Innovation. It’s what got us through the Dark Ages. But over the years, instead of moving forward, some scientists and inventors

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问题     Innovation. It’s what got us through the Dark Ages. But over the years, instead of moving forward, some scientists and inventors have taken a few steps back. This article is dedicated to all the men and women who knew they’d never find a cure for the common cold, so they aimed much, much lower. Here are some of the winners.
    PEACE PRIZE—researchers from the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining which hurts more — being smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle.
    An inherent problem in an experiment of this nature is finding volunteers who will agree to be brained with a beer bottle in the name of science. The scientists overcame this obstacle by dropping steel balls onto full and empty beer bottles. They found that the empties were stronger than their full brethren because the gas pressure from the liquid produces additional strain on the glass.
    Needless to say, full or not, beer bottles can cause a whole lot of hurt, which is why the scientists advocate prohibiting them "in situations that involve risk of human conflicts."
    VETERINARY MEDICINE PRIZE—researchers from Newcastle University, the United Kingdom: for showing that cows that have names give more milk than cows that are nameless.
    It turns out our attitudes make a difference. Being friendly and remembering a cow’s name can increase milk yield by 258 liters a year. This came as no surprise to farmers, one of whom told the researchers that cows "hurt and love like anyone else."
    BIOLOGY PRIZE—researchers from Kitasato University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Japan, for demonstrating that kitchen refuse can be reduced by more than 90 percent by using an enzyme(酶)-producing bacteria extracted from the waste of giant pandas.
    While this has potential applications—reducing garbage and waste—it still raises the question. How did it dawn on someone to try this experiment? And, of course, if one of your aims in ridding yourself of garbage is to get rid of the bad smell, adding panda waste to it is not likely to help.
What is the author’s tone in writing the passage?

选项 A、Objective.
B、Ironic.
C、Doubtful.
D、Worried.

答案B

解析 参见文章介绍。
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