原文:People who try to generate explanations that have generality and accuracy will probably enlarge questions rather than try to shrink them. Several of Steinbeck's (1941) attempts at speculative metaphysics illustrate this strategy. For example, the observation that prehistoric animals had the greatest amount of armor just before they became extinct becomes enlarged into a set of speculations about the equivalent armor in human societies and the question of whether that human armor has developed to a point where it too is at its maximum, hinting at extinction. This line of questioning exemplifies two o'clock research because it is grounded in concrete observations (the presence of armor prior to extinction), but the accurate observation is enlarged and generalized to other species.
参考原文:那些试图建构兼具普适性与精确性的解释的人,很可能会放大问题,而非试图缩小问题。斯坦贝克在思辨形而上学方面的若干尝试,便诠释了这一策略。例如,观察到史前动物在灭绝前拥有最厚重的装甲,这一观察被放大为一系列推测:人类社会是否存在类似的"装甲"?这种人类"装甲"是否已发展到极致,从而也暗示着灭绝?这一提问路径是可做楷模的两点钟研究,因为它植根于具体观察(灭绝前的装甲存在),但这一准确的观察被放大并推广至其他物种。