Passage Three The word science is heard so often in modern times that almost everybody has some notion of its meaning. On the other hand, its definition is difficult for many people. The meaning of the term is confused, but everyone should understand its meaning and objectives. Just to make the explanation as simple as possible, suppose science is defined as classified knowledge (facts). Even in the true sciences distinguishing fact from fiction is not always easy. For this reason great care should be taken to distinguish between beliefs and truths. There is no danger as long as a clear difference is made between temporary and proved explanations. For example, hypotheses and theories are attempts to explain natural phenomena. From these positions the scientist continues to experiment and observe until they are proved or discredited. The exact statue of any explanation should be clearly labeled to avoid confusion. The objectives of science are primarily the discovery and the subsequent understanding of the unknown. Man cannot be satisfied with recognizing that secrets exist in nature or that questions are unanswerable; he must solve them. Toward that end specialists in the field of biology and related fields of interest are directing much of their time and energy. Actually, two basic approaches lead to the discovery of new information. One, aimed at satisfying curiosity, is referred to as pure science. The other is aimed at using knowledge for specific purposes—for instance, improving health, raising standards of living, or creating new consumer products. In this case knowledge is put to economic use. Such an approach is referred to as applied science. Sometimes practical-minded people miss the point of pure science in thinking only of its immediate application for economic rewards. Chemists responsible for many of the discoveries could hardly have anticipated that their findings would one day result in application of such a practical nature as those directly related to life and death. The discoveries of one bit of information opens the door to the discovery of another. Some discoveries seem so simple that one is amazed they were not made years ago; however, one should remember that the ’construction of the microscope had to precede the discovery of the cell. The host of scientists dedicating their lives to pure science are not apologetic about ignoring the practical side of their discoveries; they know from experience that most knowledge is eventually applied. Pure science, leading to the construction of a microscope, ______.
A. may lead to antiscientific, "impure" results
B. necessarily precedes applied science, leading to the discovery of a cell
C. is not always as pure as we suppose
D. necessarily results from applied science and the discovery of a cell
第三篇 Recycling Around the World Recycling is one of the best environmental success stories of the late 20th century. But we could do more. People must not see recycling as fashionable, but essential. The Japanese are very good at recycling because they live in a crowded country. They do not have much space. They do not want to share their limited space with rubbish. But even so, Tokyo area alone is estimated to have three million tons of leftover rubbish at present. In 1996, the United States recycled and composted (制成肥料) 57 million tons of waste (27% of the nation’s solid waste). This is 57 million tons of waste which did not go into landfills and incinerators (焚化炉). In doing this, 7,000 rubbish collection programmes and recycling centres helped the authorities. In Rockford, a city in Illinois, US, its officials choose one house each week and check its garbage (废物). If the garbage does not contain any newspapers or aluminium (铝) cans, then the resident of the house gets a prize of at least $1,000. In Japan, certain cities give children weekly supplies of tissue paper and toilet paper in exchange for a weekly collection of newspapers. In one year Britain recycles: · 1 out of every 3 newspapers. · 1 out of every 4 glass bottles and jars (罐子). · 1 out of every 4 items of clothing. · 1 out of every 3 aluminium drink cans. In 1999, Hong Kong transported 1.3 million tons of waste to mainland China for recycling. Around 535,000 tons of waste were recycled in Hong Kong itself. Over half the things we throw away could be recycled. That means we could recycle 10 times as much as we do now. However, recycling needs a lot of organisation and special equipment. Also, there is not much use for some recycled material. Which of the following is NOT true of the Japanese
A. They have recycled all their waste.
B. They live in a crowded country.
C. They are very good at recycling.
D. They have to share their limited space with rubbish.
Passage Three The word science is heard so often in modern times that almost everybody has some notion of its meaning. On the other hand, its definition is difficult for many people. The meaning of the term is confused, but everyone should understand its meaning and objectives. Just to make the explanation as simple as possible, suppose science is defined as classified knowledge (facts). Even in the true sciences distinguishing fact from fiction is not always easy. For this reason great care should be taken to distinguish between beliefs and truths. There is no danger as long as a clear difference is made between temporary and proved explanations. For example, hypotheses and theories are attempts to explain natural phenomena. From these positions the scientist continues to experiment and observe until they are proved or discredited. The exact statue of any explanation should be clearly labeled to avoid confusion. The objectives of science are primarily the discovery and the subsequent understanding of the unknown. Man cannot be satisfied with recognizing that secrets exist in nature or that questions are unanswerable; he must solve them. Toward that end specialists in the field of biology and related fields of interest are directing much of their time and energy. Actually, two basic approaches lead to the discovery of new information. One, aimed at satisfying curiosity, is referred to as pure science. The other is aimed at using knowledge for specific purposes—for instance, improving health, raising standards of living, or creating new consumer products. In this case knowledge is put to economic use. Such an approach is referred to as applied science. Sometimes practical-minded people miss the point of pure science in thinking only of its immediate application for economic rewards. Chemists responsible for many of the discoveries could hardly have anticipated that their findings would one day result in application of such a practical nature as those directly related to life and death. The discoveries of one bit of information opens the door to the discovery of another. Some discoveries seem so simple that one is amazed they were not made years ago; however, one should remember that the ’construction of the microscope had to precede the discovery of the cell. The host of scientists dedicating their lives to pure science are not apologetic about ignoring the practical side of their discoveries; they know from experience that most knowledge is eventually applied. Which of the following statements does the author imply
A. Scientists engaged in theoretical research should not be blamed for ignoring the practical side of their discoveries.
B. Today few people have any notions of the meaning of science.
C. In science, it is not difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.
D. Practical-minded people can understand the meaning and objectives of pure science.
Passage Two Analysts have had their go at humor, and I have read some of this interpretative literature, but without being greatly instructed. Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards (内在部分) are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind. In a newsreel theatre the other day I saw a picture of a man who had developed the soap bubble to a higher point than it had ever before reached. He had become the ace soap bubble blower of America, had perfected the business of blowing bubbles, refined it, doubled it, squared it, and had even worked himself up into a convenient lather. The effect was not pretty. Some of the bubbles were too big to be beautiful, and the blower was always jumping into them or out of them, or playing some sort of unattractive trick with them. It was, if anything, a rather repulsive sight. Humor is a little like that: it won’t stand much blowing up, and it won’t stand much poking. It has a certain fragility, an evasiveness, which one had best respect. Essentially, it is a complete mystery. A human frame convulsed with laughter, and the laughter becoming mysterious and uncontrollable, is as far out of balance as one shaken with the hiccoughs or in the throes of a sneezing fit. One of the things commonly said about humorist is that they are really very sad people- clowns with a breaking heart. There is some truth in it, but it is badly stated. It would be more accurate, I think, to say that there is a deep vein of melancholy running through everyone’s life and that the humorist, perhaps more sensible of it than some others, compensates for it actively and positively. Humorists fatten on trouble. They have always made trouble pay. They struggle along with a good will and endure pain cheerfully, knowing how well it till serve them in the sweet by and by. You find them wrestling with foreign languages, fighting folding ironing boards and swollen drainpipes, suffering the terrible discomfort of tight boot (or as Josh illings wittily called them, "tire boots"). They pour out their sorrows profitably, in a form hat is not quite a fiction nor quite a fact either. Beneath the sparking surface of these dilemmas lows the strong tide of human woe. Practically everyone is a manic depressive of sorts, with his up moments and his down moments, and you certainly don’t have to be a humorist to taste the sadness of situation and mood. But there is often a rather fine line between laughing and crying, and if a humorous piece of writing brings a person to the point where his emotional responses are untrustworthy and seem likely to break over into the opposite realm, it is because humor, like poetry, has an extra content. It plays close to the bit hot fire which is Truth, and sometimes the reader feels. the heat. A humorous piece of writing can make the reader’s emotional responses untrustworthy because ______.
A. it expresses the truth of the sadness of human life with a sparkling surface
B. everyone has his happy moments and unhappy moments
C. there is an obvious line between laughing and crying
D. it is like poetry, very rhythmic