大学英语四级阅读的200篇: Unit 37 passage 1_大学英语阅读

大学英语四级阅读的200篇: Unit 37 passage 1

　　By 1914 Einstein had gained world fame. He accepted the offer to become a professor at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. He had few duties, little teaching, and unlimited opportunities for study. It was an ideal position, but soon his peace and quiet were broken by the First World War. Einstein hated violence. Though he was not personally involved, the war and its misery affected him deeply. He lost interest in much of his research. Only when peace finally came in 1918 was he able to get back to work.

　　During the years following World War I, Germany heaped honors upon Einstein. He was persuaded to become director of Theoretical Physics in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. Prussia made him an honorary citizen. Potsdam built an Einstein Tower in its Astro-Physical Institute . Berlin held public celebration on his fiftieth birthday. Being a shy man, Einstein did not attend, but he received several baskets full of cards, letters, and telegrams expressing admiration and best wishes. The gifts to him would have filled a railway freight car.

　　Four years later, Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany. He and his Nazis disliked intellectuals, and they hated Jews. There was no respect even for Albert Einstein, who only wanted to think of the problems of time and space and who never got involved in politics. The Academy of Sciences was closed to him; his house was searched for weapons; he lost his professorship; all his property was seized; and finally his German citizenship was taken away. He became a man without a country.