8 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
A. threatened B. designed C. preferences D. typically E. experimental
F. theoretical G. abandoned H. instruments I. constantly J. extensive
K. persuasive |
Science Isn't Always Perfect -- But We Should Still Trust It
From environment pollution to climate change, we make decisions every day that involve us in scientific claims. Are genetically modified crops safe to eat? Is climate change an emergency? In recent years, many of these issues have become politically polarized, with people rejecting scientific evidence that is opposite their political 1 . When Greta Thunberg, the youthful climate activist, was asked by one member why we should trust the science, she replied, "because it's science!"
For several decades, there has been a(n) 2 and organized campaign intended to produce distrust in science, funded by regulated industries and libertarian think-tanks whose interests and beliefs are 3 by the findings of modern science. In response, scientists have tended to stress the success of science. After all, scientists have been right about most things, from the structure of the universe to the relativity of time and space.
That answer isn't wrong, but for many people it's not 4 . After all, just because scientists more than 400 years ago were right about the structure of the solar system doesn't prove that a different group of scientists are right about a different issue today.
An alternative answer to the question -- Why trust science? -- is that scientists use "the scientific method." If you've got a high school science textbook lying around the house, you'll probably find that answer in it. But this answer is wrong. But what is 5 declared to be the scientific method -- develop a hypothesis（假设）, then design an experiment to test it -- isn't what scientists actually do. Historians of science have shown that scientists use many different methods, and these methods have changed with time. Science 6 changes: new methods get invented, old ones get 7 , and any particular point in time scientists can be found doing many different things. And that's a good thing, because the so-called scientific method doesn't work. False theories can produce true results, so even if an experiment works, it doesn't prove the theory that was 8 to test it is true. There also might be many different theories that could produce that same 9 result. On the contrary, if the experiment fails, it doesn't prove the theory is wrong: it could be that the experiment was badly conducted or there was a fault in one of the 10 .
