题目

Science not always so serious Did you know that if you attach a weighted stick to the back of a chicken, it walks like a dinosaur? No, you did not know (or care to know) such things, but now you do! Thanks to this year’s winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes! Now in its 25th year, the Ig Nobel is the goofy younger cousin of the honored Nobel Prize. It applauds achievements in the fields of medicine, biology, physics, economics, literature, etc. Every September at Harvard University, awards are presented in 10 categories that change year to year, depending on — according to the organization — what makes the judges “laugh, then think”. The ceremony officially begins when audience members launch paper airplanes at an assigned human target on the stage, then speakers only have 60 seconds to present their research. In previous years, the one-minute rule was imposed by a young girl — nicknamed Miss Sweetie Poo — who would go up to the platform and repeat the words: “Please stop, I’m bored,” in a sharp tone until the speaker left the stage. Fortunately for candidates though, the Ig Informal Lectures are held afterwards on Saturday to give presenters more time to explain the crazy things they’re working on. The research can seem more like the brainchildren of teenage boys than of respectable adults. Justin Schmidt won the physiology Ig for creating the “Sting Pain Index,” which rates the pain people feel after getting stung (蛰) by insects. Smith pressed bees against 25 different parts of his body until they stung him. Five stings a day for 38 days, Smith concluded that the most painful sting locations were the nostril (鼻孔) and the upper lip. Ouch. As silly as they sound, not all of the Ig awards lack scientific applicability. A group of scientists from 12 different countries won in the medicine category for accurately diagnosing patients with appendicitis (阑尾炎) based on an unusual measurement: speed bumps (减速带). They found that patients are more likely to have appendicitis if they report pain during bumpy car rides. All these weird experiments have just one thing in common. They’re improbable. It can be tempting to assume that “improbable” implies more than that — implies bad or good, worthless or valuable, trivial or important. Something improbable can be any of those, or none of them, or all of them, in different ways. And what you don’t expect can be a powerful force for not only entertaining science, but also for the boundary-pushing science we call innovation. 56. The underlined word “goofy” in Paragraph 2 probably means __________. A. timid B. funny C. glorious D. warm-hearted 57. According to the passage, what can we know about the awarding ceremony of Ig Nobel? A. It is held at a fixed place. B. Candidates should know how to fold paper planes. C. Miss Sweetie Poo is one of the hostesses. D. Ig Informal Lecture gives presenters 60 seconds to finish their speeches. 58. The example in Paragraph 6 is used to illustrate that Ig Nobel __________. A. celebrates the diligent work of researchers B. offers another opportunity to those who miss the Nobel Prizes C. serves as a platform for the creative and practical achievements D. amuses the audience 59. Among the four candidates below, who is most likely to win an Ig Nobel? A. A chemist who invents a chemical method to partially un-boil an egg. B. A novelist who criticizes social injustice severely. C. A physicist who studies the origin of the universe. D. An economist who achieves a breakthrough in the study of international trade 答案：BACA

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