单选题 Passage 1
The evolution of the social sciences has reached a crucial point that might be called a phase change in which old, atomistic, and impressionistic ways of doing research are superseded by a far more systematic and united methodology. To bring social sciences to the level of rigor already achieved by some of the physical sciences, a new type of facility will be needed. This will be a trans-disciplinary, Internet-based collaboratory that will provide social and behavioral scientists with the databases, software and hardware tools, and other resources to conduct worldwide research that integrates experimental, survey, geographic, and economic methodologies on a much larger scale than was possible previously. This facility will enable advanced research and professional education in economics, sociology, political science, social geography, and related fields.
In many branches of social sciences, a new emphasis on the rigor of formal laboratory experimentation has driven researchers to develop procedure and software to conduct online interaction experiment using computer terminals attached to local area networks. The opportunity to open these laboratories to the Internet will reduce the cost per research participant and increase greatly the number of institutions, researchers, students, and research participants who can take part. The scale of social sciences experimentation can increase by an order of magnitude or more, examining a much wider range of phenomena and ensuring great confidence in results through multiple replication of crucial studies.
Technology for administering questionnaires to very large numbers of respondents over the Internet will revolutionize survey research. Data from past questionnaire surveys can be the springboard for new surveys with vastly larger numbers of respondents at lower cost than by traditional methods. Integrated researches can combine modules using both questionnaire and experimental methods.Results can be linked via geographic analysis to other sources of data including census information, economic statistics, and data from other experiments and surveys. Longitudinal studies will conduct time-series comparisons across data sets to chart social and economic trends. Each new study will be designed so that the data automatically and instantly becomes part of the archives, and scientific publications will be linked to the data sets on which they are based so that the network becomes a universal knowledge system.

单选题 A "phase change" (Para. 1) is one in which
A. an old period ends and a new period begins.
B. a gradual invisible transition takes place.
C. fragments are united into a whole.
D. social sciences come to be united with physical sciences.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。phase change是一个物理学领域的术语，指“变相”，而“相”指 其各组成部分。文章第一段指出：社会科学的发展已经到达了一个可以被称作“阶段性 变化”的关键时期，在这个时期，过时的、原子论的、根据主观印象的研究方法被一种 更系统、更统一的研究方法所取代。根据“…are superseded by…(……被……所取代)”可知，该短语的意思应该是“旧阶段结束，新阶段开始”。这与A的意思相符。B 不准确；C为该短语在物理学领域的意思，在此不合适；文中没有提到D。
单选题 It is implied in the first paragraph that
A. there should be no difference in methodology between physical and social sciences.
B. social sciences lag far behind physical science in terms of methodology.
C. social sciences have achieved little due to limited data.
D. the Internet can never advance scientific research unless it is properly used.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推论题。文章第一段指出：社会科学的发展已经到达了一个可以被称作“阶段性变化”的关键时期，在这个时期，过时的、原子论的、根据主观印象的研究方法被 一种更系统、更统一的研究方法所取代；为了使社会科学的研究达到某些自然科学已经达到的精确程度，我们需要一种新设备。由此可以推知，社会科学的研究方法落后于自然科学。这与B的意思相符。文中没有提到A；文中说的是社会科学的研究方法落后，并没有说其数据有限，所以C不对；文中是说“这将是一个跨学科的、以互联网为基础的‘公共实验室’，这种实验室将……使他们能够在比以往更大的规模上，将实验、调查、地理学以及经济学的方法结合起来，进行全球范围的研究”，说明D不对。
单选题 Why do researchers begin to show interest in online interaction experiment?
A. To reduce the cost per research participant.
B. To upgrade the level of rigor of research in social sciences.
C. To conduct worldwide research that was unfeasible before.
D. To take full advantage of achievements made by physical sciences.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。文章第二段指出：在许多社会科学分支领域里，对正规实验室实验方法的精确性的重新重视，促使了研究人员研究研发实验程序和软件，以便利用与局域网络连接的计算机终端进行网络互动式实验；通过一个或多个数量级可以扩大社会科学的实验规模，从而可以研究更广泛的现象，并通过多次重复关键性研究确保研究结果的可信度。这说明，原因是为了提高精确度。这与B的意思相符。文中是说“向互联网开放这些实验室，将会降低每个研究参与者的研究成本，大幅度增加能够参与研究的机构、研究人员、学者以及其他研究参与者的人数”，这是开放网络互动式实验可能带来的好处，不是研究人员开始对网络互动式实验感兴趣的原因，所以A不对；文中没有提到C和D。
单选题 The greatest advantage with the Internet-based collaboratory may lie in
A. the greater cost reduction and availability of data in research.
B. its promptness in putting research results into practice.
C. its capability to reexamine the validity of traditional research.
D. its potentiality in integrating social sciences into physical sciences.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。文章第二段指出：向互联网开放这些实验室将会降低每个研究参与者的研究成本，大幅度增加能够参与研究的机构、研究人员、学者以及其他研究参与者的人数；通过一个或多个数量级可以将社会科学的实验规模提高，从而可以研究更广泛的现象，并通过多次重复关键性研究确保研究结果的可信度；第三段指出：过去的问卷调查得到的数据可以用作新调查的依据，使得新调查比利用传统方法进行调查的成本更低，被调查的人数也多得多；还可以把地域分析和其他来源的数据结合起来得出结论。这说明，这种方法最大的优势是降低成本与提高精确度。这与A的意思相符。文中是说“纵向研究将对各类数据进行历时比较，以便绘制出社会和经济的发展趋势”，而文中并没有说这是以互联网为基础的“公共实验室”的好处，所以B不对；文中没有提到C；文中是说“综合性研究可以联合使用问卷和实验方法的模式”，说明D不对。
单选题 All of the following are defeats with the traditional survey in the form of questionnaires EXCEPT
A. a restricted range of investigation.
B. greater cost in administering them.
C. lack of precision compared with experiments.
D. difficulty in being confirmed by other kinds of research.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。文章第三段指出：过去的问卷调查得到的数据可以用作新调查的依据，使得新调查比利用传统方法进行调查的成本更低，被调查的人数也多得多；综合性研究可以联合使用问卷和实验方法的模式，还可以把地域分析和其他来源的数据结合起来得出结论。这说明，A、B和D都是以问卷进行的传统调查的缺陷。只有C文中没有提到。