外刊赏读 | 《经济学人》科学未解之谜
（考研英语真题同源 外刊赏读 第112篇）
选段出《经济学人》的《科学未解之谜》一文。文章强调科学的重要性，以科学未解之谜为切入点，论证科学事业远未成功，科学家们仍须努力的观点。文章采用多种论证方式，论证严密，观点鲜明，结构严谨，值得一读，积累科学发现相关词汇。
原文
Ⅰ“I SEEM to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” Those words, ascribed to Sir Isaac Newton, might still be spoken, with the appropriate correction for sex, by any scientist today.
ⅡThe discipline of natural science that Newton helped found in the second half of the 17th century has extended humanity’s horizons to a degree he could scarcely have envisaged. Newton lived in a world that thought itself 6,000 years old, knew nothing of chemical elements, believed living creatures could spring spontaneously from mud, and had only just stopped assuming that the sun revolved around the Earth.
ⅢYet even today, deep problems and deeper mysteries remain. Science cannot yet say how life began or whether the universeis but one of many. Some things people take for granted—that time goes forwards but never backwards, say—are profoundly weird. Other mysteries, no less strange, are not even perceived. One is how, after billions of years when the Earth was inhabited only by single-celled creatures, animals suddenly popped into existence. Perhaps the deepest mystery of all is how atoms in human brains can consciously perceive the desire to ask all of these questions in the first place, and then move other atoms around to answer them.
ⅣDoes it all matter, a cynic might ask? Will humans really be better off for knowing such things? The answer, written on the tomb, in St Paul’s Cathedral, of Newton’s contemporary,Sir Christopher Wren, is: “If you seek his monument, look around you.”
ⅤBacteria and Brontosaurus. Oxygen and octane. Quarks and quasars. All are the offspring of Newton’s child. Moreover,it is the manipulation of nature which science permits that has brought today’s unprecedented plenty and prosperity. Most of all, though, science has brought self-knowledge, for it has put humans in their place in two contradictory ways. It has dethroned them as the centre of the universe, by showing that mankind is a Johnny-come-lately, living on a tiny planet orbiting an ordinary star in an unremarkable galaxy that is, itself, one of more than 150 billion such galaxies. But it has also enthroned humanity, revealing the extraordinary nature of the universe’s inner workings in ways that Newton’s contemporaries were only beginning to glimpse.Simultaneously demoted and exalted by science in this unprecedented era of discovery, Homo sapiens still has oceans to survey.
词汇短语
1.ascribe[ə'skraɪb] vt. 归因于；归咎于
2.envisage[ɪn'vɪzɪdʒ] vt. 正视，面对；想像
3.spontaneously[spɔn'teniəsli] adv. 自发地；自然地；不由自主地
4.cynic['sɪnɪk] n. 愤世嫉俗者；犬儒学派的人
5.contemporary[kən'tɛmpərɛri]n. 同时代的人adj. 当代的；同时代的
6.manipulation[mə,nɪpjʊ'leʃən] n. 操纵；操作；处理；篡改
7.unprecedented[ʌn'prɛsɪdɛntɪd] adj. 空前的；无前例的
8.prosperity[prɑ'spɛrəti] n. 繁荣，成功
9*.enthrone [ɪn'θron] vt. 使登基；立…为王；任为主教；崇拜
10.permit[pɚ'mɪt] vi. 许可；允许vt. 许可；允许；给以机会；使有可能：
11*.exalt [ɪɡ'zɔlt] vt. 提升；提拔；赞扬；使得意vi. 使人得意
12*.demote[,di'mot] vt. 使降级；使降职
注：标*为超纲词
翻译及点评
Ⅰ“I SEEM to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” Those words, ascribed to Sir Isaac Newton, might still be spoken, with the appropriate correction for sex, by any scientist today.
翻译：“我就像一个在海边玩耍的小男孩，时不时捡到光滑好看的贝壳，而我对面前的真理海洋一无所知。”这句话出自牛顿爵士，至今仍被许多科学家引用，女性科学家只需修改一下“小男孩”。
点评：第一段引用牛顿的名言说明科学发展背后仍存在许多未解之谜。引号内牛顿的话用比喻的修辞说法，将科学家有所发现比作小孩有时捡到好看的贝壳，科学真理如果浩瀚海洋一样无穷无尽。末尾指出牛顿名言现在仍然广为引用，由古至今，说明如今科学家仍然面临许多未解之谜，仍继续探索真理海洋。
ⅡThe discipline of natural science that Newton helped found in the second half of the 17th century has extended humanity’s horizons to a degree he could scarcely have envisaged. Newton lived in a world that thought itself 6,000 years old, knew nothing of chemical elements, believed living creatures could spring spontaneously from mud, and had only just stopped assuming that the sun revolved around the Earth.
翻译：牛顿在17世纪后半期发现的自然科学规律已经将人类的视野极大扩展，这是牛顿自己也很难预想到的。牛顿生活的时代认为世界只存在6000多年，对化学元素一无所知，相信生物能从土壤中自发生长，并且才刚刚放弃太阳围绕地球转的信念。
点评：第二段退而介绍牛顿所处的时代，凸显牛顿在科学上的重大贡献。这与第一段牛顿的自谦在无形中形成对比，反衬牛顿的伟大。第二句介绍牛顿所处时代错误的科学认识。
ⅢYet even today, deep problems and deeper mysteries remain. Science cannot yet say how life began or whether the universeis but one of many. Some things people take for granted—that time goes forwards but never backwards, say—are profoundly weird. Other mysteries, no less strange, are not even perceived. One is how, after billions of years when the Earth was inhabited only by single-celled creatures, animals suddenly popped into existence. Perhaps the deepest mystery of all is how atoms in human brains can consciously perceive the desire to ask all of these questions in the first place, and then move other atoms around to answer them.
翻译：即使现在，许多深奥的问题和未解之谜仍然存在。科学家们还不能解释生命如何开始，是否存在许多个宇宙而不是仅仅一个。一些人们习以为常的现象更是具有深刻的不可思议性，比如时间前进却从不倒退。其他同样不可思议的未解之谜甚至还未被感知，比如单细胞生物独占地球数十亿年后，动物如何突然大量出现。也许最深奥的未解之谜应该是人类大脑的微粒首先如何有意识地感知好奇心，渴望回答这些问题，然后运用其他微粒回答它们。
点评：第三段把视角拉回今天，提出中心话题：现在仍然存在许多未解之谜。第一句为段落主旨句，余下各句都是例证第一句。最后一句突出人类智慧的神奇与伟大，首先是探询提问的智慧，然后解答证明的智慧，暗合科学发现的过程，为下文强调探究科学未解之谜的必要性做了铺垫。
ⅣDoes it all matter, a cynic might ask? Will humans really be better off for knowing such things? The answer, written on the tomb, in St Paul’s Cathedral, of Newton’s contemporary,Sir Christopher Wren, is: “If you seek his monument, look around you.”
翻译：愤世嫉俗者也许会问：这些问题都重要吗；人类知道这些问题的答案会更好吗？答案就在圣保罗大教堂克里斯多佛·雷恩爵士（与牛顿同时代）的墓碑上：“如果要看他的纪念碑，请四处看看。”
点评：第四段以两个问句开头，提出疑问：探究这些科学未解之谜是否必要？这实际上树立了靶子，用以后文批驳。第三句引用斯多佛·雷恩爵士的墓志铭回答疑问，掷地有声，如果你想寻找他的纪念碑，只要四处看看便是！这说明科学家的贡献没有一座实体的纪念碑可以衡量，世界万物的真理便是献给科学家最大、无处不在的纪念碑。从而，探索科学未解之谜的必要性不言而喻。
ⅤBacteria and Brontosaurus. Oxygen and octane. Quarks and quasars. All are the offspring of Newton’s child. Moreover,it is the manipulation of nature which science permits that has brought today’s unprecedented plenty and prosperity. Most of all, though, science has brought self-knowledge, for it has put humans in their place in two contradictory ways. It has dethroned them as the centre of the universe, by showing that mankind is a Johnny-come-lately, living on a tiny planet orbiting an ordinary star in an unremarkable galaxy that is, itself, one of more than 150 billion such galaxies. But it has also enthroned humanity, revealing the extraordinary nature of the universe’s inner workings in ways that Newton’s contemporaries were only beginning to glimpse.Simultaneously demoted and exalted by science in this unprecedented era of discovery, Homo sapiens still has oceans to survey.
翻译：细菌和雷龙，氧气和辛烷，夸克和类星体，都是牛顿“捡贝壳小孩“的后代。正是科学使得运用自然成为可能，从而造就了今天史无前例的繁荣富庶。但更重要的是，科学带来了自觉意识，这种意识给人类带来两种矛盾的认识方式。一方面，科学将人类从宇宙中心的宝座上推翻，展示了人类只是1500亿多星系中某一普通星系上围绕一普通恒星旋转的一个小行星上新生的物种。但另一方面，科学也为人类加冕，显示了宇宙内在运行规律的奇妙本质，正如牛顿同代人的初步探索。在这个史无前例的发现时代，同时被科学推翻和加冕的人类仍然面对着等待探索的未知海洋。
点评：第五段开头以几个著名的科学发现指代科学家的探索，强调这些发现都是牛顿“捡贝壳的小孩“的后代，突出这些发现的重要性，带来了人类文明的史无前例的繁荣发达。注意其中的manipulation和permit在这都是熟词僻意，分别为“运用”和“使…成为可能”的意思。Mostof all引出本段探讨重点：科学带来的自觉意识给人类带来两种矛盾的认识方式。一为将人类去中心化，一为使人类认识真理、追求真理。最后一句总结，科学发现蓬勃发展，科学探索仍然面对着一大片等待探索的海洋，照应第一段牛顿的名言，从而形成文章的首尾呼应。
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