that each equation I included would halve the sales. I included one equation, Einstein's famous
equation, E=mc2. Maybe I would have sold twice as many copies without it.
怎么样才能利用这种兴趣，向公众提供所需要的科学知识，以便其在酸雨、温室效应、核武器以及基因工程等
问题上作出明达的决定呢？显然，必须把基础建立在学校课程上。但在学校里，科学往往被教得枯燥乏味。孩子们
死记硬背应付考试，他们看不出科学与他们的周围世界的联系。更有甚者，科学常常是用公式来教的。虽然公式是
阐述数学概念的一种简单而精确的方式，它们却使大多数人望而生畏___________。前不久我写了一本通俗读物，当时有人告诫
我说，我每使用一个公式就会使销量减半。我只使用了一个公式，即爱因斯坦那个著名的公式，E=mc2。如果不用
这个公式的话，也许我能多卖出一倍的书。
5 Scientists and engineers tend to express their ideas in the form of equations because they need
to know the precise values of quantities. But for the rest of us, a qualitative grasp of scientific
concepts is sufficient, and this can be conveyed by words and diagrams, without the use of equations.
科学家和工程师倾向于用公式阐述观点，因为他们需要知道量的精确值。但对我们其余的人来说，对科学概念
有个质的认识就已足够，这可以用文字和图表来表述，大可不必使用公式。 6 The science people learn in school can provide the basic framework. But the rate of scientific
progress is now so rapid that there are always new developments that have occurred since one was at
school or university. I never learned about molecular biology or transistors at school, but genetic
engineering and computers are two of the developments most likely to change the way we live in the
future. Popular books and magazine articles about science can help to put across new developments,
but even the most successful popular book is read by only a small proportion of the population. Only
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television can reach a truly mass audience. There are some very good science programmes on TV,
but others present scientific wonders simply as magic, without explaining them or showing how they
fit into the framework of scientific ideas. Producers of
television science programmes should realize
that they have a responsibility to educate the public, not just entertain it.
人们在学校学到的科学知识可以提供一个基本的框架。但如今科学进步的速度如此之快，一个人离开学校或大
学后新的发展层出不穷。我在学校从未学过分子生物学或晶体管，但基因工程和计算机是极有可能改变我们未来生
活的两项发展。有关科学的通俗读物和杂志文章能帮助人们了解新发展，但即使是最畅销的科普读物也只有一小部
分人阅读。只有电视能赢得真正广大的观众。电视上有一些相当优秀的科学节目，但其他的节目把科学奇迹简单地
作为魔术播出，既不加以说明，也不展现它们与科学观念的整体框架的关系。电视科学节目的制片人应该认识到，
他们负有教育民众的重任，而不仅仅是为他们提供娱乐。
7 The world today is filled with dangers, hence the sick joke that the reason we have not been
contacted by an alien civilization is that civilizations tend to destroy themselves when they reach
our stage. But I have sufficient faith in the good sense of the public to believe that we might prove this wrong.
当今世界充满危险，因此就有了那个令人毛骨悚然的玩笑，说我们尚未受到外星文明造访的原因在于：但凡文
明发展到我们目前的程度，它们往往就自我毁灭了。然而我对公众的明智充满信心，因而相信，我们将证明这一说 法是错误的。
Part Ⅲ Text B How To Make Sense Out of Science
When scientific discoveries hit the news they are rarely as simple as the headlines suggest. They
usually do not mention the years of work that lie behind the discoveries. The reports also do little to
help us realize that science seldom provides answers that are final and beyond challenge.
科学发___________现成为新闻时，很少如新闻标题所显示的那么简单。新闻标题通常只字不提科学发现背后的长年努力。
新闻报道也很少帮助我们认识，科学绝少提供最终的、经得住挑战的答案。 How To Make Sense Out Of Science David H. Levy
1 New Drugs Kill Cancer 如何理解科学 大卫·H·利维 新药灭癌
2 Devastation by El Ni?o ─ a Warning
厄尔·尼诺现象将带来毁灭 ── 一则警告
3 6:30 p.m. October 26, 2028: Could This Be the Deadline for the Apocalypse?
2028年10月26日下午6:30：世界末日的最后期限？ 全新版大学英语综合教程1课文对照翻译 BY12020212 - 17 -
4 When these headlines appeared this year, their stories became the subjects of conversations
around the world ─ talks spiced with optimism and confusion. Imagine the hopes raised in the
millions battling cancer. Did the news mean these people never had to worry about cancer again? Or
that we all had to worry about a catastrophe from outer space or, more immediately, from El Ni?o?
这些标题于今年见诸报端时，这类新闻便成为全世界的话题 —— 既掺有乐观又带来混乱的话题。想象一下这
些新闻为成千上万与癌症抗争的人们所带来的希望。这些新闻是否意味着这些人再也不用为癌症担忧呢？还是说我
们所有的人都得为来自外层空间的大祸，或者更近一点，为厄尔·尼诺现象造成的灾难而忧心忡忡呢？。
5 Unfortunately, science doesn't work that way. It rarely arrives at final answers. People battling cancer or victims of El Ni?o may find this frustrating, but the truth is that Nature does not yield her
secrets easily. Science is done step by step. First an idea is formed. Then this is tested by an
experiment. The outcome, one hopes, results in an increase in knowledge.
不幸的是，科学并非这般运作。科学极少提供最终的答案。与癌症搏斗的人们或厄尔·尼诺现象的受害者也许会
觉得这太令人沮丧，但事实是，大自然并不轻易袒露其奥秘。科学研究是一步一步进行的，首先要有一个构想，然
后用实验检验这个构想，人们希望其结果能成为知识的一种积累。
6 Science is not a set of unquestionable results but a way of understanding the world around us. Its
real work is slow. (1) The scientific method, as many of us learned in school, is a gradual process
that begins with a purpose or a problem or question to be answered. It includes a list of materials, a
procedure to follow, a set of observations to make and, finally, conclusions to reach. In medicine,
when a new drug is proposed that might cure or control a disease, it is first tested on a large random
group of people, and their reactions are then compared with
those of another random group not given
the drug. All reactions in both groups are carefully recorded and compared, and the drug is evaluated. All of this takes time ─ and patience.
科学并非一组无可置疑的结果，而是认识我们周围世界的一种方法。其实际进程是缓慢的。(1) 正如我们很多
人在学校里所学的那样，科学方法是一个渐进的过程，这个过程始于某个目的，或某个有待解决或回答的问题。这
包括一组材料，一套必须遵循的操作步骤，一系列有待进行的观察，最后是有待得出的结论。医学上，有人提出一
种新药可能医治或控制某种疾病时，先是在随意挑选的大量人群中进行试验，然后将这部分人群的用药反应与另一
组随意挑选的未用此药的人群的情况进行比较。两组人群的种种反应被一一记录，仔细比较，从而对新药的疗效作
出鉴定。所有这些过程需要时间 —— 以及耐心。
7 It's the result of course, that makes the best news ─ not the years of quiet work that
characterize the bulk of scientific inquiry. After an experiment is concluded or an observation is made,
the result continues to be examined critically. When it is submitted for publication, it goes to a group
of the scientist's colleagues, who review the work. If the work is important enough, just before the
report is published in a professional journal or read at a conference, a press release is issued and an announcement is made to the world.
成为新闻热点的当然是结果，而非长年默默无闻的努力，而长年默默无闻的努力正是绝大多数科学探索的特点。
在实验有了结论，或观察结束之后，其结果仍将受到严格的检测。结果送交发表时，会由一组科学家的同行审阅。
如果成果相当重要，那在专业杂志上发表或会议上宣读该实验报告之前，将会举行新闻发布会，向世人宣布。
8 The world may think that the announcement signifies the end of the process, but it doesn't. A
publication is really a challenge: \wrong!\
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to repeat the experiment, and the more often it works, the better the chances that the result is sound.
Einstein was right when he said: \amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can at any time prove me wrong.\
世人也许会认为宣布结果标志整个过程的结束，其实不然。发表成果实际上是