Though only just 21 when diagnosed with the disease ALS, Hawking was perhaps the most famous scientist in the world when he died in 2018 at age 76. His 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, sold ten million copies and made him an unlikely superstar even to people who sweated through high school science.
Humor was always a big part of Hawking’s effort to bring physics to the masses. In his 2010 book, The Grand Design, for instance, he recounts how, in 1277, the Catholic Church declared scientific laws such as gravity to be wrong, since they seemed against God's idea. “Interestingly,” the text adds jokingly, “Pope John was killed by the effects of the law of gravity a few months later when the roof of his palace fell in on him.”
“He loved adventure and fun,” says Mlodinow, who once took Hawking on a punt-boat trip down the fiver Cam in Cambridge, England, despite the obvious danger of the boat turning over. “You know about when he went on the Vomit Comet? It’s a plane that flies in a parabolic path so you are weightless, like you are in space. A lot of people vomit, but he loved that sort of thing.” And he was 65 at the time.
Hawking’s greatest hit, humor-wise, was probably the cocktail party he threw in 2009. It was a “ welcome reception for future time travelers,” he said, so naturally, he sent out the invitations the day after the party. No one showed up yet. “Maybe one day someone living in the future will find the information and use a wormhole time machine to come back to my party, proving that time travel will one day be possible,” Hawking explained. And if that happens, don’t be surprised if Hawking is there too. After all, he never missed a chance to have fun.
【小题1】What does the text mainly tell us about Hawking?| A．He related physics to humor closely. | B．He made great contributions to physics |
| C．He went through many funny experiences. | D．He was optimistic about the future of science. |
| A．He was not in favor of God. | B．He was a scientist like Hawking. |
| C．He was opposed to the law of gravity. | D．He was killed due to the discovery of gravity. |
| A．His fondness of adventure. | B．The invitation from his friend. |
| C．The requirements of his work. | D．His desire for recovery from ALS. |
| A．The cocktail party was a great success. |
| B．The possibility of time travel was not proved. |
| C．Hawking was a man who enjoyed holding parties. |
| D．The wormhole time machine was used at that time. |
