首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America-breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and
What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America-breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and
admin
2009-01-05
61
问题
What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America-breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine?
Among the many shaping factors, I would single out the country’ s excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for nonverbal," spatial" thinking about things technological.
Why mention the elementary schools? Because thanks to these schools our early mechanics ,especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, were generally literate and at home in arithmetic and in some aspects of geometry and trigonometry.
Acute foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage. As a member of a British commission visiting here in 1853 reported," With a mind prepared by thorough school discipline, the American boy develops rapidly into the skilled workman."
A further stimulus to invention came from the" premium" system, which preceded our patent system and for years ran parallel with it. This approach, originated abroad, offered inventors medals, cash prizes and other incentives.
In the United States, multitudes of premiums for new devices were awarded at country fairs and at the industrial fairs in major cities. Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence of technological advance.
Given this optimistic approach to technological innovation, the American worker took readily to that special kind of nonverbal thinking required in mechanical technology. As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out," A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process. The designer and the inventor are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist."
This nonverbal" spatial" thinking can be just as creative as painting and writing. Robert Fulton once wrote," The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc., like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea."
When all these shaping forces-- schools, open attitudes, the premium system, a genius for spatial thinking -- interacted with one another on the rich U. S. mainland, they produced that American characteristic, emulation. Today that word implies mere imitation. But in earlier times it meant a friendly but competitive striving for fame and excellence.
According to the author, the great outburst of major inventions in early America was in a large part due to______.
选项
A、elementally schools
B、enthusiastic workers
C、the attractive premium system
D、a special way of thinking
答案
D
解析
短文告诉我们,美国早期出现的发明创造热是由几个因素共同促成的,但是,在这些因素中,美国人在思考技术问题时所表现出的非语言的“空间”思维能力起了最大的作用。可见,选项D“特殊的思维方式”是主要原因。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/1qBK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Languageisfantasticallycomplex.Itsbuilt-inmeansofcombiningandrecombining(nesting)ofitsvariouslevelshave【M1】______
Thedebateaboutproblemdrinkingandhowtostopitnowadayscentresmostontheworking-classyoung.Theyare【M1】______highly
ThefoundingoftheBostonLibraryin1653demonstratetheearlyNorthAmericancolonists’interestinbooksandlibraries.
Appliedresearchaimsatsomespecificobjective,suchasthedevelopmentofanewproduce,process,ormaterial.
Losingweightiseasierwhenthereismoneyontheline,U.S.researcherssaidonTuesday.Theysaidweight-lossprogramsthat
Concernsafewyearsagothatstudentswouldbeforcedtousestimulantsinthefightforclassrankandhonorsthusseemtobe
Thebookisdead.Technologyhaskilledit.Thelibrariesoftheworldaredoomingtobecomemuseums.Americans,however,【M1】___
WhendidRussianPresidentVladimirPutinmeetwithaJapanesebusinessdelegation?
TheRussianMilitarysaysitwill______.
DivorceInarbitration,thedivorcecaseispresentedtoaneutralpartycalledanarbitratorwho,likeajudge,hasthepo
随机试题
在信息安全中,最常用的病毒稳蔽技术有哪几种
肺结核传染的主要途径与方式是
胃特有的运动形式是小肠特有的运动形式是
对肠结核患者的护理措施包括
甲洗衣服务有限公司成立于2015年3月31日,为个人投资企业,投资人为王某。注册资金:50万元人民币。经营范围:洗衣服务。2015年4月4日,王某与A厂签订合同,购买了一台燃油蒸汽锅炉,出口水压为0.2MPa(表压),且额定功率为0.1Mw,配套设施:锅
下列关于产品责任的表述中,正确的有()。
下列各项费用,应通过“管理费用”科目核算的是()。
本题涉及增值税、消费税、城建税、教育费附加及地方教育附加。位于城市市区的一家电视机生产企业(以下简称甲企业)和一家百货商场(以下简称乙商场)均为增值税一般纳税人。2018年2月份发生以下业务:(1)甲企业销售给乙商场一批电视机,不含税销售额为70万元,
A、StayinPrinceUniversityforonemoreyear.B、Learntoliveawayfromfamilyandfriends.C、Checkintotheexacttransferreq
Whatisthepositionwantedintheadvertisement?____________________________totheSalesManager.Whatisthequalific
最新回复
(
0
)