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上期划线句答案
The researchers say these models, which are fairly new, could be used in preclinical experiments to show how potential drugs interact with melanin, long before the medicines are given to people.
研究人员表示，这些模型比较新，可以在药物用于人体之前，在临床前实验中显示这些未上市药物是与黑色素相互作用的。
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本期内容
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双语阅读
Para.1
Modern popular interest in nominative determinism can be traced to 1994, when the magazine New Scientist cited an article pointing out that scientists and writers often seemed pulled by their own names toward certain subjects. The best example cited in that column by far is an article about incontinence in the British Journal of Urology written by the team of A.J. Splatt and D. Weedon. It was a New Scientist reader who coined the phrase nominative determinism to describe the theory “that authors tend to gravitate toward the area of research that fits their surname.” (Since then, the term’s meaning has broadened.)
Para.2
Eventually, the idea that names predict not just occupations but also other life outcomes received full-blown charts-and-graphs scientific treatment. In the early 2000s, a trio of articles published in the prestigious Journal of Personality and Social Psychology argued that people’s names influenced their decisions not only about which professions to go into but also about where to move (they were drawn to towns and streets with names similar or identical to their own) and whom to marry (ditto, but for spouses and last names). To be clear, this is different from research into how others’ responses to people’s names affect their life prospects, such as in audit studies of names presumed to be Black versus White.
Para.3
Nominative determinism became the stuff of psychology textbooks. Researchers hypothesized that it was driven by implicit egotism, or the idea that we like and are drawn unconsciously to that which we associate with ourselves. But there were skeptics. One of them was the psychologist Uri Simonsohn, then a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His 2011 article in J.P.S.P. is a careful, methodical dismantling of those prior studies arguing that implicit egotism draws us to spouses, cities and jobs on the basis of their names. The existing literature, he showed, consistently failed to account for other, simpler possibilities.
Para.4
Baby name trends, he argued, were another neglected explanation for apparent cases of nominative determinism. It wasn’t, as a 2002 study suggested, that Dennis was more likely to be a dentist than the similarly common Jerry or Walter; it was that Dennis was more likely to be working, since the average Jerry or Walter was older at the time of the study, and therefore more likely to be retired.
Para.5
The article is a wonderful example of just how complicated and strewed with land mines science can be — and the vital role that principled skeptics can play in driving it forward. When I asked Dr. Simonsohn whether his views on nominative determinism are, overall, the same all these years later, he said yes, he’s still skeptical. He added, “I also have wondered why people are so into this effect.” In my work as a science writer, I’ve found that humans have a powerful drive toward theories that simplify the world and that explain outcomes that otherwise seem random. In the modern era, we’re particularly drawn to scientific theories that allow us to tame all that chaos and uncertainty, distilling it into peer-reviewed research.
本文节选自：The New York Times（纽约时报）
发布时间：2024.9.10
作者：Opinion
原文标题：Is Your Name Your Destiny?
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写作句总结
原句：In the modern era, we’re particularly drawn to scientific theories that allow us to tame all that chaos and uncertainty, distilling it into peer-reviewed research.
结构：In X era，we’re particularly drawn to Y that allow us to Z.
例句：In the digital era, we’re particularly drawn to smartphones that allow us to stay connected with the world.
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阅读理解题
Which of the following societal needs does the concept of nominative determinism most directly fulfill, based on the provided text?
A. The need for scientific rigor in understanding human behavior.
B. The need for complex theories to explain multifaceted phenomena.
C. The need to challenge traditional notions of free will and destiny.
D. The need to find order and meaning in seemingly random events.
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全文概括
Nominative determinism, the idea that people's names influence their career choices and life outcomes, gained popularity in the 1990s. Early research suggested that implicit egotism, a subconscious preference for things associated with oneself, drove this phenomenon. However, subsequent studies, notably by Uri Simonsohn, challenged these findings, highlighting methodological flaws and proposing alternative explanations such as fluctuating baby name trends. Simonsohn's skepticism underscores the complexities of scientific research and the human desire for simplified explanations of seemingly random events.
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