Have you ever wondered what our future is like?Practically all people _1_ a desire to predict their future _2_.Most people seem inclined to _3_ this task using causal reasoning.First we _4_ recognize that future circumstances are _5_ caused or conditioned by present ones.We learn that getting an education will _6_ how much money we earn later and that swimming beyond the reef may bring an unhappy _7_ with a shark.
Second,people also learn that such _8_ of cause and effect are probabilistic(可能的) in nature.That is,the effects occur more often when the causes occur than when the causes are _9_, but not always.Thus,students learn that studying hard _10_ good grades in most instances,but not every time.Science makes these concepts of causality and probability more _11_ and provides techniques for dealing _12_ then more accurately than does causal human inquiry.In looking at ordinary human inquiry,we need to _13_ between prediction and understanding.Often,even if we dont understand why,we are willing to act _14_ the basis of a demonstrated predictive ability.
Whatever the primitive drives _15_ motivate human beings,satisfying them depends heavily on the ability to _16_ future circumstances.The attempt to predict is often played in a _17_ of knowledge and understanding.If you can understand why certain regular patterns _18_,you can predict better than if you simply observe those patterns.Thus,human inquiry aims _19_ answering both what and why question,and we pursue these _20_ by observing and figuring out.