In contrast, our image of the astronomical universe, even of earth’s geological history, can easily be subject to revolutionary changes as new data comes in and new theories are worked out. If we define the "security" our image of various parts of the total system as the probability of their suffering significant changes, then we world reverse the order of hardness and see the social sciences as the most secure, the physical sciences as the least secure, and again the biological sciences as somewhere in between. Our image of the astronomical universe is the least secure of all simply because we observe such a fantastically small sample of it and its record-keeping is trivial as compared with the rich records of the axial systems, or even the limited records of biological systems. Records of the astronomical universe, despite the fact that we see distant things as they were long ago, are limited in the extreme.
Even in regard to such a close neighbour as the moon, which we have actually visited, theories about its origin and history are extremely different, contradictory, and hard to choose among. Our knowledge of physical evolution is incomplete and highly Insecure.
31. The word "paradox" (Para. 1,) means "_________" .
A) implication B) contradiction C) interpretation D) confusion
32. According to the author, we should reverse our classification of the physical sciences as "hard" and the mal sciences as "soft" because _______.
A) a revere ordering will help promote the development of the physical sciences
B) our knowledge of physical systems is more reliable than that of axial systems
C) our understanding of the social systems is approximately correct
D) we are better able to investigate social phenomena than physical phenomena
33. The author believes that our knowledge of social systems is more secure than that of physical systems because _______.
A) it is not based on personal experience
