第二单元第一部分
Summary (unit one lesson two video)
In nature everything is interconnected and interrelated. Every species in some way depends on others. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is a case in point, which was finally declared extinct in 1996 as a result of the exploitation and destruction of their habitat when, in the meantime, humans were in pursuit of industrialized development. However, many people are blind to the hard fact that plants are equally important as animals in how life works, mostly failing to recognize that humans wouldn’t be able to survive if all the species became extinct. It is now up to us on whether or not to do something about this.
Script (audio)
When it comes to intelligence, there has always been one fundamental question: Is intelligence a function of nature? Is it simply encoded in a child’s genes? Or is it a function of nurture? Is it more about the environment that a child grows up in?
On the one hand, if we take two people at random from the crowd, it is very likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. However, if we take two identical twins, chances are that they will be as intelligent as each other. Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. On the other hand, though, if we put identical twins in different environments, we would find differences in their intelligence several years later, which indicates that environment does play a crucial role in people’s intelligence.
Recently, data has clearly indicated that nurture is indeed more than 50% of the equation. That is good news for educators, but even better news for society as a whole.
Fortunately, President Obama has come out in strong support of early childhood education, particularly for those children most at risk of school failure. Investing in quality pre-school opportunities clearly helps give children from poverty-stricken areas the chance at a stronger start in school and in life.
If we are serious about helping our children succeed in school, if we are truly interested in “Leaving No Child Behind,” we will take a hard look at this compelling data and begin investing greater sums at the early childhood level.
Script (video)
Einstein’s destiny as a great physicist was not obvious. As a child, his passion was music, not physics.
“I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician.”
But Einstein’s life changed when he was given a book on geometry. The universe could be tamed through numbers. His life’s work would be to control the music of the universe.
During his life, Einstein changed our concept of space and time forever. He harnessed energy, mass and the speed of light in the most famous equation all time — E equals MC squared.
What made Einstein’s brain so exceptional? Dr. Jim Al-Khalili, like Einstein, is a physicist and is obsessed by the work of his hero. Brain specialist Mark Lythgoe hunts for secrets of creativity inside the human mind.
“My name is Dr. Jim Al-Khalili I believe Einstein’s genius came from his imagination, and no man or no machine can measure that. Am I right?”…….
“My name is Dr. Mark Lythgoe and I believe that Einstein’s genius comes from nerve cells, which can be analyzed. We can find out what made Einstein a genius. Am I right?”
So which view is correct? To solve the riddle of Einstein’s genius, Mark and Jim would have to journey to America to hunt down and examine Einstein’s disembodied brain. Nature or nurture? Biology or training? Are geniuses born or are they made? Neurophysiologist Dr. Mark Lythgoe is a keen climber and finds parallels between his hobby and his profession.
“Now, there are two scenarios for how the brain works. The first scenario is the brain is like a muscle. Now I’ve trained to develop the stamina in my muscle, hopefully then I can hold on to this hole for a period of time. The second is that the brain is like a skeleton and it doesn’t matter how much I’ve trained, I’m never, ever going to be able to reach that hole right up there.
“Now, in Einstein’s day they believed that the brain was like a skeleton that had natural limits, but that view is changing today. Instead, it is now understood that more and more parts of the brain behave like a muscle. They can expand with use. Then, if all of our brains are like muscles, could it be that we all have the ability to become Einstein?”
