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  3. It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science it is impossible to predict. If the thi

It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science it is impossible to predict. If the thi

admin2014-06-13  61
问题     It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science it is impossible to predict. If the things to be found are actually new, they are by definition unknown in advance. You cannot make choices in this matter. You either have science or you don’t, and if you have it you are obliged to accept the surprising and disturbing pieces of information, along with the neat and promptly useful bits.
    The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred years of biology. It is, in its way, an illuminating piece of news. It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewildering seems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of the 20th century science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended to understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up stories to fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we are getting glimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far they are from being answered. Because of this, we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant if you are totally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality of ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-bad spots, but no true light at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet be trusted.
    But we are making a beginning, and there ought to be some satisfaction. There are probably no questions we can think up that can’t be answered, sooner or later, including even the matter of consciousness; to be sure, there may well be questions we can’t think up, ever, and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect, but that is another matter. Within our limits, we should be able to work our way through to all our answers, if we keep at it long enough, and pay attention.
It can be inferred from the passage that scientists of the 18th century_____.
选项 A、thought that they knew a great deal and could solve most problems of science
B、were afraid of facing up to the realities of scientific research
C、knew that they were ignorant and wanted to know more about nature
D、did more harm than good in promoting man’s understanding of nature
答案A
解析 这是一道推论题。题干中的信号词是the 18th century，出自第二段第三句话中。文章第二段指出：如果我们之中的任何一个人告诉18世纪启蒙时期的最开化者我们知道的是多么少，告诉他们前面的道路是多么渺茫，他们可能会感到惊讶；正是这种突然面对自己的无知程度和范围代表了20世纪的科学对人类智慧作出的最重大贡献。由此可知，18世纪的科学家认为他们了解的东西多。A说“认为他们了解的东西很多，能够解决大多数科学难题”，这与文章的意思符合。文中没有提到B和D；C与文章的意思相反。
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