Text 3
The US$3 million Fundamental Physics is indeed an interesting experiment, as Alexander Polyakov said when he accepted this year’s award in March. And it is fair from the only one of this type. As a New Feature article in Nature discusses, a string of lucrative awards for research have joined the Nobel Prizes in recent years. Many, like the Fundamental Physics Prize, are funded from the telephones-number-sized bank accounts of Internet entrepreneurs. These benefactors have succeeded in their chosen fields, they say, and they want to use their wealth to draw attention to those who have succeeded in science.
What’s not to like? Quite a lot, according to a handful of scientists quoted in the News Feature. You cannot buy class, as the old saying goes, and these upstart entrepreneurs cannot buy their prizes the prestige of the Nobels. The new awards are an exercise in self-promotion for those behind them, say scientists. They could distort the achievement-based system of peer-review-led research. They could cement the status quo of peer-reviewed research. They do not fund peer-reviewed research. They perpetuate the myth of the lone genius.
The goals of the prize-givers seem as scattered as the criticism. Some want to shock, others to draw people into science, or to better reward those who have made their careers in research.
As Nature has pointed out before, there ere some legitimate concerns about how science prize-both new and old –are distributed. The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, launched this year, takes an unrepresentative view of what the life science include. But the Nobel Foundation’s limit three recipients per prize, each of whom must still be living, has long been outgrown by the collaborative nature of modern research – as will be demonstrated by the inevitable row over who is ignored when it comes to acknowledging the discovery of the Higgs boson. The Nobel were, of course, themselves set up by a very rich individual who had decided what he wanted to do with his own money. Time, rather than intention, has given them legitimacy.
As much as some science may complain about the new awards, two things seem clear. First, most researchers would accept such a prize of they were offered one. Second, it is surely a good thing that the money and attention come to science rather go elsewhere. It is fair to criticize and question the mechanism- that is the culture of research, after all-but it is the prize-givers’ money to do with as they please. It is wise to take such gifts with gratitude and grace.
31. The Fundamental Physics Prize is seen as
[A] a symbol of the entrepreneurs’ wealth.
[B] a handsome reward for researchers.
[C] a possible replacement of the Nobel Prizes.
[D] an example of bankers’investments.
32. The critics think that the new awards will most benefit
[A] the profit-oriented scientists.
[B] the achievement-based system.
[C] the founders of the new awards
[D] peer-review-led research.
33. The discovery of the Higgs boson is a typical case which involves
[A] legitimate concerns over the new prizes.
[B] controversies over the recipients's status.
[C] the joint effort of modern researchers.
[D] the demonstration of research finding.
34. According to Paragraph 4, which of the following is true of the Nobels?
[A] History has never cast doubt on them.
[B] their endurance has done justice to them.
[C] They are the most representative honor.
[D] Their legitimacy has long been in dispute.
35. The author believes that the new awards are
[A] unworthy of public attention.
[B] subject to undesirable changes .
[C] harmful to the culture of research.
[D] acceptable despite the criticism.
Text 4
The Hear of the Matter ,”the just –released report by the American Academy of Arts and sciences (AAAS), deserves praise for affirming the importance of the humanities and social sciences to the prosperity and security of liberal democracy in America. Regrettably，however，the report’s failure to address the true nature of the crisis facing liberal education may cause more harm than good.
In 2010，leading congressional Democrats and Republicans sent letters to the AAAS asking that it identify actions that could be taken by “federal，state and local government，universities，foundations， educators，individual benefactor and others” to “maintain national excellence in humanities and social scientific scholarship and education.” In response, the American Academy formed the Commission on the Humanities and Social Science .Among the commission’s51 members are top-tier-university presidents, scholars, lawyers, judges, and business executives as well as prominent figures from diplomacy, filmmaking, music and journalism.
The goals identified in the report are generally admirable .Because representative government presupposes an informed citizenry, the report supports full literacy; stresses the study of history and government, particularly American history and American government; and encourages the use of new digital technologies. To encourage innovation and competition, the report calls for increased investment in research, the crafting of coherent curricula that improve students’ ability to solve problems and communicate effectively in the 21st century, increased funding for teachers and the encouragement of scholars to bring greater study of foreign languages, international affairs and the expansion of study abroad programs.
Unfortunately, despite 2.5 years in the making, "The Heart of the Matter" never gets to the heart of the matter: the illiberal nature of liberal education at our leading colleges and universities. The commission ignores that for several decades America's colleges and universities have produced graduates who don't know the content and character of liberal education and are thus deprived of its benefits. Sadly, the spirit of inquiry once at home on campus has been replaced by the use of the humanities and social sciences as vehicles for publicizing "progressive," or left-liberal propaganda.
Today, professors routinely treat the progressive interpretation of history and progressive public policy as the proper subject of study while portraying conservative or classical liberal ideas-such as free markets and self-reliance-as falling outside the boundaries of routine, and something legitimate, intellectual investigation.
The AAAS displays great enthusiasm for liberal education . Yet its report may well set back reform by obscuring the depth and breadth of the challenge that Congress asked it to illuminate.
36. According to Paragraph 1, what is the author’s attitude toward the AAAS’s report?
[A] Critical
[B] Appreciative
[C] Contemptuous
[D]Tolerant
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