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当许多其他观察家和思想家为科学奠定基础时，泰勒斯（约公元前624年-约公元前547年），最著名的古希腊哲学家，迈出了探索世界的更客观的新方法的第一步。

While many other observers and thinkers had laid the groundwork for science, Thales (circa 624 B.C.E.–ca 547 B.C.E.), the best known of the earliest Greek philosophers, made the first steps toward a new, more objective approach to finding out about the world.

他提出了一个非常基本的问题：“世界是由什么构成的？”

He posed a very basic question: “What is the world made of?”

在他之前，许多人也问过同样的问题，但泰勒斯的回答完全是基于他所观察到的和他所能推断出的——而不是关于神或超自然的富有想象力的故事。

Many others had asked the same question before him, but Thales based his answer strictly on what he had observed and what he could reason out—not on imaginative stories about the gods or the supernatural.

他提出水是构成世界万物的唯一物质，并发展了一个宇宙模型，其中地球是一个漂浮在水面上的平面圆盘。

He proposed water as the single substance from which everything in the world was made and developed a model of the universe with Earth as a flat disk floating in water.

像大多数伟大的希腊哲学家一样，泰勒斯对他周围的人也有影响。

Like most of the great Greek philosophers, Thales had an influence on others around him.

他的两个最著名的追随者，是阿那克西曼德（Anaximander）和阿那克西曼尼（Anaximenes），尽管无疑还有其他不那么出名的人。

His two best-known followers, though there were undoubtedly others who attained less renown, were Anaximander and Anaximenes.

他们都来自米利都(位于现在土耳其的南部海岸)，所以和泰勒斯一样，他们都是米利都学派的成员。

Both were also from Miletus (located on the southern coast of present-day Turkey) and so, like Thales, were members of the Milesian School.

人们对阿那克西曼德的了解远远多于对阿那克西曼尼的了解，这可能是因为生于公元前610年左右的阿那克西曼德，雄心勃勃地试图写一部宇宙的综合史。

Much more is known about Anaximander than about Anaximenes, probably because Anaximander, who was born sometime around 610 BCE, ambitiously attempted to write a comprehensive history of the universe.

就像后来发生在柏拉图和亚里士多德这对师生哲学家之间的事情一样，阿纳克西曼德不同意他的老师，尽管他很尊重他。

As would later happen between another teacher-student pair of philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, Anaximander disagreed with his teacher despite his respect for him.

他怀疑世界和它的所有内容可以由水组成，而是提出了一种无形的和不可观察的物质，他称之为“阿派朗”，这是所有物质的来源。

He doubted that the world and all its contents could be made of water and proposed instead a formless and unobservable substance he called “apeiron” that was the source of all matter.

然而，阿纳克西曼德最重要的贡献是在其他领域。

Anaximander’s most important contributions, though, were in other areas.

虽然他不认为水是最主要的元素，但他相信所有的生命都起源于海洋，因此他是首先提出这一重要观点的人之一。

Although he did not accept that water was the prime element, he did believe that all life originated in the sea, and he was thus one of the first to conceive of this important idea.

阿那克西曼德被认为绘制了希腊人的第一幅世界地图，并认识到地球表面是弯曲的。

Anaximander is credited with drawing up the first world map of the Greeks and also with recognizing that Earth’s surface was curved.

不过，他相信地球的形状是圆柱体，而不是后来希腊哲学家所推测的球体。

He believed, though, that the shape of Earth was that of a cylinder rather than the sphere that later Greek philosophers would conjecture.

阿那克西曼德观察着围绕着北极星的天空运动，他可能是希腊哲学家中第一个把天空描绘成一个完全围绕着地球的球体的人——这一观点后来被详细阐述，在17世纪科学革命到来之前，这种思想一直盛行。

Anaximander, observing the motions of the heavens around the polestar, was probably the first of the Greek philosophers to picture the sky as a sphere completely surrounding Earth—an idea that, elaborated upon later, would prevail until the advent of the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century.

不幸的是，阿那克西曼德所写的宇宙史大部分已经遗失，只有少数片段流传至今。

Unfortunately, most of Anaximander’s written history of the universe was lost, and only a few fragments survive today.

人们对他的其他想法知之甚少。

同样不幸的是，大部分关于阿那克西曼尼的著作（可能是阿那克西曼德的学生）也丢失了。

Unfortunately, too, most of the written work of Anaximenes, who may have been Anaximander’s pupil, has also been lost.

我们所能确定的是，阿那克西曼尼，他可能出生于公元前560年左右，遵循阿那克西曼德的传统，他也不同意他的导师。

All we can say for certain about Anaximenes, who was probably born around 560 BCE, is that following in the tradition of Anaximander, he also disagreed with his mentor.

根据阿那克西曼尼的观点，世界既不是由水也不是由阿派朗构成的，空气本身才是宇宙的基本元素。

The world, according to Anaximenes, was not composed of either water or apeiron, but air itself was the fundamental element of the universe.

经过压缩，它变成了水和土，当变薄时，它升温变成了火。

Compressed, it became water and earth, and when rarefied or thinned out, it heated up to become fire.

阿那克西曼尼可能也是最早研究彩虹的人，也是最早思考彩虹的自然原因而非超自然原因的人。

Anaximenes may have also been the first to study rainbows and speculate upon their natural rather than supernatural cause.

随着泰勒斯和米利都的其他早期哲学家打开了大门，希腊思想家开始思考宇宙的本质。

With the door opened by Thales and the other early philosophers of Miletus, Greek thinkers began to speculate about the nature of the universe.

这种令人兴奋的智力活动的爆发在很大程度上纯粹是创造性的。

This exciting burst of intellectual activity was for the most part purely creative.

从泰勒斯（Thales）到柏拉图（Plato）和亚里士多德（Aristotle），希腊人是现代意义上的哲学家，而不是科学家。

The Greeks, from Thales to Plato and Aristotle, were philosophers and not scientists in today’s sense.

例如，任何人都可以创造出关于宇宙的性质和结构的“想法”，而且很多时候这些想法可能是如此一致和精心构建的，或者只是明显到对很多人都有说服力。

It is possible for anyone to create “ideas” about the nature and structure of the universe, for instance, and many times these ideas can be so consistent and elaborately structured, or just so apparently obvious, that they can be persuasive to many people.

然而，一个关于宇宙的科学理论，需要的远不止各种观察和类比，这些观察和类比交织在一起，形成了精心构建的推理系统，最终以亚里士多德的世界和宇宙模型而告终。

A scientific theory about the universe, however, demands much more than the various observations and analogies that were woven together to form systems of reasoning, carefully constructed as they were, that would eventually culminate in Aristotle’s model of the world and the universe.

没有实验和对他们的理论的客观的、批判性的检验，这些思想家所能希望达到的最好的结果是一些内部一致的推测，这些推测覆盖了所有的基础，并满足了理性的要求。

Without experimentation and objective, critical testing of their theories, the best these thinkers could hope to achieve was some internally consistent speculation that covered all the bases and satisfied the demands of reason.

Why does the author discuss the question “What is the world made of?” posed by Thales?

The word “comprehensive” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Paragraph 2 implies which of the following about Thales?

According to paragraph 3, some Greek philosophers who came after Anaximander did not share his belief that

The phrase “elaborated upon” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

Paragraph 5 suggests that, in speculating about the nature of the universe, Milesian thinkers

The word “culminate” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Look at the four squares  that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. In this respect it more closely resembled the thinking of artists and novelists than the thinking of scientists constrained by fact.  Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square  to add the sentence to the passage.

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Thales and the Milesians While many other observers and thinkers had laid the groundwork for science, Thales (circa 624 B.C.E.–ca 547 B.C.E.), the best known of the earliest Greek philosophers, made the first steps toward a new, more objective approach to finding out about the world. He posed a very basic question: “What is the world made of?” Many others had asked the same question before him, but Thales based his answer strictly on what he had observed and what he could reason out—not on imaginative stories about the gods or the supernatural. He proposed water as the single substance from which everything in the world was made and developed a model of the universe with Earth as a flat disk floating in water. Like most of the great Greek philosophers, Thales had an influence on others around him. His two best-known followers, though there were undoubtedly others who attained less renown, were Anaximander and Anaximenes. Both were also from Miletus (located on the southern coast of present-day Turkey) and so, like Thales, were members of the Milesian School. Much more is known about Anaximander than about Anaximenes, probably because Anaximander, who was born sometime around 610 BCE, ambitiously attempted to write a comprehensive history of the universe. As would later happen between another teacher-student pair of philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, Anaximander disagreed with his teacher despite his respect for him. He doubted that the world and all its contents could be made of water and proposed instead a formless and unobservable substance he called “apeiron” that was the source of all matter. Anaximander’s most important contributions, though, were in other areas. Although he did not accept that water was the prime element, he did believe that all life originated in the sea, and he was thus one of the first to conceive of this important idea. Anaximander is credited with drawing up the first world map of the Greeks and also with recognizing that Earth’s surface was curved. He believed, though, that the shape of Earth was that of a cylinder rather than the sphere that later Greek philosophers would conjecture. Anaximander, observing the motions of the heavens around the polestar, was probably the first of the Greek philosophers to picture the sky as a sphere completely surrounding Earth—an idea that, elaborated upon later, would prevail until the advent of the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century. Unfortunately, most of Anaximander’s written history of the universe was lost, and only a few fragments survive today. Little is known about his other ideas. Unfortunately, too, most of the written work of Anaximenes, who may have been Anaximander’s pupil, has also been lost. All we can say for certain about Anaximenes, who was probably born around 560 BCE, is that following in the tradition of Anaximander, he also disagreed with his mentor. The world, according to Anaximenes, was not composed of either water or apeiron, but air itself was the fundamental element of the universe. Compressed, it became water and earth, and when rarefied or thinned out, it heated up to become fire. Anaximenes may have also been the first to study rainbows and speculate upon their natural rather than supernatural cause. With the door opened by Thales and the other early philosophers of Miletus, Greek thinkers began to speculate about the nature of the universe. This exciting burst of intellectual activity was for the most part purely creative.  The Greeks, from Thales to Plato and Aristotle, were philosophers and not scientists in today’s sense.  It is possible for anyone to create “ideas” about the nature and structure of the universe, for instance, and many times these ideas can be so consistent and elaborately structured, or just so apparently obvious, that they can be persuasive to many people.  A scientific theory about the universe, however, demands much more than the various observations and analogies that were woven together to form systems of reasoning, carefully constructed as they were, that would eventually culminate in Aristotle’s model of the world and the universe.  Without experimentation and objective, critical testing of their theories, the best these thinkers could hope to achieve was some internally consistent speculation that covered all the bases and satisfied the demands of reason.