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 professionalization 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 increasing 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 professionalization 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.
The author writes of the development of geology to demonstrate

选项 A、the process of specialization and professionalization
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 从文章第2段的最后一句话可知,尤其在那些以数学或实验室培训为基础的科学领域,这种业余人员参与科学研究的趋势表现得最明显,英国地质学的发展可以阐明这种趋势;第3段则详细说明了英国地质学的发展是如何论证了这种趋势的。据此可知,作者利用地质学发展的例子是为了说明业余人员与专业人员之间的分化进程。A项与文章的意思相符,因此A项为正确答案。
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