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Answer: We believe the sentence is best completed this way:

“After conducting the test three times, the chemist felt assured his theorem was fact and his most vocal detractors were three-time losers.”

Creative tension is produced in a laboratory because of professional pride, peer pressure, and the tiny tolerances allowed for success. To succeed in such work naturally produces feelings of elation, particularly if professional colleagues have cast doubt on a process or outcome. Consequently, when the judgment of this chemist was repeatedly confirmed, he experienced two feelings: vindication for himself, and disdain for his critics. The writer might simply have said the critics were wrong, but because they had been proven invalid in three separate tests, they were gently belittled as “three-time losers.” Good writing is nuanced.
在實驗室，專業的自尊、同儕壓力，以及對成功不遺餘力的追求，會促成一股創意的張力。在這種工作中成功，自然會讓人得意洋洋，尤其是專業同僚對過程或結果感到懷疑時。所以，化學家的判斷反覆獲得證實後，他產生了兩種感覺，一是證明了自己，二是對懷疑他的人感到輕視。文章原本可以只簡單地說批評他的人錯了，但因為三次不同的測試都證明了批評站不住腳，所以作者稍微貶斥對方，稱他們是 “three-time losers”（錯了三次的輸家）。好文章總是描寫細膩。