仔细阅读

It is hard to predict howscience is going to turn out, and if it is really good science it is impossibleto predict. If the things to be found are actually new, they are by definitionunknown in advance. You cannot make choices in this matter. You either havescience or you don't, and if you have it you are obliged to accept thesurprising and disturbing pieces of information, along with the neat andpromptly useful bits.

The only solid piece ofscientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundlyignorant about nature. Indeed, I regard this as the major discovery of the pasthundred years of biology. It is, in its way, an illuminating (启发) piece of news.It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment (启蒙运动) to be told byany of us how little we know and how bewildering (迷惑) seems the wayahead. It is this sudden confrontation (对抗) with the depth and scopeof ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of the 20th centuryscience to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended tounderstand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up storiesto fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we are gettingglimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far from being answered.Because of this, we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant if you aretotally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality ofignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-bad spots, but no truelight at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet be trusted.

But we are making abeginning, and there ought to be some satisfaction. There are probably noquestions we can think up that can't be answered, sooner or later, includingeven the matter of consciousness. To be sure, there may well be questions wecan't think up, ever, and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect, butthat is another matter. Within our limits, we should be able to work our waythrough to all our answers, if we keep at it long enough, and pay attention.

1. According to the author, really good science_______ .

A) wouldsurprise the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment

B) willproduce results which cannot be foreseen

C) will helppeople to make the right choice in advance

D) willbring about disturbing results

2. It can be inferred from the passage thatscientists of the 18th century .

A) thought that they knew a great deal andcould solve most problems of science

B) wereafraid of facing up to the realities of scientific research

C) knew thatthey were ignorant and wanted to know more about nature

D) did moreharm than good in promoting man's understanding of nature

3. Which of thefollowing statemcnts is NOT true of scientists in earlier times?

A) Theyinvented false theories to explain things they didn't understand.

B) Theyfalsely claimed to know all about nature.

C) They didnot believe in results from scientific observation.

D) They paidlittle attention to the problems they didn't understand.

4. What is theauthor's attitude towards science?

A) He isdepressed because of the ignorance of scientists.

B) He isdoubtful because of the enormous difficulties confronting it.

C) He is confidentthough he is aware of the enormous difficulties confronting it.

D) He is delighted because of theilluminating scientific findings.

5. The authorbelieves that ______ .

A) man canfind solutions to whatever questions concerning nature he can think up

B) man can not solve all the problems he canthink up because of the limits of human intellect

C) sooner or later man canthink up all the questions concerning nature and answer them

D) questions concerningconsciousness are outside the scope of scientific research

答案及解析

答案及解析

1．B 推理题，答题依据在本文第1句：科学的前景如何？这个问题实难预测。如果是真正的科学，就不能进行预测。

2．A 推理题，答题依据在本文第2段前半部分。这一部分提到，我们对自然界所知甚少，作者认为这是过去一百年以来生物学的重大发现。从这一方面讲，这是一个具有启发意义的消息。如果18世纪最聪明的启蒙运动者被告知我们现在是多么无知，多么对人类的未来感到茫然，他一定会惊讶不已。由此可以推断，他们当时自认为所知很多，能够解决大部分的科学问题。

3．C 设题区在第2段后半部分。A、B、D项在该部分都有涉及，只有C项没有提到。

4．C 作者对科学所持的态度可以从本文最后两句看出来：虽然他意识到科学面临着巨大的困难，但还是很有信心。

5．A 推理题，依据见末段第2句：只要是人们能想到的问题，迟早都会得到解答。B项的意思是，由于人的智力有限，他并非能解决他能够想到的所有问题，这与原文意思不符。