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听力原文： American researchers have made a discovery that might help them better understand the mysterious sense of smell. VOA' s Jessica Bermon reports. There are about a thousand protein receptors in the nose that tell the brain what it's smelling. Each receptor can detect one or more odors but scientists have never before linked a specific odor molecule to a particular receptor. Writing in the journal Science, researchers at New York's Columbia University report doing just that with a meat odor and a receptor in the noses of rats. Steward Fairstine led the team of investigators. He says humans are capable of decerning something like ten thousand different odors. Mr. Fairstine says the research might also tell scientists more a- bout brain chemicals and hormones which are part of the same family as odor receptors. Jessica Bermon, VOA news Washington.
The discovery by American researchers might help them understand ______.
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Art needs a super-rich elite in order to flourish, according to professor of English at London University, Lisa Jardine. Jardine, who completed a major study into Renaissance art in mid-1997, points to the era as one to emulate an age when millionaire patrons were responsible for many of the world's great artistic masterpieces.
"Committees do not create good art," she says, referring to the current system of state-sponsored arts funding in Britain. "We need enlightened patrons; this is my passionate plea. If you believe that art is just something that a society ought to have--something that a committee can decide to promote, or not, depending on the acceptability of the artist--then art will be dead in 100 years."
Professor Jardine is a committed socialist. But her new Study of the great Italian Renaissance families of the 15th and l6th centuries--the Medicis and other free-spending dynasties--has fired in her an almost missionary zeal for the rich as great art's only true promoters.
It was the Renaissance, she points out, that kindled the desire to purchase the rare and beautiful. Merchants and bankers, such as Medicis, used their money to ensure the creation of the finest artifacts.
"These people were powerful. They had status, but they also had taste," says Jardine. "They were supremely cultivated or, if they were not, they knew they needed advice. Today's art lovers are benefiting from their patronage. '
For people who visit the great collections in the National Gallery in London, the Vatican museums in Rome and the Louvre in Paris, the Renaissance is one of the most evocative terms in the history of art. It conjures up images of Botticelli angels, a far-off era when some of the greatest artists the world has known were at the height of their powers. To Professor Jardine, however, this is not a long-lost golden age but a time with more similarities than differences to contemporary Europe. "We are the Renaissance's direct inheritors,' she explains. "The Renaissance made and shaped the Europe of today."
Jardine sees the Renaissance as the first consumer boom. Its great, memorable works, she argues, came about because of acquisitiveness, bordering on avarice. New-found wealth, often the profits of the silk and spice trades, was spent on exquisite possessions, from jewels and globes to paintings and sculpture.
"Conspicuous consumption was a manifestation of power. It was the key way to demonstrate your prosperity, but at the same time it was a manifestation of taste. Many of those who were collectors during the Renaissance were nouveau riche, but they did have a responsibility; just as the newly rich today have a responsibility to ensure that art flourishes."
Inevitably, under such a system, there will be craftspeople working for very little money, she says. "But that is the price we have to pay to have somebody painting works like the Mona Lisa that challenge society. I only wish' you could have Utopia and create good art as well."
State sponsorship of the arts in Britain may soon be a thing of the. past. Jardine points to the US where, she says, they understand the importance of the entrepreneurial patron. "We need such patrons in Britain, too."
Britain does have some wealthy families who are interested in the arts. These include the Sainsbury family, owners of one of the country's largest supermarket chains; and the Saatchi brothers, founders of the world famous international advertising agency of Saatchi＆Saatchi. "Firms like Sainsbury's,"says Jardine, "do their best to patronize young architects, even if it is only to build local supermarkets. '
At present, however, such patrons are not common. "Art mattered to the patrons of the Renaissance," she says. "The Popes understood that they were spending money for the future when they spent money on books. And for other patrons, like the Medicis, ther
In practice, what often happens is that a new theory is devised that is really an extension of the previous theory. For example, very accurate observations of the planet Mercury revealed a small difference between its motion and the predictions of Newton's theory of gravity. Einstein's general theory of relativity predicted a slightly different motion from Newton's theory. The fact that Einstein's predictions matched what was seen, while Newton's did not, was one of the crucial confirmations of the new theory. However, we still use Newton's theory for all practical purposes because the difference between its predictions and those of general relativity is very small in the situations that we normally deal with. (Newton's theory also. has the great advantage that it is much simpler to work with than Einstein's ! )
It turns out to be very difficult to devise a theory to describe the universe all in one go. Instead, we break the problem up into bits and invent a number of partial theories. Each of these partial theories describes and predicts a certain limited class of observations, neglecting the effects of other quantities, or representing them by simple sets of numbers. It may be that this approach is completely wrong. If everything in the universe depends on everything else in a fundamental way, it might be impossible to get close to a full solution by investigating parts of the problem in isolation. Nevertheless, it is certainly the way that we have made progress in the past. The classic example again is the Newtonian theory of gravity, which tells us that the gravitational force between two bodies depends only on one number associated with each body, its mass, but is otherwise independent of what the bodies are made of. Thus one does not need to have a theory of the structure and constitution of the sun and the planets in order to calculate their orbits:
Today scientists describe the universe in terms of two basic partial theories-the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. They are the great intellectual achievements of the first half of this century. Unfortunately, however, these two theories are known to be inconsistent with each other-they cannot both be correct. One of the major endeavours in physics today, is the search for a new theory that will incorporate them both-a quantum theory of gravity. We do not yet have such a theory, and we may still be long way from having one, but we do already know many of the properties that it must have.
According to the passage, why can't any physical theory be permanently established？
One summer night, on my way home from work I decided to see a movie. I knew the theatre would be air-conditioned and I couldn't face my【C1】______apartment.
Sitting in the theatre I had to look through the【C2】______between the two tall heads in front of me. I had to keep changing the【C3】______every time she leaned over to talk to him,【C4】______he leaned over to kiss her. Why do Americans display such【C5】______in a public place？
I thought the movie would be good for my English, but【C6】______it turned out, it was an Italian movie.【C7】______about an hour I decided to give up on the movie and 74 on my popcorn. I've never understood why they give you so much popcorn! It tasted pretty good,【C9】______. After a while I heard【C10】______more of the romantic-sounding Italians. I just heard the【C11】______of the popcorn crunching(咀嚼)between my teeth. My thought stated to【C12】______. I remembered when I was is South Korea(韩国), I【C13】______to watch Kojak on TV frequently. He spoke perfect Korean--I was really amazed. He seemed like a good friend to me,【C14】______I saw him again in New York speaking【C15】______English instead of perfect Korean. He didn't even have a Korean accent and I【C16】______like I had been betrayed.
When our family moved to the United States six years ago, none of us spoke any English.
【C17】______we had begun to learn a few words, my mother suggested that we all should speak English at home. Everyone agreed, but our house became very【C18】______and we all seemed to avoid each other. We sat at the dinner table in silence, preferring that to【C19】______in a difficult language. Mother tried to say something in English but it【C20】______out all wrong and we all burst into laughter and decided to forget it! We've been speaking Korean at home ever since.
【C1】
Why may partial theories be completely wrong？
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