农业英语专业词汇.pdf

A CONCISE TEXT BOOK OF AGRICULTURAL ENGLISH UNIT 1 FUNDAMENTAL METHODS IN LIFE SCIENCE How is it that scientists probe so skillfully into the monument of life and discover so much about its foundations? What is it about their manner of thinking that yields such precise results? The scientific method is a formalized way of answering questions about causation in the natural world. In principle, the scientific method has three main steps (although in practice scientists work in many different ways). The first step is to collect observations, phenomena which can be detected by the senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch). Observations can be also made indirectly, through use of special equipment (such as a microscope) that extended the range of perception. With practice, we can become skilled at making systematic observations. This means focusing one or more senses on a particular object or event in the environment, and screening out the “background noise”of information that probably has no bearing on our focus. Second, the scientist thinks of hypothesis, ideas about the cause of what has been observed. The third step is experimentation, performing tests designed to show that one or more of the hypothesis is more or less likely to be incorrect. Hypothesizing means putting together a tentative explanation to account for an observation. No scientist can put forward an idea and demand that it be believed as true, no questions asked. In science, there are no absolute truths. There are only high probabilities that an idea is correct in the context of observations and tests made so far. Instead of absolutes, there is suspended judgment. This means a hypothesis is tentatively said to be valid if it is consistent with observations at hand. You won’t (or shouldn’t) hear a scientist say, “there is no other explanation!”More likely you wil