In Switzerland, six miles west of Geneva, lies a collection of laboratories and buildings, and most curious of all, a circular mound of earth more than 650 feet in diameter. This cluster has unique importance. It is Europe.s one and only atomic city dedicated to investigation of the atom for peaceful purposes.
The strange buildings belong to the European Council for Nuclear Research, more popularly known, from its French initials, as CERN. The council was born when a handful of statesmen and scientific experts met in Paris in 195{J. Their aim was "to establish an organization providing for collaboration among European states in nuclear research of a pure scientific and fundamental character."
The CERN agreement was signed in 1953, and work on the atomic city began in 1954. Today CERN.s facilities are among the most modern and the most diversified in the world. Impressive as the scientific aspect may be the real significance of CERN may lie with the thousand people--the scientists, lab "workers and administrative crew drawn from the fourteen member nations --- who populate it. British engineers work side by side with Swiss electricians, Yugoslav nuclear physicists, and Dutch mathematicians. The official languages are French and English, with German as an unofficial third. But CERN is no tower of Babel ---the language of science is universal and all-embracing.
1. The European Council for Nuclear Research was evolved by_____.
A. the officers of the United Nations
B. a group of European scientists
C. the statesmen and scientists of Switzerland
D. a handful of statesmen and scientific experts
2. CERN was established with the aim of promoting ______.
A. nuclear research of a fundamental character
B. collaboration among the world.s nuclear scientists
C. pure study in all fields of science
D. both A and B
3. CERN.s facilities for research are ______.
A. limited but effective
B. among the best in the world
C. rapidly expanding
D. both A and C
4. The selection says that CERN is not a tower of Babel, because ______.
A. work is the common denominator of all the staff
B. the language of science is universal
C. CERN has adopted only two official languages
D. all the workers are drawn from one country
5. The real significance of CERN may lie in its staff, because they _____.
A. work in international harmony
B. come from all over the world
C. are investigating all phases of human conduct
D. are eliminating the problems of individual nationalism
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