Science, as we think, was born when the Greek
philosopher (哲學(xué)家) Thales ( about 640-546 B.C.) asked a
difficult question: What makes up our universe?
No one had a ready answer, so Thales went on studying
the earth around him, the sky and the stars. He saw so much water on earth and
so much water falling from the sky as rain that he decided water must be the
basic substance (物質(zhì)) of the universe.
Other Greek thinkers became interested in this
question. They suggested other answers. One said that because air lies around
the earth, it must be air that makes up all things. Another said that fire,
appearing in different forms, was the building block of the universe.
The Greek philosophers were feeling their way towards
the ideas on which chemistry is based. Centuries later, scientists proved that
the universe is made up of certain basic substances. But the list is much more complicated
than the Greeks realized. We now know of 103 basic substances which we call “
elements (元素)”.
1.Thales, the famous Greek philosopher, died when he
was about_________.
A.94 years old B.106years old C.40 years old D.46 years old
2.The meaning of the underlined word “complicated” in
the last paragraph is “_______”.
A.not difficult
B.not simple C.not famous D.not different
3.From the passage we know that _______.
A.Thales asked
many questions B.Greeks were
all philosophers
C.science began
long ago D.water and air
make up all things.
4.On the whole, the passage tells about _______.
A.early tries
to understand the universe B.the famous Greek thinkers
C.water falling
from the sky D.a(chǎn)ir lying all
around the earth
5.After reading the passage, we can be sure
that_______.
A.nothing ever
changes in the universe
B.Thales
decided that the basic substance of the universe was air
C.the universe
is made up of four different substances
D.the early
Greek thinkers did much valuable work for the progress of science