新世纪大学英语综合教程4Unit3.pdfVIP

1 Unit 3 The acquisition of knowledge is self-contradictory by nature. The more one knows, the more he knows how little he knows. Reading often leads to more questions than answers. Writing opens things up rather than closes them off. The author of the following essay regards truth as a rainbow that cannot be really grasped. He urges us to be humble about what we dont know as we pride ourselves on what we know. The Rainbow of Knowledge Craig Russell 1) For more than 3/4 of my life – 39 of my 50 years – Ive either studied or taught in a school or a college in New York. 2) You might think, then, that after all this time Id have some grasp of the situation, that Id actually know things – that Id have some positive sense of assurance, of certainty, about knowledge and about life. But I dont. In fact, the more I know, the more I know I dont know. 3) To say that the more I know, the more I know I dont know is, of course, contradictory. But then, modern physics tells us that reality itself is contradictory. The more scientists look into our physical reality, the more it slips away from them. In a way, the more they learn, the less they know. 4) Knowledge itself is contradictory. For example, picture your knowledge as a dot, as perhaps the period at the end of this sentence. Notice the tiny circumference of that period, and let that represent the interface of the known with the unknown – in other words, your awareness of what you dont know. 5) But now imagine that little period growing, its blackness consuming more and more of the page. As it grows, so does its circumference. And if that growing blackness represents knowledge, then as it grows, so does the awarene