1992年1月英语六级 – 阅读理解C

Scientists, like other human beings, have their hopes and fears, their passions and disappointments and their strong emotions may sometimes interrupt the course of clear thinking and sound practice. But science is also self-correcting. The most fundamental principles and conclusions may be challenged. The steps in a reasoned argument must be set out for all to see.
科学家和其他人一样，他们的希望和恐惧，激情和失望，以及强烈的情绪，有时可能会打断清晰的思维和合理的实践。但科学也在自我修正，最基本的原则和结论可能会受到挑战，合理论证的步骤必须让所有人都能看到。

Experiments must be capable of being carried out by other scientists. The history of science is full of cases where previously accepted theories have been entirely overthrown, to be replaced by new ideas which more adequately explain the data.
实验必须能够由其他科学家进行。科学史上充满了以前被接受的理论被完全推翻的案例，取而代之的是更充分地解释数据的新思想。

While there is an understandable inertia-usually lasting about one generation-such revolution in scientific thought are widely accepted as a necessary and desirable element of scientific progress. Indeed, the reasoned criticism of a prevailing belief is a service to the supporters of that belief; if they are incapable of defending it, they are well-advised to abandon it. This self-questioning and error-correcting aspect of the scientific method is its most striking property and sets it off from many other areas of human endeavor, such as religion and fine arts.
虽然可以理解惰性通常持续一代人左右，但科学思想的这种革命被广泛认为是科学进步的必要和可取因素。事实上，对一种普遍信仰的合理批评是对该信仰支持者的一种服务；如果他们无法捍卫它，最好放弃它。科学方法的这种自我质疑和纠错方面是它最引人注目的特性，并将其与人类努力的许多其他领域（如宗教和美术）相区别。

The idea of science as a method rather than as a body of knowledge is not widely appreciated outside of science, or indeed in some corridors inside of science. Vigorous criticism is constructive in science more than in some other areas of human endeavor because in it there are adequate standards of validity which can be agreed upon by competent scientists the world over.
科学是一种方法，而不是一种知识体系，这种想法在科学之外，甚至在科学内部的一些走廊里，都没有得到广泛的重视。激烈的批评在科学中比在人类努力的其他一些领域更有建设性，因为在科学中有足够的有效性标准，世界各地有能力的科学家都可以达成一致。

The objective of such criticism is not to suppress but rather to encourage the advance of new ideas: those which survive a firm skeptical examination have a fighting chance of being right, or at least useful.
这种批评的目的不是压制，而是鼓励新思想的发展：那些在坚定的怀疑检查中幸存下来的人，有机会成为正确的，或者至少是有用的。