首页
登录
职称英语
The nuclear age in which the human race is living, and may soon be dying, be
The nuclear age in which the human race is living, and may soon be dying, be
游客
2025-04-06
20
管理
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. [br] 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4段说:二战结束后,美国和英国科学家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:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/4029169.html
相关试题推荐
Throughouthistorymanhashadtoacceptthefactthatalllivingthingsmus
Throughouthistorymanhashadtoacceptthefactthatalllivingthingsmus
Throughouthistorymanhashadtoacceptthefactthatalllivingthingsmus
Throughouthistorymanhashadtoacceptthefactthatalllivingthingsmus
Throughouthistorymanhashadtoacceptthefactthatalllivingthingsmus
MarkKellyisoriginallyfromLancashireinEngland.HehasbeenlivinginJ
MarkKellyisoriginallyfromLancashireinEngland.HehasbeenlivinginJ
MarkKellyisoriginallyfromLancashireinEngland.HehasbeenlivinginJ
MarkKellyisoriginallyfromLancashireinEngland.HehasbeenlivinginJ
Ifwedon’tstopflirtingwiththosedeathlynuclearweapons,thewholeglobewi
随机试题
[originaltext]TodayI’mgoingtodiscusstransportationandcommunicationi
经济稳步增长,人民收入持续增加,新产品推出,再加上市场本身日益成熟和扩展,这些因素都推动了中国黄金市场向前发展。Chinesegoldmarketisd
【教学过程】 (一)开始部分 1.课堂常规:体委整队,报告人数,师生问好,教师简要介绍教学内容,检查服装,安排见习生。 组织教学:四列横队。 要
下列属于面层特点的是( )。A.强度 B.刚度 C.平整度 D.耐磨性
除室内空气温度外,下列哪组参数是评价室内热环境的要素?()A.有效温度、平均
A.绝对致死剂量(LD) B.最低致死剂量(MLD) C.半数致死剂量(LD
某企业2018年8月停止生产经营,进行清算,清算过程的相关数据如下:资产的账面价
隧道防水混凝土抗渗标号以每组试件中有()个未发现渗水现象时的最大水压力表示
急性肺水肿患者氧疗时,加强给氧的目的是( )A.增加氧气吸入的量 B.减轻肺
由于施工过程中,施工单位甲某违反操作规定,直接将拆除的模板从上往下扔,将其扔到了
最新回复
(
0
)