove) from food, the food tastes as if is missing something. Asresult, people will eat more food to try to make up for that something missing. Even(bad), the amount of fast food that people eat goes up. Fast food(be) full of fat and salt; by(eat) more fast food people will get more salt and fat than they need in their diet.

    Having enough fat and salt in your meals will reduce the urge to snack(吃点心) between meals and will improve the taste of your food. However, be(care) not to go to extremes. Like anything, it is possible to have too much of both,is not good for the health.

    Taking your pet for a walk should be enjoyable experience, not one which leaves your arms  (pain) after your dog running too far away, reaching the end of the dog leash (狗绳). Some dogs (simple) will keep trying to pull  (them) away from the leash, and  (depend) on the size of the dog, this can cause much pain to your arms.

    Now there is a tool (call) the Dog Trainer which will probably solve these dog walking issues. For $39.95, the special invention is designed to help train your dog  you go out for walks. The tool is fixed with the leash, and whenever it senses a struggle, it will send a noise which only your dog will be able to hear, thus forcing it  (realize) that struggling is not worth it!

    The noise becomes(loud), based on the force of the struggle, and it has four sound levels. The Dog Trainer is powered by two AAA batteries (电池) and we believe if you have a large doglikes to try and escape all the time, then this handy little invention is surely worth the small payment.

    Things You Didn't Know About Stephen Hawking

    Even if you don't keep a close eye on new developments in physics, you've probably heard of the famous physicist Stephen Hawking.

    These days, we know Hawking as a brilliant mind whose theories are difficult for a nonscientific mind to grasp. This is why it may come as a shock to learn that Hawking was a slacker when it came to his school studies.

    With a little more effort, he brought those grades up to about average, but not much better. However, from an early age he was interested in how things worked. He has talked about how he was known to take apart clocks and radios. However, he admits he wasn't very good at putting them back together so they could work again.

    Stephen Hawking took a liking to mathematics from an early age, and he would have liked to have majored in it.He hoped Stephen would instead study medicine.

    But, for all his interest in science, Stephen didn't care for biology. He has said that he found it to be “too inexact, too descriptive (叙述的)”

One problem, however, was that Oxford didn't have mathematics as a major. The result was that Stephen would attend Oxford and major in physics. That's why he chose to study universe.

A. His father wanted to send him to Oxford.

B. His father, Frank, however, had different ideas.

C. Actually, he focused on the bigger questions.

D. He would have rather devoted his mind to more precise concepts.

E. In fact, when he was 9, his grades ranked among the worst in his class.

F. However, there're many interesting facts you might not know about him.

G. Both his teachers and peers seemed to understand that they had a future genius.

    A conflict at work is common. If you can avoid conflict, it means you will win what you want regardless of what the other person wants. Since the potential problem has not been removed, it will simply reappear later

    Be aware of the fact that some conflicts are unavoidable at work. On many occasions(场合), conflict and disagreement are likely to happen. But when a conflict happens it is not the end of the world.Conflicts mean that people care enough to disagree strongly. The trick is not to allow the conflict to go on forever.

     Solve a conflict when it starts, as it only gets worse with time going by. Everyone is waiting for the other to admit he or she is wrong and gets more unpleasant after the conflict has lasted a while. It is necessary to interrupt the "waiting game" before it gets to that point.

    Ask nicely. If somebody has done something that makes you angry, or if you don't understand their viewpoints or actions, simply asking nicely about them can make a world of difference. Never assume that people do what they do to annoy or hurt you. Sometimes there is a good reason why that person does what he or she does, and a potential conflict disappears right there.

    Appreciate.Tell them why it is worth it to you to solve the conflict. This can be difficult as few people find it easy to appreciate a person they disagree strongly with, but it is a great way to move forward.

A. Praise the other part in the conflict

B. Deal with conflicts sooner rather than later.

C. Invite the other person to talk about the situation.

D. Do remember to make an enquiry, not an accusation of any sort.

E. Here are the necessary steps to effectively get rid of conflicts at work

F. On the contrary, it can be the beginning of an interesting learning process.

G. Clear thinking is unlikely to happen while an argument continues to boil over.