目 录 上一节 下一节 
几种科学态度 Science had its beginning when man started asking questions about his environment. He wondered where the sun went at night and why the sky was blue. He questioned why the wind blew and the leaves fell. He sought answers to these and other questions. Not all his answers were correct, but at least he did want to know. 科学始于人类对环境提出种种疑问的时候。人们想知道，夜里太阳到哪里去了，天空为什么是蓝色的。人们问道，为什么会刮风，为什么叶子会落下来。人类苦苦寻求过这些问题及其他问题的答案。虽然人类给出的答案并不都是正确的，但是至少那时的人确实想了解周围的世界。 Curiosity and Imagination 要有好奇心和想象力 Science began to develop rapidly when man laid aside his wrong beliefs and began to seek true explanations. Young children are curious about how things word. The child wants to take apart a watch to see what makes it word. 当人们抛弃了种种错误的信念并开始寻找真理的时候，科学就开始迅猛的向前发展了。小孩子们对一切事物是如何运作的感到好奇。小孩子想把一只表拆卸开，看看是什么东西能让表走动。 Benjamin Franklin wondered about lightning. He combined his curiosity with imagination and carried out his well-known experiment to show that lightning and an electric spark are the same thing. Curiosity and imagination are important qualities which help stimulate the discovery of new facts and advance science. 本杰明富兰克林很想知道天上打闪是不是就是电。他把他的好奇心和想象力结合起来进行了那次著名的试验，结果证实了天上打闪和电光花是一回事情。好奇心和想象力对从事科学是非常重要的，因为有助于激励我们去发现新事物，有助于激励我们推动科学向前发展。 
要相信因果关系 Scientifically minded people believe in a "cause-and-effect" relationship. They fell there is a perfectly natural explanation for everything. Fox example, there is a good reason why some leaves turn red and others yellow in the fall. Changes such as these, which are easily observed, are called phenomena. Some common phenomena, however, are not completely understood. Still others cannot be explained at all at this time. In cases where the explanation is unknown the scientific point of view is that there is a reason if it can only be discovered. 凡是有科学头脑的人都想念因果关系。他们认为世上一切事物都会有一种完美的合乎自然规律的解释。例如，在秋天之所以有些叶子会变成红色，而另一些叶子却变成了黄色，都有它充分的道理。这些都很容易观察到，我们把诸如此类的一些变化称之为现象。可是有些很常见的现象我们还不能完全理解。还有一些很常见的现象现在还根本无法解释。凡是在人闪对某些现象还不知道该如何解释的情况下，科学的观点认为，这里必然有一定的因果关系，但愿人们能够发现这一原因。 Being Open-Minded 要能接受新思想 Open-mindedness is also extremely important to a scientific attitude. This means the ability to face the facts as they are regardless of what one has previously thought. It includes and ability to accept new and sometimes even disagreeable ideas. The woker in science must face facts whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. He must expect many failures and be willing to try again. Thomas Edison failed thousands of times before he succeeded in producing the first electric lamp. 就科学态度来说，能够接受新思想也是极端重要的。这指的是能够面对现实，而不管自己从前是怎样想的。这里包括能够接受新的思想，有时甚至这新的思想是自己原来所不同意的思想。科学工作者必须面对事实，不管这些事实是令人愉快的，还是令人不愉快的。科学工作者必须想到有可能失败，而且愿意在失败之后再接着重做。汤玛斯o爱迪生失败了几千次才制作出第一只电灯。 The Solutions to real problems cannot be seen in advance. Scientists must be able to change their thinking and to adapt their theories to new facts as they are discovered. The mind cannot be made up once and for all. New knowledge may make a change in thinking necessary. This is another way of saying that man's understanding is always less than perfect. What is accepted as true often is relatively, and not absolutely, true. A scientific truth offers an explanation that is acceptable only in the light of what is known at a particular time. 解决实际问题的办法往往无法预见到。科学家们必须能改变自己从前的想法，使自己的理论能适合新发现的事实。人们思想不应先入为主永世不变。新的知识必然会在人的思想中产生必要的变革。换一个说法也就是说："人类对客观事物的理解永远也不会是完美无缺的。"通常被人们接受的所谓真理，都是相对真理，而不是绝对真理。科学的真理提供了一种解释，这种解释也只有按照某一特定时间内人们的知识水平才是可以接受的。 
要尊重别人的观点 Another part of a scientific attitude is respect for the views of others. This is easy when these views are like one's own. The difficulty comes up when their ideas are different. Views which are entirely new or foreign may also be hard to accept. 科学态度的另一个组成部分就是要尊重他人的观点。如果别人的观点跟自己的观点相像，这就很容易做到。当别人的观点与自己的观点不同，那就会出现困难。那些全新的观点或异端的观点也可能很难以接受。 New ideas are frequently very slow to be accepted. Scientists such as Galileo, Louis Pasteur, and Edward Jenner were laughed at because they held theories that were not accepted. Respect for new ideas is important for continued progress in all fields of knowledge. 新的思想要接受起来往往是很慢的。诸如伽里略、路易o巴斯德和爱德华詹纳之类的科学家之所以被嘲笑，就是因为人们不接受他们的理论。在一切专业知识领域里要继续不断地进步，尊重新的思想是非常重要的。 Opinions Based on Evidence 要说话有证据 Sometimes evidence is not complete. It may take time for new facts to become available. When they are available, a person may have to change his mind. New findings may also require a "wait-and-see" attitude. For example, there is an experiment on the sprouting of seeds which has been running for more than 50 years. The purpose is to determine how long a time seeds can be buried in the ground and still grow when proper conditions for growth exist. 有时证据并不是天衣无缝的。要取得新的确凿的证据是要费时间的。一旦取得了确凿证据，那么一个人就不得不改变自己的看法。种种新发现的事物也可能需要有一段"等一下观望观望"的态度。例如，有一项关于种籽发芽的试验，这一试验已连续进行了50多年。其试验的目的就是要确定，如果有了生长发芽的条件，种籽埋在地里过了多少年以后，依然能生长发芽。 
按科学的步骤去解决问题 There are scientific ways in which man solves problems. Once his curiosity has been aroused, he uses certain methods and procedures to obtain new knowledge and greater understanding. Although the methods are not always the same, there are usually certain elements in the procedures that are similar. 在人类解决问题时，总有一些科学的方法和步骤。一旦激起了人的好奇心，人们就会用一系列的方法和程序去获取新的知识或获得更深刻的理解。尽管所采用的那些方法并不总是一样的，但在步骤上总是会有某些相似的成分。 Recognizing the Problem 发现问题 Problems must first of all be recognized. The right answers can be obtained only if the right questions are asked. A thoroughly understood problem is well started toward solution. Problems arise in a variety of ways. Sometimes they grow out of a chance observation. They may result from reading, from laboratory experiments, or simply from thinking. They also may result from new developments or from new or different human needs. Today, for example, problems are arising from new discoveries in the fields of nuclear physics, biological engineering and microelectronics. The development of industry has also brought about large numbers of problems which have to be solved. 首先，必须发现问题。只有问题找对了，才能得出正确答案。对问题理解得透彻，就是接近于解决问题的良好开端。问题都是以多种多样的方式出现的。这些问题有时偶尔观察到的，有的是阅读中发现的问题，有的是在做实验时发现的，还有的问题干脆是冥思苦想而发现的。有些问题也可能是在新的研制过程中发现的，或者是由于人们有了新的需要或者由于不同的人有不同的需要而发现的。例如，今天的核物理学、生物工程学、微电子学等专业领域中，由于有了新的发现，也就冒出了一些新的问题。工业的大发展也带来了许许多多的必须加以解决的问题。 Collecting Information 汇集信息 
第二个步骤，科学家尽量想方设法尽可能多地去了解有关该问题的情况。通常这意味着得去图书馆，去研读一些含有叙述人类有关这一问题的经验和知识的书籍。这一步骤称为查阅文献资料。 The scientist may find that others have already solved all or a part of the problem. Occasionally he finds answers to closely related questions, which give clues for solving the new one. In his search the scientist accumulates much background information. With these new ideas and facts he builds a firm foundation for solving the problem. 这位科学家很可能发现其他一些人早已把这一问题全部或部分地解决了。偶而这位科学家还会找到与这些问题有密切关系的一些答案，而这些答案又提供了一些解决某一新问题的线索。在科学家查阅文献资料的过程中，他会积累很多背景资料。依照从这些资料中得来的新的事实和新的想法，他就为最后解决这一问题打下了坚实的基础。 Organizing the Information 整理信息 After the scientist has finished this part of his word he will probably take the many facts which he has collected and organize them into some kind of system. This may be a logical classification or it may be a mathematical analysis. Usually the analysis will whow unanswered questions. Sometimes it will suggest areas that are in need of further study. Perhaps one of the most important results of such an analysis is that it indicates certain truths, which generally are called inferences. 在科学家结束了汇集资料这一部分工作之后，该科学家会把所汇集的许多事实加以整理，编制出某种系统性的东西。这个系统的东西也可能是逻辑分类或者是数理分析。通常这种分析就会显示出有些问题还没得到答案。有时表示这些没有答案的地方尚需进一步加以研究。也许这种分析的最重要的成果之一，就是这一分析表露出一些真相，这一步骤一般称之为推理。 Making a Hypothesis 提出假说 
在推理的过程中这位科学家必须假设的论断或称之为假说。一种假说也只能是一种"最接近事实的"猜测。下一步骤必须对假说加以实地验证。 If it is correct, then certain things should follow. This means if a particular experiment is carried out, certain observations ought to be possible or it should be possible to make certain predictions.Should the observations or predictions turn out to be as expected, the scientist has added confidence in the probable truth of his hypothesis. If, however, observations cannot be made or the predictions are unreliable, then the hypothesis will probably be given up or at least modified. 如果这种假说是正确的，那么有些事实就应随之而来。这也就是说，如果实际做了某项实验，就应取得一定的观察结果或者对未来将会发生的某些情况作出估计或预测。假如观察结果或估计会出现的情况正如所料，科学家对自己提出的假说为真理的可能性就增加了信心。倡，如果将来不能进行观察，或者那些估计都将成为毫无根据的，那么，这些假说可能将要被放弃或者最低限度地加以修改。 The Experiment 进行实验 The hypothesis must check with the facts. Scientific facts are usually established by work in the laboratory. Experiments have to be made under carefully controlled conditions. Thorough and accurate records must be kept. 所提出的假说必须用事实来检验。是否是人事科科学的事实，通常要由实验的结果来确定。一切实验必须在非常严格的控制下来做。实验的记录必须完整而又精确。 In making certain kinds of experiments in science variables are used. A variable is something which has different values under different conditions. In one type of laboratory test all the variables but one are controlled. This method of testing is called controlled experimentation. 在做某些理科方面的实验时要利用变量。变量指的是在各种不同的条件下会得出各种不同的数值。在某一项实验室的检测中，除了百分之一而外，一切变量都必须能得到控制。这种试验方法被称之为控制试验。
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