首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually
admin
2013-01-12
27
问题
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually be accomplished." Well, that of course left only the impossible as the one thing remaining for daring intellectual adventurers to whittle away at Feinberg, for one, thought that "they’d succeed even there."
(2) It was a point worth considering. How many times in the past had certain things been said to be impossible, only to have it turn out shortly thereafter that the item in question had already been done or soon would be. What greater cliche was there in the history of science than the comic litany of false it-couldn’t-be-dones; the infamous case of Auguste Comte saying in 1844 that it would never be known what the stars were made of, followed in a few years by the spectroscope being applied to starlight to reveal the stars’ chemical composition; or the case of Lord Rutherford, the man who discovered the structure of the atom, saying in 1933 mat dreams of controlled nuclear fission were "moonshine." And those weren’t even the worst examples. No, the huffiest of all it-couldn’t-be-done claims centered on the notion that human beings could actually fly, either at all, or across long distances, or to the moon, the stars, or wherever else.
(3) There had been so many embarrassments of this type that about mid-century Arthur C. Clarke came out with a guideline for avoiding them, which he termed Clarke’s Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
(4) Still, one had to admit there were lots of things left that were really and truly impossible, even if it took some ingenuity in coming up with a proper list of examples. Such as. "A camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle." (Well, unless of course it was a very large needle.) On "It is impossible for a door to be simultaneously open and closed." (Well, unless of course it was a revolving door.)
(5) Indeed, watertight examples of the really and truly impossible were so exceptionally hard to come by that paradigm cases turned out to be either trivial or absurd. "I know I will never play the piano like Vladimir Horowitz," offered Milton Rothman, a physicist, "no matter how hard I try". Or, from Scott Lankford, a mountaineer "Everest on roller skates."
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
选项
A、The author uses the case of a camel passing through the eye of a needle to prove his point that there are things impossible to accomplish.
B、That a scientist cannot play the piano like one of the best pianists is not a proper illustration to prove that in science there are things impossible to accomplish.
C、Scott Lankford challenges the idea that mountaineers can never climb the Everest on roller skates.
D、People now laugh at their predecessors for denying the possibility of human flight.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/Q2HYFFFM
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Withprices______somuch,itisimpossibleforthecompanymanagertosticktotheoriginalbudget.
Inthepastfewdecades,remarkablefindingshavebeenmadeinethology,thestudyofanimalsocialbehavior.Earlierscientists
youshouldnotthinkthatexpertsare______right.
Despiteongoingnegotiationswithitsunions,UnitedAirlineshastoldthebankruptcycourtthatthe"likelyresult"willbead
Childrenloamalmostnothingfromtelevision,andthemoretheywatch,thelesstheyremember.Theyregardtelevisionpurely【71】
In______,theexperimentwasmoredifficultthanwehadimagined.
ThepoetryofEzraPoundissometimesdifficulttounderstandbecauseitcontainssomany______references.
Everymaninthiscountryhastherighttolivewherehewantsto______thecolorofhisskin.
Ideally,anatomicalinvestigationconsistsofacombinationofdescriptiveandexperimentalapproaches.Present-dayanatomyinvo
随机试题
甲向乙借款50万元注册成立A公司,乙与甲约定在A公司取得营业执照的第二天,乙的B公司向A公司借款50万元。A公司取得营业执照后,由甲经手将A公司50万元借给B公司。关于甲的行为性质,下列哪一选项是正确的?(2013年卷二13题)
企业有下列()行为之一的,可以不对相关国有资产进行评估。
全面风险管理体系的三个维度分别是()。
班级管理总结一般分为()几类。
在单一电感元件的正弦交流电路中,消耗的有功功率比较小。()
在教学中要充分发挥教师主导和学生主体的作用。()(2015.湖南)
约翰·洛克的政治思想。
都市青年报准备在5月4日青年节的时候推出一项订报有奖的营销活动。如果你在5月4日到6月1日之间订了下半年的《都市青年报》的话,你就可以免费获赠下半年的《都市广播电视导报》。推出这个活动之后,报社每天都在统计新订户的情况,结果令人失望。以下哪项如果为真,最能
Indiahasaboutabillionpeopleandadozenmajorlanguagesofitsown.Onelanguage,andonlyone,isunderstood-bytheelite-
A、Itisfoundthatpeoplewhoworkatmentaljobsexperiencefewerheartattacksthanotherpeople.B、Itisfoundthatpeoplewh
最新回复
(
0
)