第6部分：完形填空 （第51—65题，每题1分，共15分）

    阅读下面的短文，文中有15处空白，每处空白给出了4个选项，请根据短文的内容从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案，涂在答题卡相应的位置上。

    Science and Truth

    “FINAGLE”() is not a word that most people associate with science. One reason is that the image of the scientist is of one who always __________ (51) data in an impartial () search for truth. In any debate- ___________ (52)intelligence, schooling, energy – the phrase “science says” usually disarms opposition.

    But scientists have long acknowledged the existence of a “finagle factor” – a tendency by many scientists to give a helpful change to the data to __________ (53) desired results. The latest of the finagle factor in action comes from Stephen Jay Gould, a Harvard biologist, who has ___________ (54) the important 19th century work of Dr. Samuel George Morton. Morton was famous in his time for analyzing the brain ____________ (55) of the skulls as a measure of intelligence. He concluded that whites had the largest brains, that the brains of Indians and blacks were smaller, and _______ (56), that whites constitute a superior race.

    Gould went back to Morton’s original data and concluded that the ____________ (57) were an example of the finagle at work. He found that Morton’s “discovery” was made by leaving out embarrassing data, ___________ (58) incorrect procedures, and changing his criteria – again, always in favour of his argument. Morton has been thoroughly discredited by now and scientists do not believe that brain size reflects __________ (59).

    But Gould went on to say Morton’s story is only an example of a common problem in ____________(60) work. Some of the leading figures in science are ________________ (61) to have used the finagle factor. Gould says that Isaac Newton fudged out () to support at least three central statements that he could not prove. And so _____________ (62)Laudius Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer, whose master work, Almagest, summed up the case for a solar system that had the earth as its center. Recent _____________ (63) indicate that Ptolemy either faked some key data or resorted heavily to the finagle factor.

    All this is important because the finagle factor is still at work. For example, in the artificial sweetener controversy, for example, it is ________ (64) that all the studies sponsored by the sugar industry find that the artificial sweetener is unsafe, ________ (65) all the studies sponsored by the diet food industry find nothing wrong with it.