Unit 3
The scientific method
科研方法
Every scientist dreams of lighting up some dark corner of the natural world — or， almost as good, of finding a dark corner where none had been suspected。 The most careful obrvations, the most elaborate calculations will not be fruitful unless the right questions are asked. Here is where creative imagination enters science, which is why some of the greatest scientific advances have been made by young， nimble minds.
每一位科学家都渴望探明自然界未知领域的客观规律；或者说每一位科学家都渴望找到一处前人尚未耕耘过的研究园地。在科学研究中，如果不能提出恰当的问题，再细致的观察和周密的计算，也不会有什么成果。这是一个有创造性想象力的科学领域，这就是为什么一些最伟大的科学进步是由敏锐的年轻人做出的.
Scientists study nature in a variety of ways。 Some approaches are quite direct: a geologist
takes a rock sample to a laboratory and, by inspection and analysis, finds out what it is made of and how and when it was probably formed。 Other approaches are indirect: nobody has ever visited the center of the earth or ever will， but by combining a lot of thought with clues from different sources, a geologist can say with near certainty that the earth has a core of molten iron。 No matter what the approaches to particular problems may be, however, the work scientists do always fits into a certain pattern of steps。 This pattern, a general scheme for looking at the univer, has become known as the scientific method。
科学家以各种方式研究自然。一些方法是非常直接的: 地质学家把一个岩石样本带到实验室,通过检验和分析，发现它的构造是什么样的、它可能是如何形成、何时形成的。其他方法是间接的:迄今为止,尚未有人访问过地球中心,将来也不会有，但是通过综合分析以及从各种途径得来的数据，一位地理学家几乎可以肯定地说地球核是由熔铁组成的。然而，不管科学家们可能用什么方法解决特定的问题，他们的工作总是遵从一定的模式进行着。用一个普遍的解决方法来研究宇宙,这种模式，被称为科研方法。
神勇斗士和平鸽画法
We can think of the scientific method in terms of four steps: (1） formulating a problem, （2） obrvation and experiment， （3) interpreting the data， and （4） testing the interpretation by further obrvation and experiment。 Examining the natural world is at the heart of the scientific method, since the results of obrvation and experiment rve not only as the foundations on which scientists build their ideas but also as the means by which the ideas are checked。
我们认为的科研方法是根据四个步骤进行的：（1）研究问题的确定，（2)观察和实验，（3）解释数据，（4）进一步观察和实验财经学来验证解释。科研方法的核心是研究自然世界,因为观察和实验的结果不仅为科学家形成他们的想法打基础也为检测他们的想法提供了途径。
①. Formulating a problem may mean no more than choosing a certain field to work in， but more often a scientist has in mind some specific idea he or she wishes to investigate. In many cas formulating a problem and interpreting the data overlap。 The scientist has a speculation, perhaps only a hunch, perhaps a fully developed concept， about some aspect of nature but can not come to a definite conclusion without further study.
①妈妈是超人。系统阐述一个问题可能意味着仅仅是选择某个领域来工作，但在大多数情况下一个我从春天走来科学家心理想着他或她希望去调查的某些特殊观点。在某些情形中,阐述一个问题和解释数据会重叠。关于自然界某方面，科学家有一个明确地表达，或许仅仅一个预感，或许一个全面发展的概念，但还不能形成确定的结论没做进一步研究。
②。 Obrvation and experiment are carried out with great care。 Facts about nature are the building blocks of science and the ultimate proof of its results。 This insistence on the primacy of accurate， objective data is what ts science apart from other modes of intellectual endeavor。
②。科学家们小心地观察和做实验。自然界的事实是构建科学的基石和科研结果的最终证明.这种坚持以准确、客观的数据为首就是科学有别于其他模式的智力努力方面。
黑鱼做法③。 Interpretation may lead to a general rule to which the data em to conform。 Or it may be a more ambitious attempt to account for what has been found in terms of how nature works。 In any ca, the interpretation must be able to cover new data obtained under different circumstances。
③.解释数据可能导致一般规则数据似乎符合。或者它可能是一个更雄心勃勃试图解释根据大自然是怎样运行的兔影发现了什么王宏甲.在任何情况下，解释必须能够涉及在不同的环境下获得的新数据。
④。 Testing the interpretation involves making new obrvations or performing new experiments to e whether the interpretation correctly predicts the results。 If the results agree with the predictions， the scientist is clearly on the right track。 The new data may well lead to refinements of the original idea， which in turn must be checked， and so on indefinitely。
④。检验解释包括做新观察或新实验来检测解释是否正确预测结果。如果结果与预测一致，科学家很显然在正确的方向上。新数据有利于对起先的观点加以修饰和改良,而新观点又必须要再次接受检验,这种过程会永远持续下去。
In its original tentative forms， a scientific interpretation is usually called a hypothesis。 When it has survived checking and rechecking， the hypothesis becomes a law or a theory。 A law usually states a regularity or relationship of some kind。 Isaac Newton’s l
aw of gravity is an example。 According to Newton ， the force of attraction between two objects （the sun and the earth, for instance） varies in a certain specific way with the mass of the objects and with the distance between them.
科学解释就其原始形式来说通常被称为假设。当假设能够经得起反复的检测，它就变成了定律或理论.一个定律通常说明了一些情形的规则或关系.艾萨克·牛顿的万有引力定律是一个例子。根据牛顿所说，两个物体之间的万有引力 (例如：太阳和地球)在某些特定方面会不同,这与物体的质量和与它们之间的距离相关。
A law tells us what, a theory tells us why. A theory explains why。 A theory explains why certain events take place and， if they obey a particular law, how that law originates in terms of broader considerations. Thus， Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity interprets gravity as a distortion in the properties of space and time around a body of matter。 From this theory, Einstein made a number of predictions, among them that light should be affected by gravity。 The success of the predictions, together with the theory's ability to account for Newton ’s law, led to the acceptance of the general theory of relativity。
