It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science it is impossible to predict. If the thi

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问题     It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science it is impossible to predict. If the things to be found are actually new, they are by definition unknown in advance. You cannot make choices in this matter. You either have science or you don’t, and if you have it you are obliged to accept the surprising and disturbing pieces of information, along with the neat and promptly useful bits.
    The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred years of biology. It is, in its way, an illuminating piece of news. It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewildering seems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of the 20th century science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended to understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up stories to fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we are getting glimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far they are from being answered. Because of this, we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant if you are totally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality of ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-bad spots, but no true light at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet be trusted.
    But we are making a beginning, and there ought to be some satisfaction. There are probably no questions we can think up that can’t be answered, sooner or later, including even the matter of consciousness; to be sure, there may well be questions we can’t think up, ever, and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect, but that is another matter. Within our limits, we should be able to work our way through to all our answers, if we keep at it long enough, and pay attention.
What is the author’s attitude towards science?

选项 A、He is depressed because of the ignorance of scientists.
B、He is doubtful because of the enormous difficulties in scientific research.
C、He is confident though he is aware of the enormous difficulties in scientific research.
D、He is delighted because of the illuminating scientific findings.

答案C

解析 这是一道态度题。文章第二段指出:我觉得完全有把握的唯一可靠的科学事实就是,我们对自然界了解太少,我把这看做是过去几百年生物学领域的重大发现:就其本质而言,这是一个具有启发意义的信息。最后一段指出:我们正在起步,我们应该对此感到某种满足;在我们有限的范围内,如果我们坚持做下去,如果我们专心致志,我们应该能够找到所有问题的答案。这说明,作者对科学的前景持乐观态度。C说“他有信心,尽管知道在科学研究中存在许多困难”,这与作者的态度相符。A和B与作者的态度相反:与D有关的信息是第二段的第二句话,文中是说“就其本质而言,这是一个具有启发意义的信息”,并没有说他感到高兴,所以D不对。
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