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为什么每次都只能看到4天前发的这个。。。???难道是我电脑显示问题。。
下周考试周了,恩,G,叫我如何对你~~
隔了不短时间的重拾eco.第一篇,贴上来,发现自己现在对eco.等英语文章阅读是如此饥渴!nod~继续下去~额,字体颜色问题。。。。
History of science
Crooked path to universal truth—普遍真理的弯曲之路
Jun 11th 2009
From The Economist print edition
A CONTROVERSIAL British historian, E.H. Carr, reckoned that his subject was shaped by the very process of studying it. “The belief in a hard core of historical facts existing objectively and independently of the interpretation of the historian is a preposterous fallacy(指明:史实的存在是客观的独立于历史学家的解释的—这是个错误的观点),” he wrote, “but one which it is very hard to eradicate.” Patricia Fara provides a reminder that science is also a human activity.(表明观点:科技同样是一种人类活动)The Bridgeman Art LibraryWhat did Vermeer's astronomer discover?
The birth of science(科技的起源) is often dated to 1660, when(这种描述起源的手法可以用到art等各话题中去) the Royal Society was founded in London by the followers of Francis Bacon, who argued that knowledge could come only by testing ideas through experiment(知识是从实践中获得的-培根—可作论据). Ms Fara, however, points out that they did not start with a blank slate(新的一页,新的开始). She places the roots of science back in(描述科技的根源的又一说法) ancient Babylon, where court advisers developed mathematical and astronomical expertise. Admittedly, these observers were watching the skies in the hope of(期待着) gleaning(拾) future portents(前兆). Their observations, however, could be interpreted as scientific because they were trying to correlate(使…有相互关系) what they saw. The fact that they were ultimately unsuccessful, because the movements of heavenly bodies(天体) do not determine political events on Earth, does not invalidate(使无效) the process by which this conclusion was eventually drawn.
开头描写关于科技的起源的两种不同看法;然后让步,说这些观察者们的观察结果之所以被看做科学的是因为他们赋予了事物联系。而最终不能成功的原因是天体不能决定世上,但这并没有使他们得出结论的过程失去意义。
Ms Fara also argues, persuasively, that science is rarely an esoteric(秘传的) effort to attain pure knowledge, as envisaged by Bacon. Rather it stems from(由于) attempts to gain power through activities such as politics, magic, religion, trade and war(这里给出M的进一步争辩:科技不只是追求纯知识的秘密活动,相反它是在通过人类活动试图获得力量的过程中产生的,如政治,巫术,宗教,贸易,战争等). The Babylonian astronomers(天文学家) were seeking political advantage. The main motive of(主要动机) many Islamic scholars and, indeed, Newton himself, was the better understanding of God. The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 unleashed(解放) an era of exploration(解放了一个探索的时代), in which scientific instruments became crucial for navigators. Warfare(战争) has long driven science, perhaps most visibly in(最典型就体现在—举例子) the development of nuclear weapons.
这段给出论点:科技不是纯追求知识的,而是在人类活动驱使下产生的。之后就给了4个例子:政治-宗教-世界-战争 各举一个,每句1句话,对应前文又精炼。
Because science is done by people, its progress is messy(科技由人类完成,这点使它的进步变得复杂化). Sometimes those who shout the loudest are initially accepted as being correct. It takes time for(…耗费时间) a rival(竞争的) interpretation of results to be accepted as a better explanation. Scientists themselves indulge in(沉溺于) political manoeuvring, trying to win funding for(争取投资) their preferred(首选的) lines of investigation, denigrating(玷污) their colleagues as they do so. Ms Fara identifies the many cases where(后面跟作者argu的事实,注意where) the work of various women throughout history has not been credited(归功于), and men have claimed the discoveries as their own. Similarly, Chinese inventions have been recast as European and the role of Islamic scholars ignored.
这段说出了科技由人类完成过程的局限性,其实就是归结到“人性”
The book romps through history at a terrific rate: from ancient Greece through the Islamic empire of the 13th century, 15th-century China and Renaissance Europe to 20th-century America(呼啦啦一串列举,从古希腊-13伊斯兰-15中国-文艺复兴欧洲-20美国). It races through ideas:(统领后面列举ideas) how learned(有学问的) societies emerged, how the theory of evolution(进化论) affected the way people viewed themselves, how scientific progress brought power to its protagonists(主演,这里应指主体人类).这里用三个疑问句:知识社会怎样产生?进化论如何影响人类看待自身?科技发展对人类有何影响? Ms Fara’s informal(非正式的) style helps to speed the pace(加快进程), but sometimes grates(引起争执?). She also occasionally repeats the same arguments to illustrate different points. Yet the book is so wide-ranging(广泛的) and provocative that these faults can be forgiven.
介绍了M的书,时间线索-主要内容;影响+局限性+总体评价
Scientists like to present their subject as a clear progression from one idea springing from(起源于,来自于-第三种!) a masterful(能干的) mind, through its experimental verification(实践证明) to the next ingenious insight(巧妙的洞察力); each cool and rational step taken in an orderly fashion. Ms Fara argues that there is no unique path to universal truth. Rather science progresses in fits and starts, with many avenues terminating as blind alleys(直译是许多林荫道终止为小路,这里可引申为科技进步的很多途径终止为盲区). Moreover, unlike art, science is a collective activity that demands collaboration(合作). If Isaac Newton saw farther by standing on the shoulders of giants, then those giants themselves had been standing on the shoulders of others. (与艺术不同,科技是一种需要合作的集合活动,如果牛顿站在巨人的肩膀上,那么巨人自己也是站在别人的肩膀上的)
回应标题:通往普遍真理是没有一条唯一的道路的,后半段强调了科技的合作特性。
写作文去写作文去,受66斑斑教育,脑残是我的目标! |
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