Early in the sixteenth century, Francis Bacon proposed that science consisted in the elevation of the authority of experiment an

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问题     Early in the sixteenth century, Francis Bacon proposed that science consisted in the elevation of the authority of experiment and observation over that of reason, intuition, and convention. Bacon thought that as more and more reliable and precise particular facts accumulate, they can be classified and generalized, resulting in an ever-expanding hierarchy of useful "axioms". This is what he meant by "induction".
    Although many people today continue to regard the collection of facts and their arrangement by induction into theories as the heart of scientific method, Bacon’s conception of what facts and theories are and of the relationship between them was hopelessly unrealistic even in his own time. The most important early scientific discoveries — such as those made by Galileo about the movement of the earth, by Keppler about the elliptical shape of planetary orbits, and later by Newton about the "force" of gravity — could never have been made if Bacon’s rules had prevailed.
    Determined to avoid all premature speculations, Bacon proposed that data gathering be carried out by illiterate assistants with no interest in whether an experiment turned out one way or another. Plain facts, properly arranged, would automatically lead to certain knowledge of the universe. Nothing could be more misrepresentative of the actual problem-solving techniques of the scientific method. That plain facts do not speak for themselves is evident from Bacon’s own acceptance of the errors contained in what appeared to be the most "obvious" of facts. For Bacon, that the earth did not move was a fact because it could be seen not to move; and for Bacon it was a fact that life was being spontaneously generated because maggots always developed in putrid flesh and frogs appeared after every rain.
    What is clear is that the great breakthroughs of Newton, Darwin, or Marx could never have been achieved solely on the basis of Baconian fact gathering. Facts are always unreliable without theories which guide their collection and which distinguish between superficial and significant appearances.
Spontaneous generation of life______.

选项 A、was a known fact in Bacon’s time
B、is verified by maggots in putrid flesh
C、is more apparent than real
D、is a speculation which has no basis in observation

答案C

解析 推理判断题。根据文章第三段第四句“That plain facts do not speak for themselves is evident from Bacon’sown acceptance of the errors contained in what appeared to be the most“obvious”of facts.”可知,培根自身已经接受似乎最“显而易见”的事实中包含的错误,很明显,普通的事实本身没有为自己辩护。据此推断,答案是C。
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