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  3. Specialization can be seen as a response to the problem of an increasing accumulation of scientific knowledge. By splitting up t

Specialization can be seen as a response to the problem of an increasing accumulation of scientific knowledge. By splitting up t

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问题    Specialization can be seen as a response to the problem of an increasing accumulation of scientific knowledge. By splitting up the subject matter into smaller units, one man could continue to handle the information and use it as the basis for further research. But specialization was only one of a series of related developments in science affecting the process of communication. Another was the growing professionalisation of scientific activity.
   No clear-cut distinction can be drawn between professionals and amateurs in science: exceptions can be found to any rule. Nevertheless, the word "amateur" does carry a connotation that the person concerned is not fully integrated into the scientific community and, in particular, may not fully share its values. The growth of specialization in the nineteenth century, with its consequent requirement of a longer, more complex training, implied greater problems for amateur participation in science. The trend was naturally most obvious in those areas of science based especially on a mathematical or laboratory training, and can be illustrated in terms of the development of geology in the United Kingdom.
   A comparison of British geological publications over the last century and a half reveals not simply an in- creasing emphasis on the primacy of research, but also a changing definition of what constitutes an acceptable research paper. Thus, in the nineteenth century, local geological studies represented worthwhile research in their own right; but, in the twentieth century, local studies have increasingly become acceptable to professionals only if they incorporate, and reflect on, the wider geological picture. Amateurs, on the other hand, have continued to pursue local studies in the old way. The overall result has been to make entrance to professional geological journals harder for amateurs, a result that has been reinforced by the widespread introduction of refereeing, first by national journals in the nineteenth century and then by several local geological journals in the twentieth century. As a logical consequence of this development, separate journals have now appeared aimed mainly towards either professional or amateur readership. A rather similar process of differentiation has led to professional geologists coming together nationally within one or two specific societies, whereas the amateurs have tended either to remain in local societies or to come together nationally in a different way.
   Although the process of professionalisation and specialization was already well under way in British geology during the nineteenth century, its full consequences were thus delayed until the twentieth century. In science generally, however, the nineteenth century must be reckoned as the crucial period for this change in the structure of science. (424)
The author writes the development of geology to demonstrate ______.
选项 A、the process of specialization and professionalisation
B、the hardship of amateurs in scientific study
C、the change of policies in scientific publications
D、the discrimination of professionals against amateurs
答案A
解析 主旨大意题。问作者在第三段描述地质学发展过程的目的是什么，这实际是问第三段与全文主题之间的逻辑关系问题。纵观全文，作者主要讲述学科的专业化趋势，第三段则是以英国地质学为例来说明学科在专业化的发展过程，因此，A为正确答案。B是第二段提到的一个细节，但不是作者第三段想要说明的主要思想，应排除。C是第三段中的一个细节内容(审订制度)，D则言过其实，也应排除。
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