考研英语阅读理解命题思路透析和真题揭秘(12)

2001年Passage 1

　　Specialisation can be seen as a response to the problem of an increasing accumulation of scientific knowledge. By splitting up the subject matter into smaller units, one man could continue to handle the information and use it as the basis for further research. But specialisation was only one of a series of related developments in science affecting the process of communication. Another was the growing professionalisation of scientific activity.

　　No clear-cut distinction can be drawn between professionals and amateurs in science: exceptions can be found to any rule. Nevertheless, the word 'amateur' does carry a connotation that the person concerned is not fully integrated into the scientific community and, in particular, may not fully share its values. The growth of specialisation in the nineteenth century, with its consequent requirement of a longer, more complex training, implied greater problems for amateur participation in science. The trend was naturally most obvious in those areas of science based especially on a mathematical or laboratory training, and can be illustrated in terms of the development of geology in the United Kingdom.

　　A comparison of British geological publications over the last century and a half reveals not simply an increasing emphasis on the primacy of research, but also a changing definition of what constitutes an acceptable research paper. Thus, in the nineteenth century, local geological studies represented worthwhile research in their own right; but, in the twentieth century, local studies have increasingly become acceptable to professionals only if they incorporate, and reflect on, the wider geological picture. Amateurs, on the other hand, have continued to pursue local studies in the old way. The overall result has been to make entrance to professional geological journals harder for amateurs, a result that has been reinforced by the widespread introduction of refereeing, first by national journals in the nineteenth century and then by several local geological journals in the twentieth century. As a logical consequence of this development, separate journals have now appeared aimed mainly towards either professional or amateur readership. A rather similar process of differentiation has led to professional geologists coming together nationally within one or two specific societies, whereas the amateurs have tended either to remain in local societies or to come together nationally in a different way.

　　Although the process of professionalisation and specialisation was already well under way in British geology during the nineteenth century, its full consequences were thus delayed until the twentieth century. In science generally, however, the nineteenth century must be reckoned as the crucial period for this change in the structure of science.

53. The author writes of the development of geology to demonstrate ________.
[A] the process of specialisation and professionalisation
[B] the hardship of amateurs in scientific study
[C] the change of policies in scientific publications
[D] the discrimination of professionals against amateurs

[答案] A

[解题思路]

　　第三段关于geology的例子在文章中占了很大的篇幅，这个例子必然是围绕着本文的中心思想展开的。而文章主要讨论的就是specialization和professionalization两个趋势的发展，因而正确答案为A选项。B和C选项都涉及文章细节，但不是主题。而D选项谈的discrimination在文中并无涉及。

[题目译文]

作者描述地质学的发展是为了说明                        。
[A] 专业化和职业化的过程
[B] 业余人员在科研中经历的艰辛
[C] 科学论文发表政策的变化
[D] 专业人员对于业余人员的歧视