TPS News

Correct best answer: Replace “inquest” with “inquiry.”

“Scientific inquiry is the clinical analysis of subject matter, with the brain given the task of finding truth and the heart reserved for celebrating the discovery.”

Similar words can disrupt communication, even when the wrong word means almost the same as the right one. While both “inquest” and “inquiry” are rooted in the idea of asking questions, they are not interchangeable. Inquest is an official or judicial questioning process, whereas inquiry— in this case, scientific inquiry—is an unofficial examination of fact conducted by many people or as few as one. Both inquest and inquiry are cerebral activities, but the dynamics are somewhat in conflict. In fact, a judicial scientific inquiry is a paradoxical, probably unworkable, concept.
相似的詞彙會妨礙溝通，即使錯誤的詞彙和正確的詞彙意思很相近也是如此。“Inquest”（質詢） 和 “inquiry”（詢問）最根本的意思都是問問題，但兩者不能互換使用；質詢是正式或司法的審訊過程，而詢問，在此指科學探究，則是非正式的檢驗事實，可能由好幾個人進行，或僅由一人進行。質詢或詢問都是智力活動，但活動的本質卻有點衝突；「判決式科學探究」是個矛盾的概念，或許根本是不成立的概念。