首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The nuclear age in which the human race is living, and may soon be dying, began for the general public with the dropping of an a
The nuclear age in which the human race is living, and may soon be dying, began for the general public with the dropping of an a
admin
2008-10-11
103
问题
The nuclear age in which the human race is living, and may soon be dying, began for the general public with the dropping of an atom bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. But for nuclear scientists and for certain American authorities, it had been known for some time that such a weapon was possible. Work towards making it had been begun by the United States, Canada and Britain very soon after the beginning of the Second World War. The existence of possibly explosive forces in the nuclei of atoms had been known ever since the structure of atoms was discovered by Rutherford.
An atom consists of a tiny core called the "nucleus" with attendant electrons circling round it. The hydrogen atom, which is the simplest and lightest, has only one electron. Heavier atoms have more and more as they go up the scale. The first discovery that had to do with what goes on in nuclei was radioactivity, which is caused by particles being shot out of the nucleus. It was known that a great deal of energy is locked up in the nucleus, but, until just before the outbreak of the Second World War, there was no way of releasing this energy in any large quantity. A revolutionary discovery was that, in certain circumstances, mass can be transformed into energy in accordance with Einstein’s formula which states that the energy generated is equal to the mass lost multiplied by the square of the velocity of light.
The A-bomb, however, used a different process, depending upon radioactivity. In this process, called "fission", a heavier atom splits into two lighter atoms. In general, in radioactive substances this fission proceeds at a constant rate which is slow where substances occurring in nature are concerned. But there is one form of uranium called "U235" which, when it is pure, sets up a chain reaction which spreads like fire, though with enormously greater rapidity. It is this substance which was used in making the atom bomb.
The political background of the atomic scientists’ work was the determination to defeat the Nazis. It was held--I think rightly--that a Nazi victory would be an appalling disaster. It was also held, in Western countries, that German scientists must be well advanced towards making an A-bomb, and that if they succeeded before the West did they would probably win the war. When the war was over, it was discovered, to the complete astonishment of both American and British scientists, that the Germans were nowhere near success, and as everybody knows, the Germans were defeated before any nuclear weapons had been made. But I do not think that nuclear scientists of the West can be blamed for thinking the work urgent and necessary. Even Einstein favored it.
When, however, the German war was finished, the great majority of those scientists who had collaborated towards making the A-bomb considered that it should not be used against the Japanese, who were already on the verge of defeat and, in any case, did not constitute such a menace to the world as Hitler. Many of them made urgent representations to the American Government advocating that, instead of using the bomb as a weapon of war, they should after a public announcement, explode it in a desert, and that future control of nuclear energy should be placed in the hands of an international authority. Seven of the most eminent of nuclear scientists drew up what is known as "The Franck Report" which they presented to the Secretary of War in June 1945. This is a very admirable and far-seeing document, and if it had won the assent of the politicians, none of our subsequent terrors would have arisen.
The American and British scientists were astonished at the end of the Second World War against Germany because ______.
选项
A、the Germans had been defeated without the use of nuclear weapons
B、the Western countries had won before they had invented nuclear weapons
C、they thought the Germans would probably win the war
D、the Germans had made little progress in developing nuclear weapons
答案
D
解析
在抗击德国的二战结束以后,美国和英国科学家感到吃惊,因为德国人在研制核武器方面没有取得多大进展。作者在第四段说,二战结束后,美国和英国科学家十分吃惊地发现德国人离成功遥遥无期。众所周知,德国人在制造出核武器之前就已经战败。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/axIO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Readthearticlebelowaboutworkingininternationalteams.Choosethebestsentencefromtheoppositepagetofilleachof
●Lookatthenotesbelow.●Someinformationismissing.●Youwillhearawomantalkingabouttwonewproducts.●Foreachque
Thebiggestproblemwiththecomputeristhat______.Sharonfoundoutaboutthevacancyfrom______.
●Lookatthepassagebelow.●Someinformationismissing.●Youwillhearawomantalkingaboutpersonalexperience.●Foreac
Emotionalintelligenceconcernsmainlywithself-reflectiveandScientistsfindthatthemodelforwomenleaders
•Lookatthenotesaboutqualitiesofgreatmanagers.•Someinformationismissing.•Youwillhearpartofapresentation
VictoriaSandersonfirstjoinedSHCComputerSystemsbecausesheWhatwasspecialaboutVictoria’sfirstthreeyearsrunninghe
Youwillhearaninterview.TheintervieweristalkingtoabusinesspersonTomSzaky,whorunsanenvironment-friendlycompany,
TheBossesSpeakJohnStuartisanexecutiverecruitmentspecialistwhohasturnedtowriting.Theresultisthisbook,ba
Inaperfectlyfreeandopenmarketeconomy,thetypeofemployer—governmentorprivate—shouldhavelittleornoimpactonthe
随机试题
为课程设置提供了明确的方向,是其他三个阶段的基础的是【】
第一产程活跃期延长是指时间超过
新《药品管理法》开始实施的日期是
检验科生化室采用日立760O型全自动生化仪,2个反应模块设置,反应速度离子800项/h,比色部分1600项/h。此分析仪属于
各种复式记账法的根本区别在于记账规则不同,如:增减记账法是指以“增”“减”为记账符号。目前,我国已普遍采用增减记账法。()
一个容器里有100个球,分别是红、黄、蓝三种颜色。甲说:“这个容器里至少有一种颜色的球不少于34个。”乙说:“这个容器里至少有一种颜色的球不少于33个。”丙说:“这个容器里任意两种颜色的球的总数不会超过99个。”下列
《行政处罚法》规定,除非法律有特别规定,当事人逾期不履行行政处罚决定的,处罚机关可以()。
遗传物质的最小功能单位是
A、 B、 C、 D、 D
Competitionintheearlymovieindustrywas【B1】______.Toforcetheircompetitorsoutoftheindustry,moviemakersturnedtothe
最新回复
(
0
)