一本教会你“做对”题的6级阅读书 day12 passage6

Passage 6 Half a Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste
人文学科不可或缺 《新闻周刊》

In a world struggling with rapid industrialization, massive immigration,
and chaotic urban growth, science and technology seemed to offer solutions
to almost every problem. Many Americans came to believe
that scientific certainty could solve not only scientific problems,
but could also reform politics, government, and business.
Two world wars and a Great Depression rocked the confidence of many people
that scientific expertise alone could create a prosperous and ordered world.
In the aftermath of World War II, the academic world turned
with new enthusiasm to humanistic studies,
which seemed to many scholars the best way to ensure the survival of
democracy and to resist tyranny.
Behind every statistic, there's a good story: facts and figures
[01:05]can add up to something greater than themselves.
[01:09]In the America of our own time, the great educational challenge
[01:14]has become an effort to strengthen the teaching of what is now known
[01:19]as the STEM disciplines. There is considerable and justified concern
[01:25]that the United States is falling behind much of the rest of
[01:30]the developed world in these essential disciplines. India, China, Japan,
[01:37]and other regions seem to be seizing technological leadership.
[01:42]At the same time, the humanities have experienced a significant decline.
[01:49]Humanistic disciplines are seriously underfunded, not just by the government
[01:54]and the foundations but by academic institutions themselves.
[01:59]Humanists are usually among the lowest-paid faculty members
[02:04]at most institutions and are often lightly regarded
[02:08]because they do not generate grant income
[02:12]and because they provide no obvious credentials for most nonacademic careers.
[02:18]There is no doubt that American education should be training more scientists
[02:25]and engineers and should be teaching scientific literacy to everyone else.
[02:31]Much of the hand-wringing among politicians
[02:34]is focused on the absence of "real world" education.
[02:39]But the idea that institutions
[02:42]or their students must decide between humanities and science is false.
[02:49]The humanities are not simply vehicles of aesthetic reward
[02:54]and intellectual inspiration, as valuable as those purposes are.
[02:59]Science and technology aspire to clean, clear answers to problems.
[03:05]The humanities address ambiguity, doubt,
[03:09]and skepticism-essential underpinnings in a complex and diverse society
[03:14]and a turbulent world.
[03:17]It is not surprising that many of our greatest scientists
[03:21]are also deeply committed to humanistic knowledge and values.
[03:26]Nor should it be surprising
[03:28]that many humanistic fields find scientific tools essential
[03:33]to their work. Many liberal-arts institutions
[03:37]have developed similar curricular goals. Among academics,
[03:43]scientists and humanists not only coexist, but often collaborate.
[03:49]It is impossible to imagine our society without thinking of
[03:52]the extraordinary achievements of scientists
[03:55]and engineers in building our complicated world.
[03:59]But try to imagine our world as well without the remarkable works
[04:04]that have defined our culture and values