1-3全新版大学英语综合教程第一册Unit3.pdfVIP

全新版大学英语综合教程第一册 Unit3 Unit 3 Understanding Science Part I Pre-reading Task Listen to the recording two or three times and then think over the following questions: 1. Who is it about? 2. What questions interest him? 3. What makes his achievements so remarkable? The following words in the recording may be new to you : universe n. 宇宙 muscle n. 肌肉 engage v. 与…订婚 Part II Text A Professor Hawking thinks it important to keep everybody in touch with what science is about. In this article he explains why. PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD SCIENCE Whether we like it or not, the world we live in has changed a great deal in the last hundred years, and it is likely to change even more in the next hundred. Some people would like to stop these changes and go back to what they see as a purer and simpler age. But as history shows, the past was not that wonderful. It was not so bad for a privileged minority, though even they had to do without modern medicine, and childbirth was highly risky for women. But for the vast majority of the population, life was nasty, brutish, and short. Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldnt put the clock back to an earlier age. Knowledge and techniques cant just be forgotten. Nor can one prevent further advances in the future. Even if all government money for research were cut off (and the present government is doing its best), the force of competition would still bring about advances in technology. Moreover, one cannot stop inquiring minds from thinking about basic science, whether or not they are paid for it. The only way to prevent further developments would be a global state that suppressed anything new, and human initiative and inventiveness are such that even this wouldnt succeed. All it would do is slow down the rate of change. If we accept that we ca