Stephen Hawking

There is a man driving around in a motorized wheelchair in Cambridge, England. He can only move his eyes and two fingers on his left hand. He communicates through a computer. This man is Stephen Hawking, the greatest physicist since Albert Einstein.

Stephen Hawking was born in 1942 in Oxford, England. His father was a specialist in tropical diseases. Stephen wanted to be a scientist too. He went to the University of Oxford and received a degree in physics. He then went to the University of Cambridge to study for a Ph. D. During this time doctors discovered that he had the fatal disease that weakens all of the body’s muscles.

At about this time he met Jane Wilde, a language student at Cambridge. They fell in love and got married in 1965. Hawking has often said that his wife gave him the courage to continue to study and work. Although Hawking had become more severely paralyzed, he became a professor at Cambridge.

Hawking does research about how the universe began. He sees connection and works out explanations that other people cannot. His most famous ideas are about black holes. Black holes are not really holes. They are so dense that even light cannot pass through.

As his disease got worse, money became a problem for Stephen Hawking. To earn extra money, Hawking gave speeches and published articles. He wrote the book “A Brief History of Time” that explained the universe to ordinary people. This book was sold over 8 million copies worldwide, and Hawking became a millionaire.

Пояснения к тексту:

Ph. D. (Doctor of Philosophy) доктор философии

to give speeches выступать с речью

8. Письменно ответьте на данные вопросы:

1) What was S. Hawking doing?

2) When did he discover his fatal disease?

3) Who helped him to continue his work?

4) What was his research about?

5) How many copies of the book “A Brief History of Time” were sold?

КРАТКОЕ ГРАММАТИЧЕСКОЕ ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ

В ТАБЛИЦАХ И СХЕМАХ

Таблица 1 - Времена английского языка