阅读理解
Scientific tradition demands that scientific papers follow the formal progression :method first, results second, conclusion third. The rules permit no hint that, as often happens, the method was really made up as the scientist went along, or that accidental results determined the method, or that the scientist reached certain conclusions before the results were all in, or that he started out with certain conclusions, or that he started doing a different experiment.
Much scientific writing not only misrepresents the workings of science but also does a disservice to scientists themselves. By writing reports that make scientific investigations sound as unvarying and predictable as the sunrise, scientists tend to spread the curious notion that science is infallible. That many of them are unconscious of the effect they create does not alter the image in the popular mind. We hear time and again of the superiority of the "scientific method". In fact, the word "unscientific" has almost become a synonym for "untrue". Yet the final evaluation of any set of data is an individual, subjective judgment; and all human judgment is liable to error. Thoughtful scientists realize all this; but you wouldn''t gather so from reading most scientific literature. A self-important, stiff and unnatural style too often seizes the pen of the experimenter the moment he starts putting words on paper.
Editors of scientific publications are not without their reasons for the current style of scientific writing. Their journals aren''t rich. Paper and printing are expensive. Therefore, it is helpful to condense articles as much as possible. Under pressure of tradition, the condensation process removes the human elements first. And few scientific writers rebel against the tradition. Even courageous men do not go out of their way to publicize their deviations from accepted procedures. Then ,too, there is an apparent objectivity and humbleness attached to the third person, passive voice writing technique adopted in the preparation of most scientific papers. So, bit by bit, the true face of science becomes hidden behind what seems to the outsider to be a self-satisfied all-knowing mask. Is it any wonder that in the popular literature the scientist often appears as a hybrid superman-spoiled child?
No small contribution to modern culture could be the simple introduction, into the earliest stage of our public-school science courses, of a natural style of writing about laboratory experiments as they really happen. This is something that could be done immediately with the opening of classes this fall. It requires no preparation except a psychological acknowledgment of the obvious fact that the present form of reporting experiments is a mental tie whose very appearance is calculated to repel the imaginative young minds science so badly needs.
单选题
The traditional demands on writing scientific papers
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】由题干可知，此题出白本文第1段。 A项中well worked-out methods(精心设计的方法)与第1句有出入，该句只说“方法第一”。B项与第2句不符，该句说，这些规则不允许暗示“意外的结果决定了方法”。C项亦与此句不符，句中说，不许暗示“科学家在取得结果之前就得出了一定的结论”。
D项之所以人选，是因为它与此句的前半部分意思一致，这部分说，“这些规则不许暗示研究方法实际是科学家在进行研究过程中制定的，而这种情况是经常发生的”。这表明科学传统对科学论文写作的要求与实际情况相conflict(抵触，矛盾)。 D项中的as often as not(或more often than not)意为very frequently (常常)，相当于原文中的often。
单选题
Most scientific papers turn out to be
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】此题看来是针对第2段。
A 项 deterioration(<使>变坏，恶化)不同于第1句中的misrepresents(误述；歪曲)，故不可取。B项degeneration of service(<使>服务衰退)不等于句中的disservice(帮倒忙；损害)，亦不可取。D项同样不能入选，因为第2句表明，是写科学报告的科学家在散布科学是infallible(永不会出错误的)的奇特观念，而非如D项所说，多数科学论文都是这种信念。
只有C项体现了第2句对reports的描述：科学报告使科学研究听起来就像日出那样永恒不变，并可预测。即如C项所说的rigid formats (刻板的格式)。
单选题
The author strongly appeals
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】作者的appeal表现在末段。作者在第1句里说，将如实报告实验情况文章的自然写作风格引进公立学校的初级理科课程，会对现代文化做出很大贡献。由此可知D项可取。
A项break with(摒弃)文中未提；B项immediate changes(立即改变)文中未见，也不现实；C项是对此段末句的有意错位安排，该句说，这种mental tie(精神束缚)的出现is calculated to do sth．(故意做……)就是有意排斥科学急需的、富于想像力的青年科学人才。
单选题
The author points out that thoughtful scientists
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】题干中的thoughtful scientists(富有思想的科学家)出现在第2段第7句，句中的all this指前一句内容：all human judgment is liable to error(人的判断都是容易出错的)。A项的“to err is human”(犯错人皆难免)符合此意，为当然之选。其余3项文中无据可寻。D项中be seized with意为“受……支配”。