Alfred Nobel — A man of contrasts
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2009-09-30 06:15 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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Alfred Nobel, the great Swedish inventor and industrialist1, was a man of many contrasts. He was the son of a bankrupt2, but became a millionaire; a scientist with a love of literature, an industrialist who managed to remain an idealist. He made a fortune but lived a simple life, and although cheerful in company he was often sad in private. A lover of mankind, he never had a wife or family to love him; a patriotic3 son of his native land, he died alone on foreign soil.

He invented a new explosive, dynamite4, to improve the peacetime industries of mining and road building, but saw it used as a weapon of war to kill and injure his fellow men. During his useful life he often felt he was useless: "Alfred Nobel," he once wrote of himself, "ought to have been put to death by a kind doctor as soon as, with a cry, he entered life."

World-famous for his works he was never personally well known, for throughout his life he avoided publicity5. "I do not see," he once said, "that I have deserved any fame and I have no taste for it," but since his death, his name has brought fame and glory to others.

He was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833 but moved to Russia with his parents in 1842, where his father, Immanuel, made a strong position for himself in the engineering industry. Immanuel Nobel invented the landmine6 and made a lot of money from government orders for it during the Crimean War, but went bankrupt soon after.

Most of the family returned to Sweden in 1859, where Alfred rejoined them in 1863, beginning his own study of explosives in his father's laboratory. He had never been to school or university but had studied privately7 and by the time he was twenty was a skilful8 chemist and excellent linguist9, speaking Swedish, Russian, German, French and English.

Like his father, Alfred Nobel was imaginative10 and inventive, but he had better luck in business and showed more financial sense. He was quick to see industrial openings for his scientific inventions and built up over 80 companies in 20 different countries. Indeed his greatness lay in his outstanding ability to combine the qualities of an original scientist with those of a forward-looking industrialist. But Nobel's main concern was never with making money or even with making scientific discoveries.

Seldom happy, he was always searching for a meaning to life, and from his youth had taken a serious interest in literature and philosophy. Perhaps because he could not find ordinary human love -- he never married -- he came to care deeply about the whole of mankind. He was always generous to the poor: "I'd rather take care of the stomachs of the living than the glory of the dead in the form of stone memorials," he once said.

His greatest wish, however, was to see an end to wars, and thus peace between nations, and he spent much time and money working for this cause until his death in Italy in 1896. His famous will, in which he left money to provide prizes for outstanding work in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology11, Medicine, Literature and Peace, is a memorial to his interests and ideals. And so, the man who felt he should have died at birth is remembered and respected long after his death.



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1 industrialist JqSz4Y     
n.工业家,实业家
参考例句:
  • The industrialist's son was kidnapped.这名实业家的儿子被绑架了。
  • Mr.Smith was a wealthy industrialist,but he was not satisfied with life.史密斯先生是位富有的企业家,可他对生活感到不满意。
2 bankrupt FumzD     
n.破产者;adj.破产的;vt.使...破产
参考例句:
  • That factory has gone bankrupt.那家工厂倒了。
  • The enemy's scheme went bankrupt.敌人的计谋破产了。
3 patriotic T3Izu     
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的
参考例句:
  • His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
  • The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。
4 dynamite rrPxB     
n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)
参考例句:
  • The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
  • The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。
5 publicity ASmxx     
n.众所周知,闻名;宣传,广告
参考例句:
  • The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
  • He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事,只当它是一种宣传手法。
6 landmine landmine     
n.地雷
参考例句:
  • A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
  • The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。
7 privately IkpzwT     
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地
参考例句:
  • Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
  • The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
8 skilful 8i2zDY     
(=skillful)adj.灵巧的,熟练的
参考例句:
  • The more you practise,the more skilful you'll become.练习的次数越多,熟练的程度越高。
  • He's not very skilful with his chopsticks.他用筷子不大熟练。
9 linguist K02xo     
n.语言学家;精通数种外国语言者
参考例句:
  • I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家,后来成了作家。
  • Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。
10 imaginative qa3xq     
adj.富有想象力的,爱想象的
参考例句:
  • The imaginative child made up fairy stories.这个想像力丰富的孩子自己编神话故事。
  • Scott was an imaginative writer.司格特是位富于想象力的作家。
11 physiology uAfyL     
n.生理学,生理机能
参考例句:
  • He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
  • He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。
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