A
A paradox lies close to the heart of scientific discovery. If you know justwhat you are looking for, finding it can hardly count as a discovery, since itwas fully anticipated. But if, on the other hand, you have no notion of whatyou are looking for, you cannot know when you have found it, and discovery, assuch, is out of the question. In the philosophy of science, these extremes maponto the purist forms of deductivism and inductivism: In the former, theoutcome is supposed to be logically contained in the premises you start with;in the latter, you are recommended to start with no expectations whatsoever andsee what turns up.
B
As in so many things, the ideal position is widely supposed to residesomewhere in between these two impossible-to-realise extremes. You want to havea good enough idea of what you are looking for to be surprised when you findsomething else of value, and you want to be ignorant enough of your end pointthat you can entertain alternative outcomes. Scientific discovery should,therefore, have an accidental aspect, but not too much of one. Serendipity is aword that expresses a position something like that. !t9s a fascinating word,and the late Robert King Merton—“the father of the sociology of science”一liked it well enough to compose its biography, assisted by the Frenchcultural historian Elinor Barber
C
The word did not appear in the published literature until the early 19thcentury and did not become well enough known to use without explanation untilsometime in the first third of the 20th century. Serendipity means a “happyaccident” or “pleasant surprise”, specifically, the accident of findingsomething good or useful without looking for it. The first noted use of^serendipity^ in the English language was by Horace Walpole. He explained thatit came from the fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip (the ancientname for Ceylon, or present day Sri Lanka), whose heroes 4
D
Antiquarians, following Walpole, found use for it, as they were alwaysrummaging about for curiosities, and unexpected but pleasant surprises were notunknown to them. Some people just seemed to have a knack for that sort ofthing, and serendipity was used to express that special capacity. The othercommunity that came to dwell on serendipity to say something important abouttheir practice was that of scientists, and here usages cut to the heart of thematter and were often vigorously contested. Many scientists, including theHarvard physiologist Walter Cannon and, later, the British immunologist PeterMedawar, liked to emphasise how much of scientific discovery was unplanned andeven accidental. One of the examples is Hans Christian 0rsted's discovery ofelectromagnetism when he unintentionally brought a current-carrying wireparallel to a magnetic needle. Rhetoric about the sufficiency of rationalmethod was so much hot air. Indeed, as Medawar insisted, *There is no suchthing as The Scientific Method,M no way at all of systematising the process ofdiscovery. Really important discoveries had a way of showing up when they had amind to do so and not when you were looking for them. Maybe somescientists,like some book collectors, had a happy knack; maybe serendipity describedthe situation rather than a personal skill or capacity.
E
Some scientists using the word meant to stress those accidents belonging tothe situation; some treated serendipity as a personal capacity; many othersexploited the ambiguity of the notion. Yet what Cannon and Medawar took as abenign nose-thumbing at Dreams of Method, other scientists found incendiary. Tosay that science had a significant serendipitous aspect was taken by some asdangerous denigration. If scientific discovery were really accidental, thenwhat was the special basis of expert authority? In this connection, theaphorism of choice came from no less an authority on scientific discovery thanLouis Pasteur: ^Chance favors the prepared mind." Accidents may happen,and things may turn up unplanned and unforeseen, as one is looking forsomething else, but the ability to notice such events, to see their potentialbearing and meaning, to exploit their occurrence and make constructive use ofthem—these are the results of systematic mental preparation. What seems like anaccident is just another form of expertise. On closer inspection, it isinsisted, accident dissolves into sagacity.
F
The context in which scientific serendipity was most contested and had itsgreatest resonance was that connected with the idea of planned science. Theserendipitists were not all inhabitants of academic ivory towers. As Merton andBarber note, two of the great early-20th- century American pioneers ofindustrial research—Willis Whitney and Irving Langmuir, both of GeneralElectric—made much play of serendipity, in the course of arguing against overlyrigid research planning. Langmuir thought that misconcqtions about thecertainty and rationality of the research process did much harm and that amature acceptance of uncertainty was far more likely to result in productiveresearch policies. For his own part, Langmuir said that satisfactory outcomes cSo, from within the bowels of corporate capitalism came powerful arguments, byway of serendipity, for scientific spontaneity and autonomy. The notion thatindustry was invariably committed to the regimentation of scientific researchjust doesn't wash.
G
For Merton himself--who one supposes must have been the seniorauthor—serendipity represented the keystone in the arch of his socialscientific work. In 1936, as a very young man, Merton wrote a seminal essay onThe Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action. It is, he aigued,the nature of social action that what one intends is rarely what one gets:Intending to provide resources for buttressing Christian religion, the naturalphilosophers of the Scientific Revolution laid the groundwork for secularism;people wanting to be alone with nature in Yosemite Valley wind up crowding oneanother. We just don't know enough—and we can never know enough—to ensure thatthe past is an adequate guide to the future: Uncertainty about outcomes, evenof our best-laid plans, is endemic. AH social action, including that undertakenwith the best evidence and formulated according to the most rational criteria,is uncertain in its consequences.
Questions27-32
ReadingPassage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choosethe most suitable heading for paragraphs A~G fwm the list of headings below.Write the appropriate number, i-jc, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
List ofHeadings
iExamples of some scientific discoveries
iiHorace Walpole’s fairy tale
iiiResolving the contradiction
iv Whatis the Scientific Method
v Thecontradiction of views on scientific discovery
vi Somemisunderstandings of serendipity
viiOpponents of authority
viiiReality doesn’t always match expectation
ix Howthe word came into being
xIllustration of serendipity in the business sector
27Paragraph A
Example
Answer
ParagraphB
iii
28Paragraph C
29Paragraph D
30Paragraph E
31Paragraph F
32Paragraph G
Questions33-37
Choosethe correct letter, At B, C or D,
Writethe correct letter in boxes 33-3 7 on your answer sheet,
33 Inparagraph A，the word “inductivism” means
Aanticipate results in the beginning.
B workwith prepared premises.
C acceptchance discoveries.
D lookfor what you want.
34Medawar says “there is no such thing as The Scientific Method” because
Adiscoveries are made by people with determined mind.
Bdiscoveries tend to happen unplanned.
C theprocess of discovery is unpleasant.
Dserendipity is not a skill.
35 Manyscientists dislike the idea of serendipity because
A it iseasily misunderstood and abused.
B it istoo unpredictable.
C it isbeyond their comprehension.
D itdevalues their scientific expertise.
36 Thewriter mentions Irving Langmuir to illustrate
Aplanned science should be avoided.
Bindustrial development needs uncertainty.
C peopletend to misunderstand the relationship between cause and effect.
D acceptinguncertainty can help produce positive results.
37 Theexample of Yosemite is to show
A theconflict between reality and expectation.
B theimportance of systematic planning.
C theintention of social action.
D thepower of anticipation.
Questions38-40
Answerthe questions below.
ChooseNO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers inboxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
38 Whois the person that first used the word “serendipity”?
39 Whatkind of story does the word come from?
40 Whatis the present name of serendip?
答案：
27.v 28.ix 29.i 30.vi 31.x 32.viii
33.C 34.B 35.D 36.D 37.A
38.Horace Walpole 39. fairy tale 40.Sri Lanka
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