A
Let's begin with the story: King Hiero contracts the ancient Greek polymath Archimedes (阿基米德) to detect fraud in the manufacture of a golden crown.Archimedes accepts the challenge and, during a subsequent trip to the public baths, realizes that the more his body sinks into the water, the more water is displaced — making the displaced water an exact measure of his volume.
Realizing he has hit upon a method to determine whether the King's crown was made of gold or silver, the young Greek leaps out of the bath and rushes home naked crying “Eureka! Eureka！” Or, translated：“I've found it! I've found it！”
Too bad, however, Archimedes probably never uttered the phrase in that way.
First and foremost, Archimedes himself never wrote about this episode, although he spent plenty of time detailing the laws of buoyancy (浮力)．The oldest authority for the nakedArchimedes eureka story is Vitruvius, a Roman writer, who included the tale in his introduction to his ninth book of architecture.“Vitruvius may have gotten it wrong，” says Chris Schmitt, a mathematician at the University of Berlin and a selfdescribed Archimedes fan.“The method attributed to Archimedes in the story works in theory so it sounds right, but when you actually try it, you find that the real world gets in the way.”
In fact, Schmitt is one of a long line of scientists, including Galileo, who have read the account and thought, “That can't be right.” As Galileo wrote, Archimedes could have achieved a far more precise result using his own law of buoyancy and an accurate scale.In fact, the surface tension of water can make the volume of a light object like a crown immeasurable.“There may be some truth to it，” Schmitt adds.“Archimedes did measure the volume of things but the eureka moment was maybe due to his original discovery concerning buoyance, not to sitting in the bathtub and then running through the streets naked.”
Much like Newton's apple, the exclamation persists because of the enduring power of the story: a golden crown, a life in the balance, a naked mathematician.The_suspect_foundations_of_the_eureka_moment_take_nothing_away_from_the_word's_ability_to_uniquely_and_concisely_convey_the_flash_of_inspiration.
语篇解读：本文是一篇议论文。文章主要论证了阿基米德灵感迸发故事的可信度。
1．According to the first paragraph, how would Archimedes measure the volume of the crown?
A．He would weigh himself with and without the crown.
B．He would weigh the crown first and then put it into water.
C．He would go to the public baths wearing the crown on his head.
D．He would sink the crown into water and measure the water displaced.
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第一段第二句可知，阿基米德会将王冠沉入水中，通过测排出的水的重量来测量皇冠的重量。故选D。
2．What did Galileo probably think of the nakedArchimedes eureka story?
A．He believed the word “eureka” was said in another situation.
B．He suspected Archimedes didn't run through the street naked.
C．He doubted Archimedes carried out the experiment independently.
D．He thought Archimedes would not have used the method described.
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据倒数第二段第二句可知，阿基米德本可以利用他自己的浮力定律和精确的比例尺得到更精确的结果。因此，伽利略认为阿基米德不会使用所描述的方法。故选D。
3．What can be inferred from the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?
A．The word “eureka” is still widely used today.
B．The word “eureka” is now a formal scientific term.
C．Most people accept the authenticity of the original story.
D．People are still inspired by the achievements of Archimedes.
解析：选A 句意理解题。根据最后一段第一句可知，这个感叹词之所以能持续存在，是因为这个故事有一种经久不衰的力量。由此可以推断出画线句子表示“eureka”这个词至今仍被广泛使用。故选A。
4．What is the purpose of this text?
A．To introduce the famous scientist Archimedes.
B．To examine the credibility of the eureka story.
C．To explain how the word “eureka” was created.
D．To urge people not to use the word “eureka” anymore.
解析：选B 写作目的题。结合文章主要内容为论证历史上阿基米德灵感迸发故事的可信度可知，本文的目的是检验eureka故事的可信度。故选B。
