Today many people say that women have the same chance as men in society. But this was not always so. In the past, women all over the world had to fight to get the same chance as men in education and jobs. Many people said that women should not receive much education because they would not do as well as men when they went to work..
One woman who showed that women should have the same chance was Marie, a scientist. In the 1800s scientists knew that a metal, uranium, gave off radiation. They also knew how much radiation came from his element. But they didn’t know what this radiation was like; they wondered why and how uranium gave off radiation. Marie Curie set out to answer these questions. In one of her experiments she was studying a certain material which, she knew, contained uranium, But it gave off 4 times as much radiation as usually does. What could explain this fact? Marie Curie thought that there must be another source of radiation in this material.
In 1898 Marie Curie set out to find out this new source of radiation, which she named “radium”. Her husband, who was also a scientist, helped her. They set up a laboratory in an old building behind a school. For four years Curies searched, doing many experiments, And one morning in 1902 Marie found the source of the radiation.
Marie Curie proved to the world that there was element that gave off radiation. And she also proved to the world that, if women are given truly equal chance, they can really help society.
1．The scientists of Marie Curie’s day knew .
A. that uranium gave off radiation
B. that radium gave off radiation
C. that there was some radium in uranium
D .that uranium and radium both gave off radiation
2．The Curies found the element radium .
A. with other scientists’ help B. by asking some famous scientists
C. by doing many experiments D .with their teachers’ help
3．In the past many people thought .
A. that women must get the same chance as men in education and jobs
B. that women should receive much education
C. that women should get good jobs
D. that women could not do the work well
4．Marie Curie proved to people .
A. that there was a new element uranium
B. that there was a new element radium
C. that women could do their work as well as men if they were really given the same conditions
D. both B and C
