[单项选择]

Unpopular Subjects

Is there a place in today’s society for the study of useless subjects in our universities Just over 100 years ago Fitzgerald argued in a well-written letter (1) Nature that "Universities must be allowed to study useless subjects— (2) they don’t, who will" He went on to use the (3) of Maxwell’s electrodynamics (电动力学) as one case where a "useless subject" has been transformed to a useful subject.
Nowadays this argument is again very much (4) in many universities. Indeed one suspects that it is one of those arguments that must be (5) anew (重新) by each generation. But now there is an added twist (歪曲)—subjects must not only be useful, they must also be (6) enough that students will flock (蜂拥) to do them, and even flock to pay to do them.A．powerful B．terrible C．difficult D．active
A. Many scientists think otherwise. They see physics as a (10) science, which must be kept alive if only to (11) a base for other sciences and engineering. It is of their great personal concern that physics teaching and research is under (12) in many universities. How can it be preserved in the rush towards commercial competition major turnaround (转变) in student popularity may have to (13) until the industrial world discovers that it needs physicists and starts paying them well.