The social sciences, as the name shows, are the scientific study of the behavior of human beings, both in groups and individually. There is no past or present information of human beings who were not in groups. The groups may be small, like the family, or large, like a city or nation. But in order to reach complete development, man must be a member of a society. It is true that some individuals are more solitary than others. Some like monks or hermits may decide, for religious or other reasons, to leave their society and live alone. But these are unusual individuals, and even they cannot separate themselves completely from the rest of mankind. A society, then, seems to be the natural environment of mankind. Scholars who study mankind in social organizations are called social scientists. The human behavior which social scientists study is learned behavior. The behavior of the human body as a living organism is studied by the biologist, the biochemist, or the physician. This behavior of man's physical body is inherited through the genetic development of his species. For example, all physically normal and healthy humans learn to walk as their bodies grow and develop. Social scientists concern themselves with the behavior that man must learn so that he can take his place in a social group. In order to be a functioning member of that group, each member must learn to behave in a way acceptable according to the differences among societies. The social scientists are newcomers to academic studies. By the end of the 19th century, the natural sciences had developed a method, by which they were able to understand the physical world. By using the scientific method, chemists, physicists, and astronauts, for example, learned a great deal about the universe. It seemed reasonable to apply the same method to the study of man's social life. Through this kind of study man may learn to understand himself much better. The scientific method is a way of collecting facts in order to describe an existing situation as correctly and... Which of the following is NOT taken into account in the scientific method? A) Careful observations. B) Accurate measurements. C) True feelings and personal ideas. D) A reasonable analysis.
C
In Greek mythology , fire is a gift form God, stolen from Zeus by Prometheus and handed over to humans suffering from cold. What could be more natural than sitting around a beautiful fire on a winter night, at a campsite in the Berkshires? Hard as it may be to believe, the fireplace--long considered a trophy , particularly in a city like New York--is acquiring a social shame. Among those who desire to be environmentally responsible, it is joining the ranks of bottled water and big houses. Sally Treadwell, a 51-year-old public relations executive in Boone, N.C., said nothing makes her happier than building a fire on a cold winter night. But most of the time she doesn't, because she feels too guilty about the damage it may do to the environment. Every time she builds a fire, it causes " _ ," she said. "It's a guilty pleasure". "The smoke from a fire smells very nice," said Diane Bailey, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. "But it can cause a lot of harm. The tiny particles can cause illness, and can cross into the bloodstream, causing heart attacks as well as worsening other conditions." Growing concerns about the air pollution and health problems caused by smoke from wood fires are urging a number of areas across the country to pass laws regulating them. Idaho offers a tax cut to people who replace uncertified wood stoves with "greener" ones; San Joaquin County in California forbids selling a home unless its wood stove is replaced with an E.P.A. certified one;and Palo Alto and other governments in California forbid wood-burning fireplaces in new construction. Certainly, many think otherwise. In any case, most fireplaces are used far too infrequently to cause any real damage to the environment, said Stephen Sears, the vice president of the Brick Industry Association, voicing an opinion shared by some. Perhaps not coincidentally, sales of wood-burning equipment dropped to 235,000 in 2009 from 800,000 in 1999, according to the Brick Industry Association. It also... What is the author's purpose in writing the passage? A) To urge people to burn less wood B) To discuss wood-burning's impact C) To throw light on the causes of the fireplace's decline D) To indicate the cooling love for the fireplace
D
When scientists accidentally killed what turned out to be the world's oldest living creature, it was bad enough. Now, their mistake has been worsened after further research found it was even older - at 507 years. The ocean quahog, a type of deep-sea clam, was dredged alive from the bottom of the North Atlantic near Iceland in 2006 by researchers. They then put it in a fridge-freezer, as is normal practice, unaware of its age. It was only when it was taken to a laboratory that scientists from Bangor University studied it and concluded it was 400 years old. The discovery made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. However, by this time, it was too late for Ming the Mollusc , named after the Chinese dynasty when its life began. Unfortunately researchers who calculated Ming's age killed it instantly by opening its shell. The researchers opened the ancient clam up to judge its age by counting growth rings inside. But the rings were so close together that scientists ended up having to count the rings on the outside to be accurate, leading CBS journalists to point out that if scientists had just started there, Ming could have lived on. Now, after examining the quahog more closely, using more advanced methods, the researchers have found the animal was actually 100 years older than they first thought. Dr Paul Butler, from the University's School of Ocean Sciences, said: "We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we've got the right age now." The mollusc was born in 1499 - just seven years after Columbus discovered America and before Henry VIII had even married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon in 1509. A quahog's shell grows by a layer every year, in the summer when the water is warmer and food is plentiful. It means that when its shell is cut in half, scientists can count the lines in a similar way that trees can be dated by rings in their trunks. Jan Heinemeier, associate professor at the University of Denmark, who... At first, the scientists found that _ . A) The ocean quahog got a deadly disease B) The growth rings inside were so close together C) it was accurate to count the growth rings outside D) The ocean quahog was 400 years old
D