单选题 in science the meaning of the word "explain" suffers with civilization"s every step in search of reality. Science cannot really explain electricity, magnetism, and gravitation; their effects can be measured and predicted, but of their nature no more is known to the modem scientist than to Thales who first speculated on the electrification of amber. Most contemporary physicists reject the notion that man can ever discover what these mysterious forces "really" are. "Electricity," Bertrand Russell says, "is not a thing, like St. Paul"s Cathedral; it is a way in which things behave. When we have told how things behave when they are electrified, and under what circumstances they are electrified, we have told all there is to tell." Until recently scientists would have disapproved of such an idea. Aristotle, for example, whose natural science dominated Western thought for two thousand years, believed that man could arrive at an understanding of reality by reasoning from self-evident principles. He felt, for example, that it is a self-evident principle that everything in the universe has its proper place, hence one can deduce that objects fall to the ground because that"s where they belong, and smoke goes up because that"s where it belongs. The goal of Aristotelian science was to explain why things happen. Modem science was born when Galileo began trying to explain how things happen and thus originated the method of controlled experiment which now forms the basis of scientific investigation.

单选题 Bertrand Russell"s notion about electricity is______

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 从文中的“‘Electricity，’Bertrand Russell says，‘is not a thing，like St．Paul"s Cathedral；it is a way in which things behave．When we have told how things behave when they are electrified，and under what circumstances they are electrified，we have told all there is to tell．’”可知，Bertrand Russell的观点是当我们已经解释了物质是如何被电化的，在什么条件下它们被电化后，我们就已经解释了所有应该解释的。所以他的观点是科学应该解释事情是如何发生的，这一观点也是当代科学家同意的观点。因此C项正确。

单选题 The passage says that until recently scientists disagreed with the idea that______

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 多数同时代的物理学家们认为人类不能发现这些神秘力量究竟是什么。接着引用Bertrand Russell的话来进一步说明这个观点。后面又说，直到最近科学家们才同意这样的观点。这里的难点是“Until recently scientists would have disapproved of such an idea”， not…until的意思是“直到……才”。因此C项正确。

单选题 The expression "speculated on" (Line 4) means______

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 含有此词汇的句子意思是：科学不能真正解释电、磁、重力；它们的效果能被测量和预测，但是它们的本质对现代科学家和第一个对琥珀电化现象进行思考的Thales一样是不可知的。speculated on意为“沉思，思索，设想，推测”。本题的四个选项中，considered 意为“考虑，照顾，认为”；suspected意为“怀疑，猜想”；expected意为“期待，预期”；engaged in意为“使从事于，参加”。根据题意A项为正确答案。