For me, scientific knowledge is divided into mathematical sciences, natural sciences or sciences dealing with the natural world (physical and biological sciences), and sciences dealing with mankind (psychology, sociology, all the sciences of cultural achievements. every kind of historical knowledge).
Apart from these sciences is philosophy, about which we will talk later. In the first place, all this is pure or theoretical knowledge, sought only for the purpose of understanding, in order to fulfill the need to understand that is intrinsic and con-substantial to man. What distinguishes man from animals is that he knows and needs to know. If man did not know that the world existed, and that the world was of a certain kind, that he was in the world and that he himself was of a certain kind, he wouldn’t be man. The technical aspects or applications of knowledge are equally necessary for man and are of the greatest importance, because they also contribute to defining him as man and permit him to pursue a life increasingly more truly human.
But even while enjoying the results of technical progress, man must defend the primacy and autonomy of pure knowledge. Knowledge sought directly for its practical applications will have immediate and foreseeable success, but not the kind of important result whose revolutionary scope is for the most part unforeseen, except by the imagination of the Utopians. Let me recall a well-known example. If the Greek mathematicians had not applied themselves to the investigation of conic section zealously and without the least suspicion that it might someday be useful, it would not have been possible centuries later to navigate far from shore. The first men to study the nature of electricity could not imagine that their experiments, carried on because of mere intellectual curiosity, would eventually lead to modern electrical technology, without which we can scarcely conceive of contemporary life.
Pure knowledge is valuable for its own sake, because the human spirit cannot resign itself to ignorance. Butt in addition, it is the foundation for practical results that would not have been reached if this knowledge had not been sought disinterestedly.
According to the text, the most important advances made by mankind most probably stem from（）
A. innovations
B. the natural sciences
C. technical applications
D.apparently useless information
参考答案：D
解析：
[注释] 细节推理题。本题问：人类取得的最重要进步很可能来自何处第3段第5句写遭：“最初研究电的性质的人不会想到，他们的实验——只是出于对知识的好奇心而进行的——会最终导致现代的电气技术。没有电气技术我们就几乎无法想象现代生活。”由此推理，人类取得的许多重要进步来自于表面上无用的信息。故应选[D]。