名人教英文：albert einstein — a pacifist 和平主义者
albert einstein hated war. he was a pacifist. he joined with other scientists in pleading with (请求) europeans to start a league dedicated to (专注于) peace. einstein began to promote peace, tolerance (宽容), and justice. he was horrified by the thought of europe being torn apart by war. but by the end of the summer of 1914, fullscale war raged. injuries and death mounted on both sides. einstein saw it as senseless evil.
einstein still worked on his new ideas about space, matter, and time. he wanted to show how gravity (引力) fit with his ideas. after eight years of work, he concluded that gravity was the product of space distorted by the presence of matter. in 1916 einstein published his ideas as the "general theory of relativity". this has been called his most important achievement.
einstein said that a beam of light would be bent by gravity as it passed a star. the gravity of the star would cause the light beam to curve. in 1919 einstein's theory was tested. british astronomers photographed stars during a total eclipse of the sun. the photographs were compared with pictures of the same stars when the sun was far off. the different positions of the stars on the two different photographs proved that the sun deflects (使转向) starlight.
einstein's general theory of relativity helped explain such things as the curved shape of the universe. it also explained why the universe is expanding, what black holes are, and the "big bang" (宇宙大爆炸) theory of how the universe began.
in 1919, five months after his divorce to mileva einstein was final, albert einstein married elsa einstein lowenthal. einstein legally adopted elsa's two daughters. he enjoyed them immensely (非常地). once again, albert einstein had a happy home. but he continued to work hard. elsa tenderly cared for him when he was sick.
einstein spent a lot of time reading philosophy and listening to music. he worked to discover what is called a unified field theory. einstein sought to discover a single law that explains how all natural forces work.
einstein continued to see his sons. in 1920 he met fifteen-year-old hans in italy. they hiked for several days and einstein shared fatherly advice.
in 1920 albert einstein was the subject of much publicity and admiration. but in germany, his work was sometimes criticised. anti-semitism (反犹太主义) was a terrible problem in germany. after the end of world war i, it flared with increased energy. some germans, embittered (激怒) by the fact that they lost world war i, blamed the jews. they also blamed the jews for terrible unemployment and inflation in germany. einstein's theories were ridiculed (奚落) as "jewish physics".
in germany, there was a small group of angry germans promoting the idea that only pure "aryan" (雅利安人) germans were worthy human beings. all non-aryans, especially jews, were belittled (贬低). the leader of this violent movement was a former house painter named adolf hitler. at that time, hardly anyone suspected the role hitler would play in the future. but einstein and other thoughtful men were disgusted and alarmed.