Wecanachieveknowledgeeitheractivelyorpassively（被动地）.Weachieveitactivelybydirectexperience,bytestingandprovinganidea,orbyreasoning.
Weachieveknowledgepassivelybybeingtoldbysomeoneelse.MostofthelearningthattakesplaceintheclassroomandthekindthathappenswhenwewatchTVorreadnewspapersormagazinesispassive.Conditionedaswearetopassivelearning,it’snotsurprisingthatwedependonitinoureverydaycommunicationwithfriendsandco-workers.
Unfortunately,passivelearninghasaseriousproblem.Itmakesustendtoacceptwhatwearetoldevenwhenitislittlemorethanhearsayandrumor(谣言).
DidyoueverplaythegameRumor?Itbeginswhenonepersonwritesdownamessagebutdoesn’tshowittoanyone.Thenthepersonwhispersit,wordforword,toanotherperson.Thatperson,inturn,whispersittostillanother,andsoon,throughallthepeopleplayingthegame.Thelastpersonwritesdownthemessagewordforwordasheorshehearsit.Thenthetwowrittenstatementsarecompared.Typically,theoriginalmessagehaschanged.
That’swhathappensindailylife.Thesimplefactthatpeoplerepeatastoryintheirownwordschangesthestory.Then,too,mostpeoplelistenimperfectly.Andmanyenjoyaddingtheirowncreativetouchtoastory,tryingtoimproveonit,stamping（打上标记）itwiththeirownpersonalstyle.Yetthosewhohearitthinktheyknow.
Thisprocessisalsofoundamongscholarsandauthors:Astatementofopinionbyonewritermaybere-statedasfactbyanother,whomayinturnbequotedbyyetanother;andthisprocessmaycontinue,unlessitoccurstosomeonetoquestionthefactsonwhichtheoriginalwriterbasedhisopinionortochallengetheinterpretationheplaceduponthosefacts.
小题1:Accordingtothepassage,passivelearningmayoccurin_______.