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
69
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
Whichdepartmenthasavacancyatthemoment?Whichcarparkwillcloseduringrepairwork?
Thecompanyismostworriedabouthow______.Whenputtingacallthrough,staffshouldalways______.
Whydidlanstarthiscareersellingsportsequipment?WhatdidthetrainersatKTDComputerSystemslack?
Ifthewomancomes,howmanypeoplearegoingontheboat?Whatdateistoday?
•Youwillheararadiointerview.TheintervieweristalkingtoayoungbusinessmancalledAlexBaker,whopublishesasuccessf
Lookatthenotesbelow.Someinformationismissing.Youwillhearawomanphoningthroughanordertoheadoffice.Foreachqu
Whichtoyproductdochildrenlikemostthisyear?
Lookatthenotesbelow.Someinformationismissing.YouwillhearareportonaTVshowabouttheIndiaeconomy.Foreachques
WilsonstooddazedinthemiddleofTimesSquare,______ofthecrowdsthatsurroundedhim.
Althoughvocalcordsarelackingincetaceans,phonationisundoubtedlycenteredinthelarynx.Thetoothedwhalesorodonto
随机试题
下列哪几项属于运动系统()
腹泻伴里急后重者可见于
甲国法院在审理某涉外民事案件时,根据本国的冲突规范指定应适用乙国的法律,而乙国的冲突规范指定应适用丙国的法律,但丙国的冲突规范指定应适用乙国的法律,最后甲国法院适用乙国法律处理了案件。这个适用法律的过程称为:()
复式记账法是对发生的每一项经济业务,在相互联系的两个账户中进行等额记录的记账方法。()
某公司息税前利润为500万元,债务资金200万元(账面价值),平均债务税后利息率为7.5%,所得税税率为25%,普通股的资本成本为15%,则公司价值分析法下,公司此时股票的市场价值为()万元。
总体方差与样本方差的惟一区别在于()。
一、注意事项1.申论考试足对应考者阅读理解能力、综合分析能力、提出和解决问题能力、文字表达能力的测试。2.作答参考时限:阅读资料40分钟。作答110分钟。3.仔细阅读给定资料,按照后面提出的“作答要求”作答。二、给定资料
19世纪末、20世纪初资产阶级革命团体纷纷建立,主要有
Nextyear,ifallgoesasplanned,thelargestmakerofpersonalcomputersinAsiawillbecomethethirdlargestintheworld.
Somepessimisticexpertsfeelthattheautomobileisboundtofallintodisuse.Theyseeadayinthenot-too-distantfuturewhe
最新回复
(
0
)