It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science, it is impossible to predict. If the th

admin2017-11-28  21

问题     It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science, it is impossible to predict. If the things to be found are actually new, they are by definition unknown in advance. You cannot make choice in this matter. You either have science or you don’t, and if you have it you are obliged to accept the surprising and disturbing pieces of information, along with the neat and promptly useful bits.
    The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. Indeed, I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred years of biology. It is, in its way, an illuminating piece of news. It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewildering seems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of 20th century science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended to understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up stories to fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we are getting glimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far from being answered. Because of this, we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant if you are totally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality of ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-bad spots, but no true light at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet be trusted.
    But we are making a beginning, and there ought to be some satisfaction. There are probably no questions we can think up that can’t be answered, sooner or later, including even the matter of consciousness. To be sure, there may well be questions we can’t think up, ever, and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect, but that is another matter. Within our limits we should be able to work our way through to all our answers, if we keep at it long enough, and pay attention.
It can be inferred from the passage that scientists of the 18th century______.

选项 A、knew that they were ignorant and wanted to know more about nature
B、were afraid of facing up to the realities of scientific research
C、did more harm than good in promoting man’s understanding of nature
D、thought that they knew a great deal and could solve most problems of science

答案D

解析 推理判断题。根据题干中的the 18th century将本题出处定位于第二段第四句。本句指出,如果我们告诉18世纪启蒙运动的一些最聪明的人说,我们知道的其实很少,前面的路也很迷茫,这会让他们感到很吃惊。由此可推断,18世纪的这些最聪明的人认为他们知道的很多,从而也能解决科学的许多问题,故答案为[D]项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Eiua777K
0

最新回复(0)