The difference between biological and physical science is not that one is inexact, the other exact, but in degree of exactness, this being related to the number of variables which must be dealt with simultaneously and the extent to which they can be controlled. In general, the biological sciences must deal with larger errors than the physical sciences; but this is not uniformly true, as the student will realize when he considers the accuracy of meteorological prediction or if he comprehends the meaning of the fact that the structural engineer considers it necessary very often to use a safety factor of two or three hundred per cent. The statistical principles of dealing with error of measurement, or in prediction and generalization, are the same whether the errors are large or small. Statistics is not a means of confusing issues that would otherwise be clear, nor a substitute for obtaining clear answers, but a means of checking and controlling conclusions by providing an estimate of the error to which a conclusion is subject.
What do statistics do for science?
A. They get rid of intuition,
B. They make it more logical.
C. They reduce everything to numbers.
D. They give an idea of the amount of error involved.
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According to the passage, when you have got off a bus or tram and Want to cross the road,
A. wait until the bus or tram has left before you cross.
B. always make sure you are behind the bus or tram.
C. never cross in front the bus or tram.
D. always cross in front the bus or tram.
Our boat floated on (漂流) ,between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing【21】though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills.【22】did we find a place where we could have landed. So we stayed in the boat hoping that we【23】the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to the civilization.
We lived【24】fish, any fruit and nuts we could pick up out of the water. As we had no fire, we had to eat everything,【25】the raw fish. I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the【26】: perhaps sea-fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless. As for water, there was a choice: we could drink muddy river water,【27】die of thirst. We drank the water. Men who have just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water. In fact, none of us suffered from any illness【28】.
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us. We did not wish to risk【29】prisoners a second time; we might not be so lucky【30】escape in a stolen boat again.
(56)
A. in
B. down
C. along
D. through
A.to takeB.takingC.being takenD.taken
A. to take
B. taking
C. being taken
D. taken
Mr. Phanourakis was 80 years old when he left his Greek mountain village and took. a foreign ship for America. His sons had done well in the restaurant business there and wanted him to spend his remaining years with them.
Mr. Phanourakis knew no language except his own but, with the self-confidence of a mountain villager, he made his way easily about the ship. When the bell announced the serving of lunch on his first day on board he found the number of his table from the list outside the dining-room and went straight to his table while many of the other passengers crowded helplessly round the chief steward waiting to be told where their tables were.
It was a small table for two. Mr. Phanourakis sat down. After a few minutes his table--companion arrived. "Bon appetit, m’sieur," he murmured politely, as he took the other chair.
Mr. Phanourakis looked at him quickly and then smiled. "Phanourakis," he said, carefully spacing out the Greek syllables.
During the afternoon, one of the ship's officers, who spoke a little Greek, asked Mr. Phanourakis whether he had found any acquaintances on board.
The old man shook his head. "The only person I've met is my table-companion," he said. "I think he's French. His name is Bonappetit."
"That is not a name," said the officer gently. "It is a French expression that means 'good appetite'."
The old man's sons wanted him to go to America ______.
A. to live the rest of his life with them
B. and stay with them for a few years
C. to help them run their restaurant
D. to see how rich they had become