More than four decades ago，British scientist Robert Edwards first witnessed the miracle of human life growing inside a test tube at his Cambridge lab. Since that groundbreaking moment，more than four million babies have been born through IVF（in vitro fertilization）（体外受精）and in 2010 his great contribution to science was finally recognized as he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The prize for Dr. Edwards，who was given a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award in 2008，includes a ₤ 900，000check. The Nobel Assembly described IVF as“a milestone in modern medicine”.

With the help of fellow scientist Patrick Steptoe，the Batley-born physiologist developed IVF — leading to the birth of the world's first test-tube baby. Dr. Steptoe died 10 years later but their work has given hope to millions of couples.

It was a scientific breakthrough that transformed-the lives of millions of couples. They said，“His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility，a disease which makes humans unable to have a baby. This condition has been afflicting a large percentage of mankind including more than 10%of all couples worldwide.”

Louise Brown，the world's first test-tube baby，made international headlines when she was born in Oldham，Greater Manchester，in 1978 to parents Lesley and John who had been fruitlessly trying for a baby since 1969.

IVF is the process where egg cells are fertilized outside the body before being implanted in the womb（子宫）. After a cycle of IVF，the probability of a couple with infertility problems having a baby is one in five — the same as healthy couples who conceive（怀孕）naturally.

Professor Edwards，who has five daughters and 11 grandchildren，began his research at the University of Cambridge in 1963，after receiving his PhD in 1955. He once said,“The most important thing in life is having a child.  Nothing is more special than a child.”With the help of Patrick Steptoe, Prof. Edwards founded the Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridgeshire, which now treats more than 900 women a year. Each year, more than 30,000 women in Britain receive IVF and 11,000 babies are born as a result of the treatment.

But his work attracted widespread criticism from some scientists who said it was“unethical and immoral”.

Martin Johnson, professor of Reproductive Sciences at the University of Cambridge, said the award was “long overdue”. He said,“We couldn't understand why the Nobel Prize has come so late but he is delighted — this is the cherry on the cake for him.”

Professor Edwards was too ill to give interviews but a statement released by his family said he was“thrilled and delighted”.

   Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga，Spain in 1881.When he died in 1973，he was ninety-one years old. But he still took up his paints and brushes to start a new picture as if he were seeing things for the first time，which is why we have called him the youngest painter. Young people are always trying new things and new ways of doing things. They don't hesitate to attempt one thing after another. Eager to experiment, they welcome new ideas.

When he was over ninety this great painter still lived his life like a young man. He was still restlessly looking new ideas and new ways to use his artistic materials. No one knew what to expect from him next. No one could be sure what kind of picture he would produce. If he had painted a picture of you, it might have looked exactly like you. Or it might have been all lines, squares, circles and strange-colored shapes. It might not have looked like human at all.

At such times Picasso was trying to paint what he saw with his mind as well as with his eyes. He put in the side of the face as well as the front. He may have painted it flat, as though it had no depth. Sometimes he seemed to paint just as a child painted, simply for his own pleasure. He didn't imitate others.

Most painters discover a style of painting that suits themselves and stick to that, especially if people admire their pictures. But Picasso was like a man who had not yet found his own particular style of painting. He was still struggling to find perfect expression for his own uneasy spirit.

The first thing one noticed about him was the look of his large, wide-open eyes. Gertrude Stein, a famous American writer who knew him in his youth, mentioned this hungry look, and one can still see it in pictures of him today.

Picasso painted a picture of Gertrude Stein in 1906. She visited the painter's studio eighty or ninety times while he painted her picture. While Picasso painted they talked about everything in the world that interested them. Then one day Picasso wiped out the painted head on which he had worked for so long. "When I look at you I can't see you any more!" he said.

Picasso went away for the summer. When he returned he went at once to the unfinished picture in the corner of his studio. Quickly he finished the face from memory. He could see the woman's face more clearly in his mind than he could see it when she sat in the studio in front of him.

Picasso was often attacked for this new, sometimes frightening style. It produced pictures like some of our worst dreams. The camera has made it unnecessary for painters to make exact representations of what they see. A camera can reflect real life more exactly. What great paintings give us is a view of life through one man's eyes, and every man's view is different.

   Blind people can read. They do so by running their fingers along a line of raised points or dots on paper. Of course, they first have to learn the code（代码）. Here are some examples of it. One dot stands for the letter “A”. Two dots side by side mean “C”. Four dots arranged to look like a box（：：） stand for the letter “G”. By placing the dots in special patterns, all the letters of the alphabet can be formed.

This code was made up by a Frenchman called Louis Braille. Though he could see at birth, he became sightless when he was only three. Braille was cutting leather in his father’s shop. His knife slipped and cut his eye. Infection（感染）spread to both eyes, and he became blind.

At 10, he was placed in a home for the blind. But young Braille had great talent. He became a skilled musician and soon got a job as a church organist（风琴弹奏者）in Paris.

Because he had talent and was quick, he became a teacher at a school for the blind. While there, he heard that a captain had sent messages to his soldiers that they could read at night without light. His messages were in the simple form of raised dots and dashes. This was the clue Braille needed. At the age of 15, he worked out his own six-dot code. Each group of dots is called a cell. The cells are three dots high and two dots wide. For the rest of his life, Braille taught his young flock to read both written and musical works using his code.

For the last 17 years of his life, Braille was ill with tuberculosis. He died at the age of 43.

   John B. Goodenough, an engineering professor from the University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry-jointly with M. Stanley Whittingham, a chemistry professor from the State University of New York and Japan’s Akira Yoshino, a professor of Meijo University-for the development of lithium-ion batteries (锂电池). According to the Nobel Committee, the three scientists “have created the right conditions for a wireless and fossil fuel-free society, and so brought the greatest benefit to humankind”.

Goodenough, born in 1922, identified and developed the key materials that can power portable electronics, leading to the wireless revolution. Today, batteries containing Goodenough’s innovations are used worldwide for mobile phones, power tools, laptops, tablets and other wireless devices, as well as electric vehicles.

Goodenough received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yale University and a doctorate in physics from the university of Chicago. He beat the odds against him, first overcoming dyslexia (阅读困难症) as a child, and then the claim of a teacher who told the doctoral student in his 20s that he had started too late to be successful in physics.

He began his career in 1952 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, where he laid the groundwork for the development of random-access memory (RAM) for the digital computer. After MIT, Goodenough became a professor and head of the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Oxford where in 1979 he discovered it would be possible to store energy in rechargeable batteries through lithium cobalt oxide (锂钴氧化物).That discovery helped develop the lithium-ion battery. Goodenough joined the University of Texas at Austin in 1986, where his groundbreaking work continued.

At 97 years old, he still continues to push the boundaries of materials science. Despite the lithium-ion battery being well developed and available as a commercial product, it has its limitations. It can’t be charged too fast or overcharged. Goodenough still wants to see some new developments.

“I hope Ut-Austin still keeps me employed,” Goodenough once joked.

About the year 1900, a dark-haired boy 【小题1】 (name) Charlie Chaplin was often seen waiting outside the back entrance of London theatres. He looked thin and hungry. He was hoping to get work in show business. He could sing and dance, and above all, he knew 【小题2】 to make people laugh. Sometimes he 【小题3】 (send) away to a home for homeless children.

But twenty years later, this same Chaplin became the 【小题4】 (great), best-known, and best-loved comedian in the world. People all over the world are greatly amused by the man with a moustache,【小题5】 (wear) large trousers, worn-out shoes and a small round hat. Even people who don’t understand English can enjoy his films, because they are mostly 【小题6】 (silence). It isn’t what he says 【小题7】 makes us laugh. Acting out common human situations, without words,【小题8】 (play) an important part in his films.