当所有这些因素——学校、开放的态度、奖励制度及空间思维天赋——在富饶的美国大陆上相互作用时，便造就了美国人的特性：竞争。今天这个词仅意味着“模仿”，但在早期美国，它却意味着为名誉和出类拔萃而进行友好且激烈的竞争。

　　Passage 5

　　Rumor has it that more than 20 books on creationism/evolution are in the publisher’s pipelines. A few have already appeared. The goal of all will be to try to explain to a confused and often unenlightened citizenry that there are not two equally valid scientific theories for the origin and evolution of universe and life. Cosmology, geology, and biology have provided a consistent , unified, and constantly improving account of what happened. "Scientific" creationism, which is being pushed by some for “equal time” in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are evil, is based on religion, not science. Virtually all scientists and the majority of nonfunda mentalist religious leaders have come to regard “scientific” creationism as bad science and bad religion.

　　The first four chapters of Kitcher’s book give a very brief introduction to evolution. At appropriate places, he introduces the criticisms of the creationists and provides answers. In the last three chapters, he takes off his gloves and gives the creationists a good beating. He describes their programmes and tactics, and, for those unfamiliar with the ways of creationists, the extent of their deception and distortion may come as an unpleasant surprise. When their basic motivation is religious, one might have expected more Christian behavior.

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