The usual distinctions between “basic research”, “applied research”, and “development”, used for many years in the formal government statistics kept by the National Science Foundation are, unfortunately insufficient for discussions of policy for government investment in technical activities. Indeed, definitions are the source of much of the confusion over the appropriate role for government in the national scientific and technical enterprise. One cannot distinguish in any meaningful way “basic” from “applied research” by observing what a scientist is doing.
“Applied research” should not be used to mean “purposeful and demonstrably useful basic research,” and one should be wary of the use of the term in government statistics. In corporate research laboratories, such as the TJ. Watson Research Laboratories of IBM, all of the work is referred to simply as “research.” There is no need to attempt a distinction between “basic” and “applied” research. All of the company’s research investments are motivated by corporate interests. All of the research has a purpose. All of it is conducted under highly creative conditions. None of it is so “pure” that there are no expectations of value from the research investment.
We should reserve the words “applied research” for those narrowly-defined tasks in which limited time and resources are devoted to a specific problem for an identified user who gets all the benefit and should pay all the costs. To make this view of applied research clear in this discussion, I use the words “problem-solving research” instead.
Narrow problem-solving and development are activities initiated by someone who wishes to apply research methods purposefully to exploit an identified opportunity or solve a problem. They involve the application of technical resources to achieve an identified goal for a specified beneficiary, usually the investor in the work. It is a reasonable assumption that those who engage in such activities expect to benefit from them, and to benefit by a sufficient margin over the cost to accommodate the technical risk that is ever-present in research. The investor in problem-solving may be a government agency, but is more likely to be a private firm. In most cases that firm would be expected to be able to appropriate sufficient benefits to need no government subsidy to take those risks. Public investment in the creation of new technology (technological development, whether by research or as a product of problem-solving) is a critical link between id the scientific research that is pursued by virtue of society’s commitment to those goals. Thus the desire for technology is an important-perhaps the most important -source of demand for science.
1. According to the author, the distinction between Basic and applied researches in government documents is ______.
2. A disturbing result of the definitions of nature of research in government statistics is that ______.
3. It is implied in the second paragraph that basic research is characterized by ______.
4. The “applied research” as the author understands it is best defined in terms of ______.
5. The passage is mainly concerned with defining the role of ______.
问题1选项
A.theoretically unjustifiable
B.obscure and misleading
C.scientific but insufficient
D.meaningful though confusing
问题2选项
A.the role of government in funding research activities is poorly defined
B.scientists are not sure whether what they are doing is meaningful
C.the goals of both basic and applied researches are not rationally set
D.research in corporate settings is not purposeful or demonstrably useful
问题3选项
A.less creativity
B.higher motivation
C.lack of immediate value
D.insufficient investment
问题4选项
A.the goal it serves and the problem it solves
B.the party that sponsors and benefits from it
C.the cost and risks involved in such research
D.both A and B
问题5选项
A.applied research in the creation of new technology
B.basic research in the creation of new technology
C.private firms in refunding problem-solving research
D.government in the creation of new technology
第1题:B
第2题:A
第3题:C
第4题:D
第5题:D
第1题:
【选项释义】
According to the author, the distinction between Basic and applied researches in government documents is ______. 作者认为，基础研究与应用研究的区别在政府文献中是______。
A. theoretically unjustifiable A. 理论上不合理的
B. obscure and misleading B. 模糊和误导性的
C. scientific but insufficient C. 科学但不充分的
D. meaningful though confusing D. 有意义但令人困惑的
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干可以定位答案所在区域为第一段。根据第一段前两句内容“对‘基础研究’和‘应用研究’与‘发展’这些词语的基本区分，在国家科学基金会记录的正式的政府数据中已经沿用多年，不幸的是，在讨论政府对技术活动的投资政策时，这些区分显得很不足。的确，在讨论政府在国家科技事业中的合理角色时，对这些词语的定义是引起很多混淆的根源。”由此可知“基础研究”和“应用研究”的区别定义不够清楚，会引起混淆，因此他们的区别在文献中是模糊的、引起误导的，所以正确答案为B选项。
【干扰项排除】A、C、D选项均属于曲解原文。
第2题:
【选项释义】
A disturbing result of the definitions of nature of research in government statistics is that ______. 对政府统计数据中研究性质的定义的导致令人不安的结果是______。
A. the role of government in funding research activities is poorly defined A. 政府在资助研究活动中的角色定义不明确
B. scientists are not sure whether what they are doing is meaningful B. 科学家不确定他们正在做的事情是否有意义
C. the goals of both basic and applied researches are not rationally set C. 基础研究和应用研究的目标设置不合理
D. research in corporate settings is not purposeful or demonstrably useful D. 在公司背景下的研究是没有目的的，也没有明显的用处
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】结合选项和题干定位答案所在区域为第一段。根据第一段前两句内容“对‘基础研究’、‘应用研究’与‘发展’这些词语的基本区分，在国家科学基金会记录的正式的政府统计数据中已经沿用多年，不幸的是，在讨论政府对技术活动的投资政策时，这些区分显得很不足。的确，在讨论政府在国家科技事业中的合理角色时，对这些词语的定义是引起很多混淆的根源。”由此可知政府在资助研究活动中的角色定义不明确是导致不安结果的原因，所以正确答案为A选项。
【干扰项排除】B、C、D选项均属于曲解原文。
第3题:
【选项释义】
It is implied in the second paragraph that basic research is characterized by ______. 第二段暗示基础研究的特点是______。
A. less creativity A. 更少的创造性
B. higher motivation B. 更高的动机
C. lack of immediate value C. 缺乏直接价值
D. insufficient investment D. 投资不足
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据第二段最后三句“所有的研究都有一个目的。所有这些都是在高度创造性的条件下进行的。哪项研究都不是那么‘纯粹’，以至于没有对研究投资的价值的预期”，由此可以推测，基础研究不在于满足一个短期的价值预期，所以看不到它的直接价值。正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“更少的创造性”，根据第二段倒数第二句“所有这些都是在高度创造性的条件下进行的”，可知该选项属于曲解原文；
B选项：“更高的动机”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项：“投资不足”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第4题:
【选项释义】
The “applied research” as the author understands it is best defined in terms of ______. 作者所理解的“应用研究”的最佳定义是根据______。
A. the goal it serves and the problem it solves A. 它服务的目标和解决的问题
B. the party that sponsors and benefits from it B. 赞助并从中受益的一方
C. the cost and risks involved in such research C. 这种研究涉及的成本和风险
D. both A and B D. A和B都是
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据题干可以定位答案所在区域为第三段。根据第三段内容：我们应该把“应用研究”这个词保留在那些狭义的定义上，即“应用研究”指在有限时间内利用有限资源为某个特定使用者完成某个特定任务，作为受益者的使用者获得全部利益，并支付所有研究成本。为了在这次讨论中明确应用研究的观点，我使用了“以解决问题为目的的研究”这个词。由此可知作者称“应用研究”为“以解决问题为目的的研究”。这个定义，强调了研究的目的性，也强调了解决问题，因此A选项“它服务的目标和它解决的问题”表达的意思是正确的。同时，根据第三大内容可知这个定义也涉及到了受益者，因此B选项“赞助并从中受益的一方”也是正确的，所以正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“它服务的目标和解决的问题”，根据解题思路可知该选项属于以偏概全；
B选项：“赞助并从中受益的一方”，根据解题思路可知该选项属于以偏概全；
C选项：“这种研究涉及的成本和风险”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
The passage is mainly concerned with defining the role of ______. 这篇文章主要是明确______的作用。
A. applied research in the creation of new technology A. 新技术创造中的应用研究
B. basic research in the creation of new technology B. 创造新技术的基础研究
C. private firms in refunding problem-solving research C. 私营企业为解决问题的研究提供资金
D. government in the creation of new technology D. 政府在创造新技术上的支持
【考查点】主旨大意题。
【解题思路】根据最后一段最后三句内容：在大多数情况下，人们期望这家公司能够获得足够的利益，不需要政府补贴就可以承担这些风险。公共投资于新技术的创造（技术发展，无论是通过研究还是作为解决问题的产物）是一个关键环节，将社会目标和为追求这些社会目标所做的科学研究联系在一起。因此，对技术的追求是对科学的追求的一个重要——也许是最重要的源泉。由此可知这里的“公共投资”区别于上面提到的私人和公司投资，实际上是指“政府投资”，所以该句强调了政府在新技术的创造上的支持的关键作用，因此正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“新技术创造中的应用研究”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
B选项：“创造新技术的基础研究”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项：“私营企业为解决问题的研究提供资金”，根据最后一段第四句“解决问题的投资者可能是政府机构，但更有可能是私营企业”可知该选项属于文章提及的内容之一，不是全文主旨，属于以偏概全。
