1999年Passage 5 Science, in practice, depends far less on the experiments it prepares than on the preparedness of the minds of the men who watch the experiments. Sir Isaac Newton supposedly discovered gravity through the fall of an apple. Apples had been falling in many places for centuries and thousands of people had seen them fall. But Newton for years had been curious about the cause of the orbital motion of the moon and planets. What kept them in place? Why didn’t they fall out of the sky? The fact that the apple fell down toward the earth and not up into the tree answered the question he had been asking himself about those lager fruits of the heavens, the moon and the planets. How many men would have considered the possibility of an apple falling up into the tree? Newton did because he was not trying to predict anything. He was just wondering. His mind was ready for the unpredictable. Unpredictability is part of the essential nature of research. If you don’t have unpredictable things, you don’t have research. Scientists tend to forget this when writing their cut and dried reports for the technical journals, but history is filled with examples of it. In talking to some scientists, particularly younger ones, you might gather the impression that they find the "scientific method" a substitute for imaginative thought. I’ve attended research conferences where a scientist has been asked what he thinks about the advisability of continuing a certain experiment. The scientist has frowned, looked at the graphs, and said "the data are still inconclusive." "We know that," the men from the budget office have said, "but what do you think? Is it worthwhile going on? What do you think we might expect?" The scientist has been shocked at having even been asked to speculate. What this amounts to, of course, is that the scientist has become the victim of his own writings. He has put forward unquestioned claims so consistently that he not only believes them himself, but has convinced industrial and business management that they are true. If experiments are planned and carried out according to plan as faithfully as the reports in the science journals indicate, then it is perfectly logical for management to expect research to produce results measurable in dollars and cents. It is entirely reasonable for auditors to believe that scientists who know exactly where they are going and how they will get there should not be distracted by the necessity of keeping one eye on the cash register while the other eye is on the microscope. Nor, if regularity and conformity to a standard pattern are as desirable to the scientist as the writing of his papers would appear to reflect , is management to be blamed for discriminating against the "odd balls among researchers in favor of more conventional thinkers who "work well with the team. " 67. The author wants to prove with the example of Isaac Newton that __ [A] inquiring minds are more important than scientific experiments [B] science advances when fruitful researches are conducted [C] scientists seldom forget the essential nature of research [D] unpredictability weighs less than prediction in scientific research [答案] A [解题思路] 关于牛顿的例子所要证明的论点在文章的开头第一句话"Science, in practice, depends far less on the experiments it prepares than on the preparedness of the minds of the men who watch the experiments"（ 在实践中，科学的进步依赖于做实验，但更依赖于实验的观察者有所准备的头脑），这句话强调了科学最重要的是要看观察实验的人是否在思想上做好了准备，显然A是符合这个意思的正确答案，其中选项中的"inquiring minds"对应于原文的"the preparedness of the minds"。 [题目译文] 作者用艾萨克·牛顿的例子表明 。 [A] 爱动脑筋比科学实验更加重要 [B] 只有进行富有成由的研究科学才能进步 [C] 科学家很少忘记研究的重要本质 [D] 在科学研究中，不可预测性不如预测重要 68. The author asserts that scientists __ [A] shouldn’t replace "scientific method" with imaginative thought [B] shouldn’t neglect to speculate on unpredictable things [C] should write more concise reports for technical journals [D] should be confident about their research findings [答案] B [解题思路] 本题对应的内容在文章的第二段和第三段。文章第二段第四、五句话指出"His mind was ready for the unpredictable. Unpredictability is part of the essential nature of research"（他的头脑在随时准备思考不可预测的事。不可预测性是科学研究不可或缺的一个重要特征），而第三段最后一句话则进一步批评说"The scientist has been shocked at having even been asked to speculate"（这位科学家感到很震惊，他没有想到人们会让他做出预测），因此作者认为研究要想出成果，科学家必须大胆推测，并要接受那些无法预测的东西。B选项符合上述的观点。 [题目译文] 作者认为科学家 。 [A] 不应该用创造性思维来代替"科学方法" [B] 不应该忽视对于不可预测事物的推测 [C] 应该为技术杂志撰写更加简洁的报告 [D] 应该对他们的研究成果充满信心 69. It seems that some young scientists__ [A] have a keen interest in prediction [B] often speculate on the future [C] think highly of creative thinking [D] stick to "scientific method" [答案] D [解题思路] 文章第三段开头指出"In talking to some scientists, particularly younger ones, you might gather the impression that they find the "scientific method" a substitute for imaginative thought"（在和一些科学家，特别是青年科学家交谈时，你可能会产生这样一种印象：他们认为用所谓的"科学方法"可以代替创造性思维），后面的例子也进一步说明了他们不会推测，只是坚持用传统的方法，因此D选项符合题意。而其余三个选项的表述都与原文相反。 [题目译文] 看起来一些青年科学家们 。 [A] 对预测有着浓厚的兴趣 [B] 经常对未来做出推测 [C] 对创造性思维非常重视 [D] 只执著于"科学方法