1 .
Through the history of human activities, prior art promotes the creative process. Before 1908, each vehicle was custom built, with different parts assembled in different places and then painstakingly brought together. But Henry Ford came up with a critical innovation of streamlining the entire process. Nevertheless, the idea was something he learned about from the Chicago meatpacking industry. He simply assembled into a car the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work.
But is there any moment when someone is suddenly struck by an idea that comes from nowhere? Take, for example, a surgeon named Anthony Cicoria, who in 1994 was speaking to his mother on an outdoor payphone when he was struck by a bolt of lightning. A few weeks later, he unexpectedly began composing and introduced his music works in subsequent years.
However, on closer inspection, Cicoria also turns out to rely on the raw materials around him.
A.The drive to create the new is part of our biological makeup. |
B.We humans are always waiting for the creative lightning to strike. |
C.The mining of history happens not only in technology, but in the arts as well. |
D.If ever there were an example of creativity originating out of the thin air, this might be it. |
E.While Cicoria’s music is beautiful, it shares the same structure and progression as the composer he likes. |
F.No doubt the non-musician surely managed to compose due to the sudden idea flashing through his mind. |
G.He recalls that, after his accident, he developed a strong desire to listen to nineteenth-century piano music. |
When Leakey and Jane begin a study of wild chimpanzees on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, British authorities resist the idea of a young woman living among wild animals in Africa. They finally agree to Leakey’s proposal when Jane’s mother Vanne volunteers to accompany her daughter for the first three months.
On July 14, 1960, Jane and Vanne arrive on the shores of Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in western Tanzania.
On November 4,1961, Jane observes David Greybeard and Goliath making tools to extract termites (白蚁) from their mounds. They would select a thin branch from a tree, strip the leaves and push the branch into the termite mound. After a few seconds they would pull out the termite-covered stick and pick off the tasty termites with their lips. This becomes one of Jane’s most important discoveries.
Jane’s work in Gombe becomes more widely known and in 1962 she is accepted at Cambridge University as a PhD candidate, one of very few people to be admitted without a university degree.
Jane in Africa National Geographic decides to sponsor Jane’s work and sends photographer and filmmaker Hugo van Lawick to document Jane’s life in Gombe. In August 1963, Jane publishes her first article in National Geographic, My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees.
A.But studying the chimpanzees of Gombe was not easy. |
B.Until that time, only humans were thought to create tools. |
C.These observations disprove the widely held belief that chimpanzees are vegetarian. |
D.So she learns to be a secretary and works for a time at Oxford University typing documents. |
E.However, Jane loves the toy and names the chimpanzee Jubilee, carrying it with her everywhere. |
F.Some scholars and scientists give Jane a cold reception and criticise her for giving the chimpanzees names. |
3 . At a conference last week, I received an interesting piece of advice: “Assume you are wrong.” The advice came from Brian Nosek, a fellow psychology professor. He wasn’t objecting to any particular claim I’d made — he was offering a strategy for pursuing better science, and for encouraging others to do the same.
To understand the context for Nosek’s advice, we need to take a step back — to the nature of science itself. Despite what many of us learned in elementary school, there is no single scientific method. Just as scientific theories change, so do scientific methods.
Assuming you are right might be a motivating force, sustaining the enormous effort that conducting scientific work requires. But it also makes it easy to interpret criticisms as personal attacks, and for scientific arguments to develop into personal battles. Beginning, instead, from the assumption you are wrong, a criticism is easier to be viewed as a helpful pointer, a constructive suggestion for how to be less wrong — a goal that your critic probably shares.
Nosek’s advice may sound pessimistic, but it’s not so foreign to science. Philosophers of science sometimes refer to the “pessimistic meta-induction (元归纳)” on the history of science: All of our past scientific theories have been wrong, so surely our current theories will turn out to be wrong, too. That doesn’t mean we haven’t made progress, but it does indicate that there is always room for improvement—ways to be less wrong.
I like the advice because it builds in an awareness of our limitations and a readiness to accept the unknown (“there are things I do not know!”) along with a sense that we can do better (“there are things I do not know yet!”). It also builds in a sense of community — we’re all in the same boat when it comes to falling short of getting things right. Perhaps the focus on a shared goal — our goal as scientists and humans of being less wrong — can help make up for any harm in scientific motivation or communication.
1. Why did Nosek send the advice?A.To express opinions about my claims. | B.To remind me to be open to criticism. |
C.To encourage me to take up science. | D.To better my understanding of psychology. |
A.It motivates scientists to make efforts. | B.It addresses personal attacks and conflicts. |
C.It sets a constructive improvement goal. | D.It contributes to a deeper insight into yourself. |
A.Dynamic. | B.Testable. | C.Pioneering. | D.Well-established. |
A.Accept the Unknown | B.Aim to Be Less Wrong |
C.Get Engaged in Psychology | D.Dig into the Nature of Science |
Working on the atomic bomb, Richard Feynman found that science represented the destruction and
5 . Many pupils in school think of science as just another subject on the time-table containing more facts to be learned. This is wrong. Science does not mean believing and remembering what other people tell us. The real scientist examines facts in order to find out the truth for himself. This is called the scientific method.
Let us see how scientists work and what is meant by the scientific method. In these days we hear a lot about science, but scientists, the men and women, who do the work and make the discoveries, seem distant and strange to us. Science often appears to be very difficult, and sometimes even a kind of magic. Certainly we feel we shall never be able to understand how it works. It is difficult of course, but I think we are wrong if we believe that we can not understand it. The important thing about the scientific method is that we get answers to questions by making tests. We do not just guess the answer or believe what anybody tells us. In fact, in simple ways we all use the scientific method every day.
We can see from very simple examples that the scientific method is not only for the use of a few people called scientists, but something we can all use with advantage. But patience and hard, careful work are necessary to find out the truth.
1. What does the text mainly talk about?A.The scientific method. | B.The science subject. |
C.The scientific discoveries. | D.The real scientists. |
A.We all understand how science works. |
B.We are familiar with most scientists. |
C.We sometimes feel science confusing. |
D.We know answers by making guesses. |
A.The scientists. | B.School pupils. | C.The Scholars. | D.Everyone. |
A.The scientific method is too difficult to use. |
B.We can find out the truth from very simple examples. |
C.Care and diligence is important for the scientific method. |
D.The scientific method is only for the use of a few people. |
6 . An associate university professor in Florida has completed his research mission and set a new world record in the process: living 100 days beneath the ocean’s surface.
On Friday morning, Dr. Joseph Dituri felt the sun’s rays for the first time since he began the project 22 feet below the waters of Key Largo, Florida, on March 1.
Dituri,55, a biomedical engineer who teaches at the University of South Florida and calls himself “Dr. Deep Sea”, spent just over three months at the bottom of the Emerald Lagoon in Jules’ Undersea Lodge, the only underwater hotel in the United States.
The research project, Project Neptune 100, was organized by the Key Largo-based Marine Resources Development Foundation and focused on ocean conservation research and studying how high pressure affects the human body.
The US Navy veteran said he’d noticed one impact: The water pressure seems to have shrunken his height by half an inch. Dituri stood at 6 feet 1 inch tall before starting his mission, the University of South Florida stated in a news release.
The scientist began the project with a belief that increased pressure could help humans live longer and prevent aging-related diseases, the news release said. Dituri said he hopes his underwater research will benefit the treatment of a variety of illnesses, including traumatic brain injuries.
Dituri also used the project as an educational experience for the youth. “We have interacted with thousands of school children to get them interested in science, technology, engineering and math, “Dituri told Guinness World Records on June 8. While underwater, he continued teaching his college students virtually.
Dituri broke the Guinness World Record for longest time living underwater at the 74-day mark of his project, on May 13. The previous record stood at 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes, set at the same location al Dituri’s successful attempt.
1. When did Dr. Joseph Dituri probably return to the surface?A.On March 1. | B.On May 13. | C.On June 9. | D.On June 19. |
A.To challenge his limits. | B.To encourage good teamwork. |
C.For scientific research. | D.For personal enthusiasm. |
A.It’s beneficial to human health. | B.It does harm to human body. |
C.It’s a very painful experience. | D.It’s the same as living on land. |
A.What Is Living Underwater Really Like? |
B.Can Humans Live Underwater for 100 Days? |
C.“Dr. Deep Sea” Interacts with Children Underwater |
D.“Dr. Deep Sea” Breaks Record for Living Underwater |
7 . H. G. Wells, born in 1866, was trained as a scientist, a pioneer among his literary contemporaries, and was perhaps the most important figure in the genre (类型) that would become science fiction. Writers in this tradition have a history not just of imagining the future as it might be, but of inspiring others to make it a reality.
Audio book, Airplane, and Television
Wells imagined forms of future entertainment. In When the Sleeper Wakes (1899), residents use fantastic forms of technology like audio books, airplanes and television sets.
Visitors to The Island of Dr. Moreau(1896) meet odd creatures created by the mad man doctor in human-animal hybrid experiments that may predict the age of genetic engineering.
Lasers(激光)
Martians in The War of the Worlds(1898) give off what Wells called a Heat Ray.
Atomic Bombs(原子弹)
A.Genetic Engineering |
B.Directed-energy Weapons |
C.It can burn enemies with a noiseless flash of light |
D.It is often a warning about the consequences of technology |
E.Here are some of the incredible Wells predictions that have come true |
F.Wells recognized the damaging power that might be created by this weapon |
G.Scientists are working towards the possibility that animal organs could save human patients |
8 . Being the BEST: Common Qualities of Nobel Prize winners
Once again, we celebrate the Nobel Prize winners and how they expand our knowledge, improve our planet, and enrich our lives. These awards have showed some intellectuals do contribute substantially in advancing our progress.
Thinking outside the box
Acting with persistence
People somehow get the false impression that breakthroughs happen during a sudden moment of understanding. A light shining on their face, music bursts into the background, and the person immediately discovers some previously hidden answer. Although this scene is wonderful for movies, usually gaining new understandings is a much more complicated process.
Cooperation motivates us, and allows us to consider alternative ideas. These activities create an atmosphere of creation and learning. Additionally, many Nobel Prizes are awarded to multiple people, since the work was accomplished by an assortment (各式各样的) of intellectuals working together.
These traits exist as similarities among Nobel Prize winners.
A.Working in groups |
B.Considering alternative ideas |
C.Creativity is one of the most important human resources |
D.As for us, we can still learn from the common qualities of the winners |
E.Years of devotion, frustration, and even failure usually come before success |
F.Of course, displaying these qualities does not mean certainly winning a Noble Prize |
G.The Nobel Prizes are the most significant awards given for extraordinary achievements |
Thirteen Chinese scientists successfully reached the peak of Mount Qomolangma on May 23rd in Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, with the world’s highest automatic meteorological station successfully
Recently, several leading technologies
At 3 a.m on May 23rd, a group of 13 scientists
Currently, automated weather
10 . Science is a process that builds upon existing theories and knowledge by continuously revising them. Every aspect of scientific knowledge can be questioned, including the general rules of thinking that appear to be most certain. So why is science trustworthy if it is always changing? If tomorrow we will no longer see the world as Newton or Einstein found it to be, why should we take seriously today’s scientific description of the world?
The answer is simple: Because at any given moment of our history, this description of the world is the best we have. The fact that it can be made better can’t diminish (降低) the fact that it is a useful instrument for understanding the world.
Consider a folk healer’s herbal medicine. Can we say this treatment is “scientific”? Yes, if it is proven to be effective, even if we have no idea why it works. In fact, quite a few common medications used today have their origin in folk treatments, and we are still not sure how they work. This does not imply that folk treatments are generally effective. To the contrary, many of them are not. What distinguishes scientific medicine is the readiness to seriously test a treatment and to be ready to change our minds if something is shown not to work. A research doctor in a modern hospital must be ready to change his theory if a more effective way of understanding illness, or treating it, becomes available.
What makes modern science uniquely powerful is its refusal to believe that it already possesses ultimate truth. The reliability of science is based not on certainty but on a complete absence of certainty. As John Stuart Mill wrote in “On Liberty” in 1859, “The beliefs which we have most warrant (依据) for, have no safeguard to rest on, but a standing invitation to the whole world to prove them unfounded.”
1. Why does the author raise the two questions in paragraph 1?A.To add some fun. | B.To express doubts. |
C.To introduce the topic. | D.To provide background. |
A.It can be timeless. | B.It can be improved. |
C.It is of little value. | D.It is the best at any moment. |
A.Dismissive. | B.Objective. | C.Pessimistic. | D.Sympathetic. |
A.It is unwise to believe in science. |
B.Too much uncertainty lies in science. |
C.The foundation of science is unfounded. |
D.The lack of certainty makes science credible. |