課文內容

詞匯： Science 科學

Sci-fi movies tend to capture children's imaginations and have long been part of students' excited chats in the schoolyard. But now a scientific journal has urged at least one sci-fi movie to be shown in class by science teachers.

Scientific papers published in the American Journal of Physics (AJP) and in Classical and Quantum Gravity have seen merit in the way the movie Interstellar portrays wormholes.

Dr David Jackson from AJP said publishing this paper "was a no-brainer". He added: "The physics has been very carefully reviewed by experts and found to be accurate. The publication will encourage physics teachers to show the film in their classes to get across ideas about general relativity".

In fact, one of the executive producers of Interstellar was Kip Thorne, a professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). For him, films such as Interstellar, Contact and 2001: A Space Odyssey can inspire young people.

Blockbusters are improving when it comes to portraying scientific theories. An initiative by the US National Academy of Sciences has been putting proper scientists in touch with movie people to achieve a better result - which is vital in the internet age. Interstellar's director Christopher Nolan says: "Consumers have a lot more immediate access to information. If you go and see a film about a particular subject, particularly a true life story, you can go home and look it up on Wikipedia and see if the basic things portrayed in the film are true or not. The same is true of science in the films".

Professional scientists may no longer cringe in their seats when they watch sci-fi movies. Today, getting the science wrong is no longer an option.

詞匯表

sci-fi 科幻
to capture (someone's) imagination 激發某人的想象力
a scientific paper 科學文獻
physics 物理學
interstellar 星際的
a wormhole (space) 時空蟲洞
a no-brainer 顯而易見的事
accurate 準確的
general relativity 廣義相對論
technology 技術
a blockbuster 暢銷的書、電影或電視
a theory 一種理論
proper 專業的，科班出身的
the consumer 消費者
to cringe 感到難堪

測驗與練習

1. 閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. What aspect of physics did the movie Interstellar show accurately, according to scientists?

2. What else could students learn more easily with the help of movies, according to Dr Jackson?

3. How has the US National Academy of Sciences helped movie makers to get the science right?

4. Why might it not be a good idea to pretend the science in a movie is correct?

5. Which verb in the article means 'to represent something in a particular way'?

2. 請你在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

1. It's warm and sunny. Going to the beach is _________.

a no-brainer ? ? ?accurate ? ? ?true ? ? ?proper

2. My chemistry teacher said I'm good at mixing things in the school lab but I have to learn more about the _________ behind it.

general relativity ? ? ?no-brainer ? ? ?theory ? ? ?subject

3. _________ are very demanding nowadays. If the quality is no good they go and shop elsewhere!

Executive producers ? ? ?Teachers ? ? ?Movie makers ? ? ?Consumers

4. I love _________ movies! But nothing beats a low-budget romantic comedy when you want a quiet afternoon at home.

accurate ? ? ?blockbuster ? ? ?true life stories ? ? ?wormhole

5. ET is a classic movie. It's _________ everybody's imagination.

arrested ? ? ?trapped ? ? ?took ? ? ?captured

答案

1. 閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. What aspect of physics did the movie Interstellar show accurately, according to scientists?
Wormholes.

2. What else could students learn more easily with the help of movies, according to Dr Jackson?
The theory of general relativity.

3. How has the US National Academy of Sciences helped movie makers to get the science right?
It puts movie-makers in contact with real scientists.

4.?Why might it not be a good idea to pretend the science in a movie is correct?
Because consumers can find out how accurate the film is by checking online.

5. Which verb in the article means 'to represent something in a particular way'?
To portray.

  2. 請你在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

1. It's warm and sunny. Going to the beach is a no-brainer.

2. My chemistry teacher said I'm good at mixing things in the school lab but I have to learn more about the theory behind it.

3. Consumers are very demanding nowadays. If the quality is no good they go and shop elsewhere!

4. I love blockbuster movies! But nothing beats a low-budget romantic comedy when you want a quiet afternoon at home.

5. ET is a classic movie. It's captured everybody's imagination.