Reading Comprehension

[spoiler]I will not bias readers by fillling my performance data , will do tht after some replies , is it tough ?? OA : BDDD[/spoiler]

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From the beginning, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was convinced that
the basic astronomical verities must have a geometrical interpretation.
This conviction has been shared by all the great natural philosophers,
from Pythagoras to Einstein-the conviction that the cosmos was laid out
according to a mathematical design and that this design is "simple" and
accessible to human intelligence. For Kepler, mathematics meant the
pure geometry of the Greeks.

His early scientific career is especially interesting because the ideas
that seemed to him to be the most significant, and which he tried to
exploit for the rest of his life, appear to a modern reader to be almost
completely mad. It was the fact that he could never get them to work
that drove him to make the series of astronomical discoveries that appear
to us to be so significant.

God was for Kepler a master Greek geometer, and the "book of the
world" must therefore be contained among the theorems of Euclid. One
theory was that there are only five "perfect solids." A perfect solid (the
most familiar example is the cube) is a solid all of whose faces are
"perfect" plane figures (in the cube, these figures are squares). The other
perfect solids are the tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, and
icosahedron. There were known to be six planets - Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, in order of increasing distance from the
sun, around which, Kepler believed, the planets moved in circular orbits.

Carrying on with his geometry, he considered a universe in which a
cube, a tetrahedron, a dodecahedron, an icosahedron, and an octahedron
would be arranged concentrically, one inside another; the orbit of
Mercury would be fitted within the first of these perfect solids, the orbit of
Venus outside it, and outside each of the other solids the orbit of another
planet. This, he thought, might make it possible to calculate the
interplanetary distances and also explain why there were no more than
six planets.

With the superior vision of hindsight, it is all too easy for us to pass
judgment on the weakness of Kepler's youthful notion. (Apart from
anything else, we know that there are nine planets.) In fact, however,
had Kepler's mysticism not also been coupled with a fanatic obsession to
make his theory fit the observed facts quantitatively, he might as well
have gone down in scientific history as just another visionary crank,
along with the more unenlightened alchemists who abounded at that
time.

It is interesting to note that Newton also devoted his "spare" time to
alchemy. What would have driven this man of science, this father of our
modern physics, to spend his free time trying to turn base metals into
gold? Undoubtedly, this fact shows us that the desire for wealth often
trumps the pursue of pure science, even in the most noteworthy of
individuals. This combination of mysticism and devotion to the "facts" as
he knew them was Kepler's great strength. Einstein characterized the
interrelation between mystic intuition and the need to deal with hardfacts as a formula that "Science without religion is lame. Religion without
science is blind.

1. Which of the following statements most nearly captures the author's central
argument as articulated in the passage?
A. The originality of Kepler's early scientific work can be fully appreciated
by studying its influence on the mature work of Newton and Einstein.
B. Kepler's early beliefs were often erroneous, but his mysticism coupled
with an attachment to scientific fact led to many of his later, key
discoveries.
C. Kepler laid the groundwork for our current understanding of the
universe in his early studies of the pure geometry of the Greeks.
D. An investigation of Kepler's youthful work yields relatively few clues
about the method he employed in his most remarkable work.
E. Kepler's early beliefs were more accurate compared to his later beliefs

2. The passage suggests that which of the following scientific beliefs held by
Kepler in his youth was, in fact, correct?
A. The planets are arranged concentrically, within perfect solids.
B. The orbit of the planets are circular.
C. The number of perfect solids is equal to the number of planets
D. There is an underlying order to the cosmos which is accessible to the
human intelligence.
E. Humans can never fully understand the mysteries of the universe

3. The author quotes Einstein in the sixth paragraph. His primary purpose in
doing this is to:
A. suggest that Kepler's thought was misconstrued by Einstein.
B. clarify a difference between scientific and religious thought.
C. indicate the extent of Einstein's personal admiration of Kepler.
D. emphasize a particular attribute of Kepler's own method and outlook.
E. point out a flaw in Kepler's methodolgy

4. Which of the following statements is implied by the author in paragraphs five
and six?
A. The history of science is full of scientists who have failed to esteem
what was of greatest significance in their own work.
B. It is during periods of youthful enthusiasm that the fundamental
guidelines to the most important scientific discoveries nearly always
emerge.
C. Such is the paradox of the human personality that, despite such
problems, Kepler became one of the most determined seekers of
cosmic harmony in history.
D. Kepler, too, was aware of the dangers of pure speculation conducted
without taking into consideration observed phenomena
E. It is very easy to blame Kepler for his weaknesses bur perhaps not very
appropriate to do so