考研英语每日一练2016.4.22

　 Part of the scientific faith of the late nineteenth century was the view that there was one and only one scientific method.This method，argued writers like Karl Pearson in his Grammar of Science，was the only sure method for arriving at knowledge in any sphere.The method was easily described： collect the facts in the area under study;order them into sequences，such that law like occurrences could be seen;then，write down the laws so identified.According to this view，disciplines differed only as to subject matter，since the unity of science consisted of its method alone.Also，according to this view，the results of scientific investigation(that is，new knowledge)will always be embodied in the form of a law connecting the facts in the area under study.

　　Explanation，according to this view，is simply accounting for facts on the basis of a deduction from a known law or laws，or accounting for some subordinate law on the basis of a deduction from some more general law or laws.The most influential formulation of this explanation is Carl G Hempel‘s， perhaps most accessibly articulated in his article“Explanation in Science and History”。Sometimes，according to Hempel，such laws are of a strictly universal form and other times they are of a probabilistic or statistical form.They are assertions，in this latter case，of the kind that if certain specified conditions are realized then an occurrence of such and such a kind will come about with such a probability.

　　I think that it would be true to say that in the late nineteenth century it was felt that one feature distinguishing physics from history as a discipline was that，even if they shared exactly the same method，physics had no need for the latter kind of probabilistic explanation——at least in principle——while in history it was unavoidable.

　　However，in the twentieth century，whatever else may distinguish physics and history as disciplines it is not that physics uses only strictly universal laws and deductive explanations in the nineteenth century sense，while history does not.The physics of the century，from 1 900 onward，has been interested in aggregates of certain classes of physical individuals(the particles)and in accounts of the individuals that would enable one to understand the aggregates.As a consequence partly of this interest in statistical data pertaining to the very small，as well as for a number of other reasons，physicists have tended to formulate the mechanics of the very small in terms of equations in which probabilistic notions are fundamental.
 

　　1. According to Karl Pearson，only one scientific method_____

　　[A J prevailed in every field of study during 1890s

　　[B]directed the collection and arrangement of facts

　　[C]served as a unique element uniting all disciplines

　　[D]made the identification of new knowledge plausible

　　2. As stated by Hempel，general laws are_____

　　[A]based on detailed accounts of actual facts

　　[B]composed of subordinate laws by deduction

　　[C]realized in probabilistic or statistic form

　　[D]applied to all cases or under certain conditions

　　3. The author feels sure of the truth that in 19th century_____

　　[A]physics and history shared a common feature

　　[B]the same method blended history with ph)rsics

　　[C]statistical laws were compatible with physics

　　[D]probabilistic method was inapplicable to history

　　4. In the 20th century， it was true that_____

　　[A]universal laws ceased to belong merely to physics

　　[B]deductive explanations became dominant in history

　　[C]distinction between history and physics turned obscure

　　[D]statistical explanations were adopted by physicists

　　5. In the study of physical particles_____

　　[A]statistical information accounts for the interest in aggregates

　　[B]probabilistic conceptions result from their formulation

　　[C] deion of their mechanics is based on statistical data

　　[D]physical equations are accountable for probabilistic ideas