2015-08-10 Getting the science right 科学依据要准确

课文内容

词汇：Science 科学

Sci-fi movies tend to capture children’s imaginations and have long been part of students’ excited chats in the schoolyard. But now a scientific journal has urged at least one sci-fi movie to be shown in class by science teachers.

Scientific papers published in the American Journal of Physics (AJP) and in Classical and Quantum Gravity have seen merit in the way the movie Interstellar portrays wormholes.

Dr David Jackson from AJP said publishing this paper “was a no-brainer“. He added: “The physics has been very carefully reviewed by experts and found to be accurate. The publication will encourage physics teachers to show the film in their classes to get across ideas about general relativity“.

In fact, one of the executive producers of Interstellar was Kip Thorne, a professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). For him, films such as Interstellar, Contact and 2001: A Space Odyssey can inspire young people.

Blockbusters are improving when it comes to portraying scientific theories. An initiative by the US National Academy of Sciences has been putting proper scientists in touch with movie people to achieve a better result – which is vital in the internet age. Interstellar’s director Christopher Nolan says: “Consumers have a lot more immediate access to information. If you go and see a film about a particular subject, particularly a true life story, you can go home and look it up on Wikipedia and see if the basic things portrayed in the film are true or not. The same is true of science in the films”.

Professional scientists may no longer cringe in their seats when they watch sci-fi movies. Today, getting the science wrong is no longer an option.

词汇表

sci-fi 科幻
to capture (someone’s) imagination 激发某人的想象力
a scientific paper 科学文献
physics 物理学
interstellar 星际的
a wormhole (space) 时空虫洞
a no-brainer 显而易见的事
accurate 准确的
general relativity 广义相对论
technology 技术
a blockbuster 畅销的书、电影或电视
a theory 一种理论
proper 专业的，科班出身的
the consumer 消费者
to cringe 感到难堪

测验与练习

1. 阅读课文并回答问题。

1. What aspect of physics did the movie Interstellar show accurately, according to scientists?

2. What else could students learn more easily with the help of movies, according to Dr Jackson?

3. How has the US National Academy of Sciences helped movie makers to get the science right?

4. Why might it not be a good idea to pretend the science in a movie is correct?

5. Which verb in the article means ‘to represent something in a particular way’?

2. 请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处。

1. It’s warm and sunny. Going to the beach is _________.

a no-brainer      accurate      true      proper

2. My chemistry teacher said I’m good at mixing things in the school lab but I have to learn more about the _________ behind it.

general relativity      no-brainer      theory      subject

3. _________ are very demanding nowadays. If the quality is no good they go and shop elsewhere!

Executive producers      Teachers      Movie makers      Consumers

4. I love _________ movies! But nothing beats a low-budget romantic comedy when you want a quiet afternoon at home.

accurate      blockbuster      true life stories      wormhole

5. ET is a classic movie. It’s _________ everybody’s imagination.

arrested      trapped      took      captured

答案

1. 阅读课文并回答问题。

1. What aspect of physics did the movie Interstellar show accurately, according to scientists?
Wormholes.

2. What else could students learn more easily with the help of movies, according to Dr Jackson?
The theory of general relativity.

3. How has the US National Academy of Sciences helped movie makers to get the science right?
It puts movie-makers in contact with real scientists.

4. Why might it not be a good idea to pretend the science in a movie is correct?
Because consumers can find out how accurate the film is by checking online.

5. Which verb in the article means ‘to represent something in a particular way’?
To portray.

 2. 请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处。

1. It’s warm and sunny. Going to the beach is a no-brainer.

2. My chemistry teacher said I’m good at mixing things in the school lab but I have to learn more about the theory behind it.

3. Consumers are very demanding nowadays. If the quality is no good they go and shop elsewhere!

4. I love blockbuster movies! But nothing beats a low-budget romantic comedy when you want a quiet afternoon at home.

5. ET is a classic movie. It’s captured everybody’s imagination.