Your life is filled with (ア)routine you set your alarm clock at night, take a shower in the morning, brush your teeth after breakfast, and $\fbox{24}$ your seat belt. With each of these actions and many others every day, you (イ)acknowledge the power of predictability, the power to predictability what is going to happen. If you don't set the alarm, you will probably be late for work or school. If you don't take a shower, you will probably smell. If you don't brush your teeth, you might end up with bad teeth. If you don't wear your seat belt and then get into a freeway accident, you may get hurt or die.

We all seek order to deal with uncertain things or situations in life. We look for patterns to help us cope. Scientists do the same thing. They constantly examine nature, guided by one big principle: the universe is regular and predictable.

The universe is not random. The sun comes up every morning, the stars sweep across the sky at night. The universe moves in regular, predictable ways. Human beings can understand the regularities of the universe and can even uncover the basic, simple laws that produce them. We call this activity “science.”

Science is one way of knowing about the world. The unspoken $\fbox{25}$ behind the scientific endeavor is that general laws, which can be discovered by the human mind, exist and govern everything in the physical world. In (ウ)its most advanced form, science is written in the language of mathematics, and therefore is not always easily accessed by the general public. But, like any other language, the language of science can be translated into simple English. When this is done, the beauty and simplicity^* of the great scientific laws can be shared by everyone.

Science is not the only way, $\fbox{26}$ always the best way, to gain an understanding of the world in which we find ourselves. Religion and philosophy help us understand the meaning of life without the need for experiments or mathematics, while art, music, and literature provide us with a kind-of aesthetic^* knowledge that cannot be measured by quantity. You don't need mathematics to tell you whether a symphony or a poem has meaning for you. Science is the perfect addition to these other ways of knowing, providing us with insights about a different aspect of the universe.

注*:
• simplicity 明快さ、単純さ
;
• aesthetic 美に関する、美的な

• (1) 下線部の語(ア)、(イ)と第一強勢のある母音の発音が同じ語を、それぞれ(a)～(e)から1つ選びなさい。
  • $\fbox{22}$
    • (ア) routine
    • (a) council
    (b) religion
    (c) reduce
    • (d) load
    • (e) skiing
  • $\fbox{23}$
    • (イ) acknowledge
    • (a) allow
    • (b) photograph
    • (c) foul
    • (d) philosophy
    • (e) other
• (2) 文章中の$\fbox{24}$～$\fbox{26}$に入る最も適切な語句を、それぞれ(a)～(e)から1つ選びなさい。
  • $\fbox{24}$
    • (a) require
    • (b) tie
    • (c) fasten
    • (d) put off
    • (e) afford
  • $\fbox{25}$
    • (a) refusal
    • (b) assumption
    • (c) vision
    • (d) offer
    • (e) tact
  • $\fbox{26}$
    • (a) even
    • (b) neither
    • (c) which is
    • (d) whether or not
    • (e) nor
• (3) 下線部(ウ)itsが指しているものを、(a)～(f)から1つ選びなさい。$\fbox{27}$
  • (a) scientific endeavor
  • (b) the human mind
  • (c) the physical world
  • (d) science
  • (e) the language of mathematics
  • (f) the general public
• (4) 本文の内容と合う英文を、(a)～(g)から2つ選びなさい。$\fbox{28}$
  • (a) Scientists do not actually believe that the universe is predictable and consistent.
  • (b) It is impossible to discover even simple laws that produce regularities in the universe.
  • (c) Complicated scientific language can be simplified so that it is easy to understand.
  • (d) The author thinks science is perfect and believes that it is the only way to understand our world.
  • (e) In order to fully understand the beauty of music, we need the help of mathematics.
  • (f) Real scientists must have a deep knowledge of religion, philosophy, music and art.
  • (g) If you neglect to wear a seatbelt and are involved in a serious accident, you could kill yourself.