OnScience王乙锟北京一零一中学高一
阅读书目：国家地理科学探索丛书物理科学系列：力与运动走进电的世界生命科学系列：你和你的基因观察细胞保护地球母亲IhavegotalotofinterestingscientificknowledgefromthebooksofNationalGeographicReadingExpeditions，someofwhichareaboutlife，physics。Ireallycan’thelplosingmyselfinthecolorfulpicturesandclearwordsinthebooks。Afterreadingthebooks，Ihavebeenconsideringaquestion:Whatifwelivedwithoutscience?Greatchangeshavetakenplaceintheworldwiththehelpofscience。Inthepast，lifewasnasty，brutishandshort。Itishardtoimaginehowourforefatherscoulddowithoutsomanyconveniencesthatmodernsciencebringsabout。Backthen，onlyasmallgroupofpeopleenjoyedtheveryfewcomforts。Butthemajorityofpeopledidn’tevenhavesufficientfood，letalongtheirprivilegetobeeducated。Anyway，itissciencethatchangestheworldandmakespeople’slifebetterandbetter，althoughitalsoleadstosomebadaspectsatthesametime。Fromthediscoveryofthegravitytothefirststeponthemoon，wehumanbeingshaveexperiencedalongprocessofdevelopingscience。Andnow，thisprocessisstillcontinuingmuchfaster。Neworganismsarealreadybeingengineered，andnewgeneticallymodifiedcropspromisebenefitsfromhigheryieldsandlessuseofharmfulchemicalsandsoon。Alotofexamplesareshowingthispoint。Inthefuture，changesarelikelytobeevenmuchgreaterassciencereachesouttoshapelifeitself。Maybeoneday，thepossibilitythatlifeexistedonMarsbillionsofyearsagowillbepotentiallyoneofthegreatestdiscoveriesofourtime。Itistheforceofthecompetition，wehumanbeings’inquiringmindandinitiativethatbringaboutthenon-stoppeddevelopmentofscience。Therefore，itisdifficultandimpossibletopreventsciencefromchangingtheworldandourlifeaswell。Atpresent，weareintwomindsaboutscience。Ontheonehand，weareenjoyingthesweetlifeasaresultoftheevelopmentofscience，andexpectittocontinue。Andweareshowingourinterestsintosomescientificexpeditions，suchastheastronomy，thealiencivilization，etc。Ontheotherhand，wearedistrustfulofit，duetothelackofunderstandingofscience。Somepeoplethusfararestillverysuperstitious，andtheywouldevenbelieveinsuperstitionsratherthanbelieveinscience。StephenHawking，oneofthemostremarkablescientistsintheworld，oncesaid，“Inademocraticsociety，thepublicneedstohaveabasicunderstandingofthescience，sothatitcanmakeinformeddecisionsandnotleavetheminthehandsofexperts。”ThishasremindedmeofProfessorAlanG。MacDiarmidfromAmerica，thepersonwhogottheNobelPrizeforchemistryintheyearof2000。InhislectureatPekingUniversitythisyear，heputforwardthatscienceispeople。Healsoexpoundedtheimportanceofthebasicscienceforthepublic。Evidently，everyoneofusdoesneedscience，orwecan’tlivewithoutit。Nowthateveryoneneedsscience，whynottakeadvantageofsomemeanstogivethepublictherightbasicscientificknowledge?Sowhentheyfacetheproblemssuchasacidrain，thegreenhouseeffect，nuclearweapons，environmentdestructionandsomeotherproblems，theycanalsomakeinformeddecisionsonthesesubjects，justaswhatHawkingsaid。Oneaspectreliesonwhatistaughtinschools。Butscienceisoftentaughtinanuninterestingwayandmoststudentsjustlearnitbyrotetopassexaminations。However，thefinalgoaloflearningscienceisnottopassexaminationsortogetahigherscore;instead，weshouldtrytomakefulluseofittochangeourworldandlife。Whilelearning，weshouldtrytoaskmorequestionsandweshouldhavethecourageofsuspectingtheknowledgeinthebooks，assomeofthescientificconclusionsarelikelytobecorrectedinthefuture。Whoknows。Sonotonlymustwechangeourattitudetowardsscience，butalsothewayofteachingandlearningscience。 chr()chr()12