How exactly does science work? How do scientists go about "doing"
science? Ordinarily we think science proceeds in a straightforward way. Ideally,
scientists make observations, formulate hypotheses, and test those hypotheses by
making further observations. When there is difference between what is observed
and what is predicted by the hypothesis, the hypothesis is reviewed. Science
proceeds in this way, which is a gradual method of finding the best fit between
observation and prediction. But this idealized version of how
one "does" science is naive. Although science demands proof that observations
made by one observer be observable by other observers using the same methods. It
is by no means clear that even when confronted with identical phenomena
different observers will report identical observations. And it is most certain
that even if the same observations are made, the conclusions as to the meaning
of the observations frequently differ. The fact is that all of
us scientists included, see differently. Variations in human perception are well
known and have been studied extensively. Distortions in perceptions are
frequently seen among observers, even though they may be in identical settings
viewing identical phenomena. A documented misperception from history can be
found in the experience of Darwin. His ship, Beagle, after anchoring off the
Patagonian coast, sent off a landing party in small rowboats. Amazingly, the
Patagonian natives watching from shore were blind to the Beagle, but could
easily see the tiny rowboats. They have no prior experience of huge sailing
ships, but small rowing vessels were an everyday part of their life. Rowboats
fit their model of the world but huge ships did not. Their model determined
their perceptions. Our ideas that science proceeds on an
utterly objective and straightforward basis ignores the distortions of reality
imposed by our own perceptual apparatus. In many cases we see what we have been
trained to see, what we are used to seeing. If a subject is fitted with special
glasses that are designed to invert the visual field, at first the subject sees
everything upside down. After a period of time, as the glasses continue to be
worn, a correction is made by our perceptual mechanism and the image is flipped,
so that the world once again appears erect.
单选题
What is the main idea of the passage?
A. The research methods used by scientists.
B. Observation and human perception variation.
C. The relation between hypothesis and observation.
D. The human perceptual mechanism.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 本文开篇引用科学观察的例子是为了说明人类理解上的不同。第三段第二句Variations in human perception are well known and have been studied extensively.引出了作者想要说明的真正的中心内容。在回答文章中心内容题时，千万不能片面地把文章的某一部分当做中心内容。
单选题
According to the author, the distortions of reality ______.
A. Are related to the method of observation
B. Can never be avoided
C. Are caused by human perceptual mechanism
D. Can easily be corrected
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 文章最后一段说明了造成巴塔哥尼亚人对大船视而不见的理由，其中的our own perceptual apparatus指的就是C中的human perceptual mechanism。文章最后一段很清楚地说明了对事实的扭曲是可以通过两次扭曲而得到更正的，因此B错。而这种更正是需要时间的，并不轻松，所以D错。这与观察方法毫无联系，所以A错。
单选题
Which of the following cannot be concluded from Paragraph 2?
A. When people face the same phenomena, they will have the same
observations.
B. Variations in observation and conclusion are related to human
perception.
C. People using the same methods of observation can still make different
observations.
D. People often reach different conclusions even when they make the same
observations.