首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually
admin
2010-02-19
85
问题
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually be accomplished." Well, that of course left only the impossible as the one thing remaining for daring intellectual adventurers to whittle away at. Feinberg, for one, thought that "they’d succeed even there."
(2) It was a point worth considering. How many times in the past had certain things been said to be impossible, only to have it turn out shortly thereafter that the item in question had already been done or soon would be. What greater cliche was there in the history of science than tile comic litany of false it-couldn’t-be-dones; the infamous case of Auguste Comte saying in 1844 that it would never be known what the stars were made of, followed in a few years by the spectroscope being applied to starlight to reveal the stars’ chemical composition; or the case of Lord Rutherford, the man who discovered the structure of the atom, saying in 1933 that dreams of controlled nuclear fission were "moonshine." And those weren’t even the worst examples. No, the huffiest of all it-couldn’t-be-done claims centered on the notion that human beings could actually fly, either at all, or across long distance, or to the moon, the stars, or wherever else.
(3) There had been so many embarrassments of this type that about mid-century Arthur C. Clarke came out with a guideline for avoiding them, which he termed Clarke’s Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
(4) Still, one had to admit there were lots of things left that were really and truly impossible, even if it took some ingenuity in coming up with a proper list of examples. Such as: "A camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle. "(Well, unless of course it was a very large needle.) Or: "It is impossible for a door to be simultaneously open and closed."(Well, unless of course it was a revolving door. )
(5) Indeed, watertight examples of the really and truly impossible were so exceptionally hard to come by that paradigm cases turned out to be either trivial or absurd. "I know I will never play the piano like Vladimir Horowitz," offered Milton Rothman, a physicist, "no matter how hard I try." or, from Scott Lankford, a mountaineer; "Everest on roller skates."
The false it-couldn’t-be-dones in science are comic because ______.
选项
A、they are cliches, repeated too often by scientists
B、they are almost always proved to be wrong by later scientific research
C、they are mocked at by later generations
D、they provide material for good comedies
答案
B
解析
“The false it-couldn’t-be-dones in science are comic”意为:科学界那些曾被错误地认为不可能实现的事情现在看来都很滑稽。(因为,它们后来都被实现了。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/UjIO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
WhatproblemdidBrianhavewithhissandwichbusiness?Atthebeginning,Geraldinefinancedherbusiness
FortheAMAT,in1998,theSalesareexpectedtoreachFortheBMAT,theSalescouldreach
Youwillhearacustomerphoningahotelforareservation.Completetheformusingtheinformationyouhear.Youwillh
Whatarethestoresthatsellthemerchandisecalled?
Whyisaskingcandidatestoimaginetheirreactionstoasituationunhelpful?ManagementapplicantsatAspleySupermarketsare
Afterfallingsteadilyformuchoftheyear,bothsalesandleasesrecovered,withthenumberofleaseseventuallyexceedingsal
Ifyouhaveanyfurtherquestionaboutournewproducttoask,donothesitatetocallmeat13044153703.
Thisplatformwouldcollapseifallofus______onit.
实验室工作的惟一任务就是使学生养成初步的实验能力。要达到这一目的,最好的办法就是让学生在解决简单的实验问题中获得一些经验。
任何时候我们都必须坚持尊重社会发展规律与尊重人民历史主导地位的一致性,坚持为崇高理想奋斗与广大人民谋利益的一致性,坚持完成党的各项工作与实现人民利益的一致性。
随机试题
低压油路:
对假释的考验期限说法,不正确的是()
儿童鼾症最常见的原因是
麻黄汤中麻黄与桂枝配伍运用,属于()麻杏甘石汤中麻黄与石膏相配,属于()
静脉注射用脂肪乳【处方】注射用大豆油50g中链甘油三酸酯50g卵磷脂12g甘油25g注射用水加至1000ml静脉注射用脂肪乳制备时所用玻璃容器除去热原可采用的方法为
患者,男性,55岁,文盲,因头晕头痛来医院就诊,对前来就诊的患者,门诊护士首先应进行
国际储备包括()。
监理工作的规范化体现在哪几方面()。
设y=y(x)由确定,则
Conventionalwisdomsaystreesaregoodfortheenvironment.Theyabsorbcarbondioxide—agreenhousegas—fromtheatmosphereand
最新回复
(
0
)