很多重要的发现或创造都是偶然的：通常，人们为一个问题寻求答案时，通常获得其他问题的答案。
可供参考老题库216. "Most important discoveries or creations are accidental: it is usually while seeking the answer to one question that we come across the answer to another."
最重要的发现或是创造都是偶然的：在我们为一个问题寻求答案的时候，通常通过这个答案获得另外的收获。
1. Turning first to discoveries, I agree that discovery often occurs when we unexpectedly happen upon something in our quest for something else—such as an answer to unrelated question or a solution to an unrelated problem.
2. Many important discoveries are anticipated and sought out purposefully.
3. In marked contrast to discoveries, creations are by nature products of their creator's purposeful designs.
开头:
①确实，很多发现都是偶然产生的，人类科学发展史充分证明，许多震惊世界的科学发明发现纯粹都产生于偶然。如牛顿因苹果落地而发现万有引力、门捷列夫在梦中排定元素周期表等。
美国着名的《连线》(Wired)杂志如今又列出以下十项轰动全球的偶然发明发现。
一、伟哥
"伟哥"英文名是"Viagra"。众所周知，伟哥最初是用来治疗咽峡炎的药物。1992年，厂家在对药物进行临床观察时却偶然发现，伟哥还能通过改善腹股沟附近的血液循环而治疗阳萎病症。从那以后，伟哥的这一药物副作用便风靡全球。
二、LSD迷幻药
LSD全称为Lysergic Acid Diethylamide。1943年由瑞士科学家阿尔伯特-霍夫曼发明。研究该药物的本来目的是治疗一种早期流传于欧洲的怪病，但在无意间试用后，阿尔伯特-霍夫曼却经历了人类历史上第一次"迷幻之旅"。LSD是当前已知的药力最强的迷幻剂。
三、伦琴射线(X射线)
19世纪，许多科学家都对电子撞击金属物体后产生的射线非常着迷。然而，真正发现伦琴射线的是德国科学家威廉-伦琴，时间是1895年。他当时曾使用多种物体来研究这种射线，当他在更换所使用的实验器材时却偶然发现自己手骨在墙壁上留下了投影。最终，他确信这是一种具有很强穿透性的射线。
四、青霉素
苏格兰科学家亚历山大-弗莱明原来从事流感研究工作。1928年 9月的下午，弗莱明像往常一样来到了实验室。在他的实验室里培养了一些葡萄球菌--一种引起传染性皮肤病和脓肿的常见细菌。一次非常偶然的机会，由于疏忽而忘记为一个盛有葡萄球菌的培植盘子盖上盖子，结果他发现盘子中生长出的青色霉菌将周围的葡萄球菌全部杀死。后来，弗莱明还曾风趣地说，这一发现要归功于他的粗心大意。
五、人造糖
迄今为止所发现的三种最受欢迎的糖的替代品都应归功于那些忘记洗手的科学家。环磺酸盐(cyclamate，一种作为人工增甜剂的环己基磺酸盐)和阿斯巴特糖(aspartame，由天门冬胺酸提取的比糖甜100多倍的增甜剂)都是医学研究中的副产品，而糖精(saccharin，比蔗糖甜500倍的增甜剂)则是科学家们在研究煤碳焦油的衍生物时偶然发现的。
六、微波炉
微波辐射器(磁控管)曾在第二次世界大战中被盟军用于雷达设施。它加热食品的这一新功能是1946年才被人们发现的。当时，美国Raytheon公司一位名叫皮尔斯-斯朋塞尔的工程师因口袋中的巧克力被磁控管熔化而引发了微波炉生产热潮。
七、白兰地酒
中世纪时代的商人们为了让葡萄酒在运输过程中少占地方和延长保持期而将酒中的水分蒸馏掉。但后来有些擅长投机的商人在酒运输到目的地后并没有将酒恢复到原来的模样，这样就产生了白兰地。
八、硫化橡胶
未被硫化的橡胶不仅对外界温度变化敏感、遇到高温就变得又软又粘且易拉断，而且气味又非常难闻。为了克服未硫化橡胶的这些缺点，查尔斯-古德尔偶然发现在橡胶中加入硫能大大增强了橡胶的强度，加硫后的橡胶制品遇热不软，逢冷不脆，性能非常好。以查尔斯-古德尔名字命名的美国GOODYEAR公司生产的产品也以其卓越的品质和性能享誉世界。
九、油炸土豆片
一位名叫乔治-克拉姆的厨师早在1853年就发明了这一至今倍受人们钟爱的食品。当时，他的一位顾客曾抱怨说他把土豆切得太厚，后来他便将土豆切成薄片再进行煎炸，结果油炸土豆片就迅速成为世人最为欢迎的休闲食品了。
十、夹有葡萄干的面包
说起这种食品，还有一段有趣的故事呢。俄罗斯作家弗拉基米尔-吉里扬诺夫斯基在其作品中描述称，夹有葡萄干的面包是一位名叫伊凡-菲利浦的面包师的伟大创举。当时，有位名叫阿尔谢尼-扎克莱夫斯基的总督曾在他那里购买了一块新鲜的面包，结果这位总督却在面包里发现了一只蟑螂。害怕问罪的面包师急中生智立即吃掉了这只蟑螂，并说这不是蟑螂而是葡萄干，随后他立即让助手们烘烤夹杂有葡萄干的面包以便在这位总督大人面前为自己洗脱罪名。夹有葡萄干的面包就这样问世了。
②然而，这些偶然的发现，更重要归功于科学家研究者本人的努力工作和他请人的智商。如果当年牛顿是个白吃，没有惊人的数学能力，和对科学探索的精神，估计每天有一个苹果落到他的头上，他也不会推算出the law of gravity。没有门捷列夫对于科学的不懈追求，他也不会在睡觉的时候突然做梦，而梦到了元素的排列方式。
③尽管很多科学发现是由于偶然的机会，但是还有很多科学的发现，纯粹是每一滴汗水与守候的功劳。比如居里夫人经过45个月提炼出 镭 ，爱迪生发明电灯炮做了几千次试验。（例子太老）
结尾：
范文：
The speaker contends that most important discoveries and creations are accident~-----that they come about when we are seeking answers to other questions. I concede that this contention finds considerable support from important discoveries of the past. However, the contention overstates the role of accident, or serendipity, when it comes to modern day discoveries--and when it comes to creations.
Turning first to discoveries, I agree that discovery often occurs when we unexpectedly happen upon something in our quest for something else--such as an answer to unrelated question or a solution to an unrelated problem. A variety of geographical, scientific, and anthropological discoveries aptly illustrate this point. In search of a trade route to the West Indies Columbus discovered instead an inhabited continent unknown to Europeans; and during the course of an unrelated experiment Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin. In search of answers to questions about marine organisms, oceanographers often happen upon previously undiscovered, and important, archeological artifacts and geological phenomena; conversely, in their quest to understand the Earth's structure and history geologists often stumble upon important human artifacts. In light of the foregoing examples, "intentional discovery" might seem an oxymoron; yet in fact it is not. Many important discoveries are anticipated and sought out purposefully.
For instance, in their efforts to find new celestial bodies astronomers using increasingly powerful telescopes do indeed find them. Biochemists often discover important new vaccines and other biological and chemical agents for the curing, preventing, and treating diseases not by stumbling upon them in search of something else but rather through methodical search for these discoveries. In fact, in today's world discovery is becoming increasingly an anticipated result of careful planning and methodical research, for the reason that scientific advancement now requires significant resources that only large corporations and governments possess. These entities are accountable to their share-holders and constituents, who demand dear strategies and objectives so that they can see a return on their investments.
Turning next to how our creations typically come about, in marked contrast to discoveries, creations are by nature products of their creators' purposeful designs. Consider humankind's key creations, such as the printing press, the internal combustion engine, and semi-conductor technology. Each of these inventions sprung quite intentionally from the inventor's imagination and objectives. It is crucial to distinguish here between a creation and the spin-offs from that creation, which the original creator may or may not foresee. For instance, the engineers at a handful of universities who originally created the ARPAnet as a means to transfer data amongst themselves certainly intended to create that network for that purpose. What these engineers did not intend to create, however, was what would eventually grow to become the infrastrucRLre for mass media and communications, and even commerce. Yet the ARPAnet itself was no accident, nor are the many creations that it spawned, such as the World Wide Web and the coundess creations that the Web has in turned spawned.
In sum, the speaker has overlooked a crucial distinction between the nature of discovery and the nature of creation. Although serendipity has always played a key role in many important discoveries, at least up until now, purposeful intent is necessarily the key to human creation.
Orignal From: Many important discoveries or creations are accidental: it is usually while seeking the answer to one question that we come across the answer to another
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