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  3. The remarkable progress of science and technology in the 20th century has brought enormous benefits to humankind. Long and healt

The remarkable progress of science and technology in the 20th century has brought enormous benefits to humankind. Long and healt

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问题     The remarkable progress of science and technology in the 20th century has brought enormous benefits to humankind. Long and healthy lives, economic prosperity and a pleasant and convenient living environment have resulted from technological progress based on advances in scientific knowledge. This progress will continue or may even accelerate in the future, because both the number of scientists and their activities are expanding throughout the world. We may expect, therefore, that science and technology will continue to contribute to the development of human society.
    At the same time, rapid scientific advances may raise some difficult problems. First of all, the disparity in scientific knowledge between those in scientific and technical professions and those in other areas will continuously expand. This may create a communications gap between the two groups that could affect obtaining public consent on important issues, such as the use of genetically engineered plants or human embryonic stem cells. Secondly, the 21st century will be characterized by a knowledge-based society and a knowledge of science will be required for many professions. Those who lack scientific knowledge will have fewer opportunities for good jobs. Thirdly, the enormous increase in scientific information will become a burden for children who must study science. Already young people seem to be losing interest in science, and this trend may increase in the future. Over the past several years, enrollment in high-school physics courses in Japan has been decreasing, which suggests that many young people are losing interest in physics or avoiding subjects that require diligent study. Finally, scientific research in the next century will require increasing levels of public investment because sophisticated research is usually expensive. If the public loses interest in science or does not understand the importance of research, it will become difficult for scientists to obtain sufficient financial support.
    Because of these considerations, I think that we need to carefully review present science education at different levels and to improve it in order to meet the expected rapid progress of science in the 21st century. At the level of primary education, the most important task is to stimulate children’s interest in nature. Naive surprise at the wonders of nature will hopefully lead to a later interest in science. During their secondary education, students must learn logic and the principles of natural phenomena. They will gradually separate into groups of those who like and those who dislike science. It will be difficult to provide the latter students with the scientific basics that would be useful throughout their lives. This is also the case in university education.
    It is becoming a goal of general university education to give students who are not majoring in natural science and engineering some level of scientific literacy. In the future, all citizens, especially those expected to lead diverse areas of society should have a sound basis for understanding the progress of science. Because the pace of progress will accelerate further, continuing science education for the public is also of great importance.
The second paragraph is mainly about_____.
选项 A、the difficulties faced by young people in finding jobs
B、the gap between scientific and technical professionals and non-professionals
C、the difficult problems raised by rapid scientific advances
D、scientific research in the 21st century
答案C
解析 这是一道主旨题。题干中的信号词为the second paragraph，也就是文章的第二段。文章第二段指出：科学的迅速发展也可能引发一些问题，首先，存在于科技行业和其他领域知识的差别将不断扩大，这可能会在这两个领域形成沟通隔阂；其次，21世纪的特征是社会以知识为基础，许多行业都将要求掌握科学知识：再者，科学信息的迅猛增长将成为那些必须学习科学知识的孩子的一种负担； 最后，下个世纪的科学研究将要求公众不断增加投资。这说明，第二段主要讲的是科学的发展所引发的一系列问题。C说“科学的迅猛发展所引发的一些问题”，这可以表达文章第二段的主题。文中提到jobs时是说“21世纪的特征是社会以知识为基础，许多行业都将要求掌握科学知识，那些缺乏科学知识的人找到满意工作的机会更少”，而这只是科学的迅速发展可能引发的一个问题，不能表达第二段的中心意思，所以A不对。文中提到gap时是说“存在于科技行业和其他领域知识的差别将不断扩大，这可能会在这两个领域形成交流代沟，而这一代沟可能影响公众赞同重要事务”，这也只是科学的迅速发展可能引发的一个问题，也不能表达第二段的中心意思，所以B也不对。文中提到scientific research时是说“下个世纪的科学研究将要求公众不断增加投资，因为尖端的研究通常耗资巨大”，这也只是科学的迅速发展可能引发的一个问题，也不能表达第二段的中心意思，所以D也不对。
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