大學英語知識講義

大學英語知識講義Devastation

by

El

Nino—a

Warning

厄爾·尼諾現(xiàn)象將帶來毀滅

一則警告

6:

30

p.m.

October

26,

2028:

Could

This

Be

the

Deadline

for

the

Apocalypse?2028

年10

月26

日下午6

：

30

世界末日的最后期限

?

New

Drugs

Kill

Cancer

新藥滅癌When

these

headlines

appeared

this

year,

their

stories

became

the

subjects

of

conversations

around

the

world

talks

spiced

with

optimism

and

confusion.

Imagine

the

hopes

raised

in

the

millions

battling

cancer.

Did

the

news

mean

these

people

never

had

toworry

about

cancer

again?Or

that

we

allhad

to

worry

about

a

catastrophe

from

outer

space

or,

more

immediately,

from

El

Nino?這些標題于今年見諸報端時，這新聞便成為全世界的話題——既摻有樂觀又帶來混亂的話題。想象—下這些新聞為成千上萬與癌癥抗爭的人們所帶來的希望。這些新聞是否意味著這些人再也不用為癌癥擔憂呢

?

還是說我們所有的人都得為來自外層空間的大禍，或者更近一點，為厄爾·尼諾現(xiàn)象造成的災難而憂心忡忡呢

?

But

thetruthisUnfortunately,

science

doesn't

work

that

way.

It

rarelyarrives

at

final

answers.

People

battlingcancer

or

victims

of

El

Nino

may

find

this

frustrating,

but

the

truth

is

that

Nature

does

not

yield

her

secrets

easily.

Science

is

done

step

by

step.

First

an

idea

is

formed.

Then

this

is

tested

by

an

experiment.The

outcome,

one

hopes,

results

in

an

increase

Inknowledge.

不幸的是，科學并非這般運作?？茖W極少提供最終的答案。與癌癥搏斗的人們或厄爾.尼諾現(xiàn)象的受害者也許會覺得這太令人沮喪，但事實是，大自然并不輕易袒露其奧秘?？茖W研究是一步一步進行的，首先要有一個構想，然后用實驗檢驗這個構想，人們希望其結果能成為知識的一種積累。Science

is

not

a

set

of

unquestionable

results

but

a

way

of

under

standing

the

world

around

us.

Its

real

work

is

slow.

科學并非一組無可置疑的結果，而是認識我們周圍世界的一種方法。其實際進程是緩慢的。The

scientific

method,

as

many

of

us

learned

in

school,

is

a

gradual

process

that

begins

with

a

purpose

or

a

problem

or

question

to

be

answered.

It

includes

a

list

of

materials,

a

procedure

to

follow,

a

set

of

observations

to

make

and,

finally,

conclusions

to

reach.

In

medicine,

when

a

new

drug

is

proposed

that

might

cure

or

control

a

disease,

it

is

first

tested

on

a

large

random

group

of

people,

and

their

reactions

are

then

compared

with

those

of

another

random

group

not

given

the

drug.

All

reactions

in

both

groups

are

carefully

recorded

and

compared,

and

the

drug

is

evaluated.

All

of

this

takes

time—and

patience.

正如我們很多人在學于校里所學的那樣，科學方法是一個漸進的過程，這個過程始某個目的或某個有待解決或回答的問題。這包括一組材料，一套必須遵循的操作步驟，一系列有待進行的觀察，最后是有待得出的結論。醫(yī)學上，有人提出—種新藥可能醫(yī)治或控制某種疾病時，先是在隨意挑選的大量人群中進行試驗，然后將這部人群的用藥反應與另一組隨意挑選的未用此藥的人群的情況進行比較。兩組人群的種種反應被一一記錄，仔細比較，從而對新藥的療效作出鑒定。所有這些過程需要時間——以及耐心。It's

the

result

of

course,

that

makes

the

best

news

─not

the

years

of

quiet

work

thatcharacterize

the

bulk

of

scientific

inquiry.

成為新聞熱點的當然是結果，而非長年默默無聞的努力，而長年默默無聞的努力正是絕大多數(shù)科學探索的特點。After

an

experiment

is

concluded

or

an

observation

is

made,

the

result

continues

to

be

examined

critically.

When

itis

submitted

for

publication,

it

goes

to

a

group

of

the

scientist's

colleagues,

who

review

the

work.

If

the

work

is

importantenough,

just

before

the

report

is

published

in

a

professional

journal

or

read

at

a

conference,

a

press

release

is

issued

and

an

announcement

is

made

to

the

world.

在實驗有了結論，或觀察結束之后，其結果仍將受到嚴格的檢測。結果送交發(fā)表時，會由一組科學家的同行審閱。如果成果相當重要，那在專業(yè)雜志上發(fā)表或會議上宣讀該實驗報告之前，將會舉行新聞發(fā)布會，向世人宣布。The

world

may

think

that

the

announcement

signifies

the

end

of

the

process,

but

it

doesn't.

A

publication

is

really

a

challenge:

"Here

is

my

result.

Prove

me

wrong!"

(2)

Other

researchers

will

try

to

repeat

the

experiment,

and

the

more

often

it

works,

the

better

the

chances

that

the

result

is

sound.

世人也許會認為宣布結果標志整個過程的結束，其實不然。發(fā)表成果實際上是種挑戰(zhàn)：“本人所作結論在此。請證其謬！”(2)

別的研究人員會試圖重復這一實驗，實驗成功的次數(shù)越多，其結果就越有可能是可靠的。Einstein

was

right

when

he

said:

"No

amount

of

experimentation

can

ever

prove

me

right;

a

single

experiment

can

at

any

time

prove

me

wrong."

愛因斯坦說得對：“再多的實驗也永遠不能證明我正確，而一項實驗隨時就能證明我錯誤?！?/p>

In

August

1996,

NASA

announced

thediscovery

in

Antarctica

of

a

meteorite

from

Mars

that

might

contain

evidence

of

ancient

life

on

another

world.

1996年8月,美國國家航空和宇宙航行局宣布發(fā)現(xiàn)了一塊隕石在南極洲的可能包含從火星上有古代生命的證據(jù)的另一個世界。As

President

Clinton

said

that

day,

the

possibility

that

life

existed

on

Mars

billions

of

years

ago

was

potentially

one

of

the

great

discoveries

of

our

time.

正如克林頓總統(tǒng)那天所說，發(fā)現(xiàn)億萬年前火星上可能存在生命這件事，有可能是我們時代最偉大的發(fā)現(xiàn)之—。After

the

excitement

wore

downand

initial

papers

were

published,

other

researchers

began

looking

at

sles

from

the

same

meteorite.

Some

concluded

that

the

"evidence

of

life"

was

mostly

contamination

from

Antarctic

ice

or

that

there

was

nothing

organic

at

all

in

the

rock.當興奮和激動慢慢平息，首批論文發(fā)表之后，其他研究人員開始研究取自同一顆隕石的樣本。有些人得出結論說，這些“生命的證據(jù)”大多來自南極冰的污染，或者說那塊石頭里根本就沒有有機物。Was

this

a

failure

of

science,

as

some

news

reports

trumpeted?這是某些新聞報道所鼓噪的科學的失敗嗎?

No!

It

was

a

good

exle

of

the

scientific

method

working

the

way

it

is

supposed

to.

Scientists

spend

years

on

research,

announce

their

findings,

and

these

findings

are

examined

by

other

scientists.

That's

how

we

learn.

Like

climbing

a

mountain,

we

struggle

up

three