Question

Can you believe everything that you read? It seems as if every day, some new articles come out about a new discovery about this or that. For example, water is bad for you, or good for you. The answer depends on which scientific study has just come out. People cannot decide which food items are healthy, how pyramids were constructed, and why dinosaurs disappeared. When we look for answers we sometimes can believe persuasive researches and scientists. But how trustworthy are they really? Here are two examples of scientific hoaxes (骗局).

As far back as 1726, Johann Beringer was fooled by his fellow scientists into thinking he had made an amazing discovery. The fossils of spiders, lizards, and even birds with the name of God written on them in Hebrew were unlike anything that had been found before. He wrote several papers on them and was famous for those only to have it revealed that they were planted by jealous colleagues to ruin his reputation.

When an early human being was discovered in 1912, scientists at this time were wild with excitement over the meaning it had for the theory of evolution. There were hundreds of papers about this Piltdown man over the next fifty years until it was finally discovered to be a complex hoax. The skull (头骨) of a man had been mixed with the jawbone of an orangutan (猩猩) to make the ape (猿) man.

The next time you read the exciting new findings of a study of the best scientist, do not automatically assume that it is true. Even qualified people can get it wrong. While we certainly should not ignore scientific research, we do need to take it with a grain of salt. Just because it is accepted as the truth today does not mean it will still be trustworthy tomorrow.

1.What does Paragraph 1 want to say?

A. Researchers and scientists are not perfect.

B. Something that we read may not be true.

C. Researchers and scientists know everything.

D. People don’t know whether water is good or bad.

2.What is the reason why Johann Beringer was fooled?

A. His fellow scientists wanted to make fun of him.

B. His workmates are eager to become famous too.

C. These scientists made a mistake because of carelessness.

D. His colleagues envied him and did so to destroy his fame.

3.The excited scientists thought that this Piltdown man ______.

A. was in fact a complex hoax

B. was a great scientific invention

C. contributed to the theory of evolution

D. had the skull like that of an ape

4.What does the underlined phrase “with a grain of salt” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Happily.B. Generally.C. Doubtfully.D. Completely.

5.What can we learn from the passage?

A. Hebrew is probably a kind of language.

B. Truths of science will never be out of time.

C. People believe scientists because they are persuasive.

D. We are advised to believe famous scientists.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.C

5.A

【解析】

试题分析: 每天报纸上都会出现一些关于科学新发现的文章，那么这些文章的可信度究竟是多少呢？在文中作者通过几个例子向读者说明：新发现有时候只是一种骗局，或者是一种假象，所以我们对待任何事情都要持有一种怀疑的态度。

1.Can you believe everything that you read?然后列举生活中的例子，最后揭示中心话题But how trustworthy are they really? Here are two examples of scientific hoaxes (骗局).由此推断对于我们每天所读到的东西不可能都是对的。故选B。

2.……only to have it revealed that they were planted by jealous colleagues to ruin his reputation.可以判断他被嫉妒他的同事们愚弄了。故选D。

3.

4.While we certainly should not ignore scientific research,可以判断后面句子和前面内容构成转折关系，应该是建议人们不要过分看重科学发现，由此推断该短语指对某件事情或某人说的话有所保留，将信将疑，持怀疑态度，答案选C。

5.The fossils of spiders, lizards, and even birds with the name of God written on them in Hebrew可知在这些蜘蛛，鸟的化石上写着God字样，由此推断Hebrew是一种语言，选A。

考点：考查社会知识类短文阅读。