The US$3-million Fundamental Physics Prize is indeed an interesting experiment, as Alexander Polyakov said when he accepted this year’s award in March. And it is far from the only one of its type. As a News Feature article in Nature discusses, a string of lucrative awards for researchers have joined the Nobel Prizes in recent years. Many, like the Fundamental Physics Prize, are funded from the telephone-number-sized bank accounts of Internet entrepreneurs.These benefactors have succeeded in their chosen fields, they say, and they want to use their wealth to draw attention to those who have succeeded in science.

What’s not to like? Quite a lot, according to a handful of scientists quoted in the News Feature. You cannot buy class, as the old saying goes, and these upstart entrepreneurs cannot buy their prizes the prestige of the Nobels. The new awards are an exercise in self-promotion for those behind them, say scientists. They could distort the achievement-based system of peer-review-led research. They could cement the status quo of peer-reviewed research. They do not fund peer-reviewed research. They perpetuate the myth of the lone genius.

The goals of the prize-givers seem as scattered as the criticism. Some want to shock, others to draw people into science, or to better reward those who have made their careers in research.

As Nature has pointed out before, there are some legitimate concerns about how science prizes—both new and old—are distributed. The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, launched this year, takes an unrepresentative view of what the life sciences include. But the Nobel Foundation’s limit of three recipients per prize, each of whom must still be living, has long been outgrown by the collaborative nature of modem research—as will be demonstrated by the inevitable row over who is ignored when it comes to acknowledging the discovery of the Higgs boson. The Nobels were, of course, themselves set up by a very rich individual who had decided what he wanted to do with his own money. Time, rather than intention, has given them legitimacy.

As much as some scientists may complain about the new awards, two things seem clear. First, most researchers would accept such a prize if they were offered one. Second, it is surely a good thing that the money and attention come to science rather than go elsewhere. It is fair to criticize and question the mechanism—that is the culture of research, after all—but it is the prize-givers’ money to do with as they please. It is wise to take such gifts with gratitude and grace. 

1.The Fundamental Physics Prize is seen as _________

A a symbol of the entrepreneurs’ wealth.

B a handsome reward for researchers.

C a possible replacement of the Nobel Prizes.

D an example of bankers’ investments.

解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据The Fundamental Physics Prize定位到第一段，根据倒数第二句可知，基础物理学奖的资金来源于互联网企业家的巨额银行账户，结合lucrative awards（报酬丰厚的奖项）可知B“对研究人员的丰厚奖励”符合题意，故选B。

2.The critics think that the new awards will most benefit _________

A the profit-oriented scientists.

B the achievement-based system.

C the founders of the new awards.

D peer-review-led research.

解析：选C。C推理判断题。根据critics定位到第二段，可知不同的意见（反对者的意见）是这些奖项是幕后推手自我推销的一种活动，可能会歪曲以成就为基础的同行评议主导的研究体系，可推知，最大的受益者应该是幕后推手，即文章所指的奖项的设立者，故选C。

3.The discovery of the Higgs boson is a typical case which involves _________

A legitimate concerns over the new prizes.

B controversies over the recipients’ status.

C the joint effort of modern researchers.

D the demonstration of research findings.

解析：选C。C细节理解题。根据the Higgs boson定位到第四段，可知诺贝尔基金会限定每个奖项最多只能有三名获奖者，且所有获奖者都必须在世，但这一限定早已不适用于现代研究的合作性质——在承认希格斯玻色子的发现时，不可避免的关于“谁被忽视了”的争论将证明这一点。可知希格斯玻色子的发现是不止三位科学家努力的结果，而是很多科学家一起努力的结果，C符合题意，故选C。

4.According to Paragraph 4, which of the following is true of the Nobels?

A History has never cast doubt on them.

B Their endurance has done justice to them.

C They are the most representative honor.

D Their legitimacy has long been in dispute.

解析：选B。B推理判断题。根据题目定位到第四段，根据后半部分可知，赋予诺贝尔奖项合法性的是时间，而不是意图，可推知是时间让诺贝尔奖项获得了如今的地位，故选B。

5.The author believes that the new awards are _________

A unworthy of public attention.

B subject to undesirable changes.

C harmful to the culture of research.

D acceptable despite the criticism.

解析：选D。D观点态度题。根据最后一句可知，作者认为带着感激和优雅接受奖项是明智的，故选D。