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
2015-12-01
57
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、elementary schools
B、enthusiastic workers
C、the attractive premium system
D、a special way of thinking
答案
D
解析
本题中,A、B、C三项都只是一般原因,不是主要原因。从文章第2段的内容可知,在许多决定性因素中,作者特别提到美国优秀的初等学校、欢迎新技术的劳动力以及奖励发明者的做法这些因素;最重要的是美国人的天赋——处理技术性事务的非语言的“立体”思维。据此可知,D项与文中的意思相符,因此D项为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/2zGO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
46.Theonrushofcheapcommunications,powerfulcomputersandtheInternetallexplainwhymanypeoplefeelthat,nowadays,cha
Smallbusinessownersmustaccepttheburdensofentrepreneurship.Beinginbusinessforyour-selfrequiresyourfullattention
Smallbusinessownersmustaccepttheburdensofentrepreneurship.Beinginbusinessforyour-selfrequiresyourfullattention
ThemanwhoinventedCoca-ColawasnotanativeAtlantan,butonthedayofhisfuneraleverydrugstoreintowntestimoniallysh
Aninvisibleborderdividesthosearguingforcomputersintheclassroomonthebehalfofstudents’careerprospectsandthosea
Theyaregoingtohavetheserviceman______anelectricfanintheofficetomorrow.
WiththeUSeconomyslowingdown,layoffsareeverywhere.Noindustryisspared.Ifyouenduphavingtostartover,inaddition
ThefirstfewmonthsoftheyearIhaddreadedtheringingofthetelephone,becauseIknewitmeantanother______decisiontobe
Statusesaremarveloushumaninventionsthatenableustogetalongwithoneanotherandtodeterminewherewe"fit"insociety.
Thedevelopmentofwritingwasoneofthegreathumaninventions.Itisdifficult【C1】______manypeopletoimaginelanguagewi
随机试题
LifeonMarsPerhapsmorethananythingelse,scientistsareeagertofindoutifMartianlifeexistedinthepast—orstill
超声诊断中,为补偿声能衰减应注意调节
女性,21岁,因长发卷入机器内造成大面积头皮撕脱伤后2小时入院。检查发现:已撕脱头皮碾挫严重,颅骨骨膜大部完整,仅有两处骨膜缺失,面积均小于1cm×1cm,请问下列哪项治疗最为适当
某山村近年儿童中新发现牙齿有黄斑的人增多。可能与哪个乡办小工厂有关
消防给水架空管道外应刷红色油漆或涂红色环圈标志,并注明管道名称和水流方向标识。红色环圈标志,宽度不应小于()mm,间隔不宜大于4m,在一个独立的单元内环圈不宜少于2处。
企业以借贷名义向职工非法集资的合同,应当认定为无效借贷合同。()
欧体书是“初唐世家”之一的大书法家()所写的一种正楷书体。
Ifthework______bytheendofthismonthisdelayed,theconstructioncompanywillbeheavilyfined.
Beckerhadoneoccasionalanxiety:thesuspicionthatheownedmorethanwouldfitcomfortablyintothecase.Thefeeling,when
Therelationshipbetweenformaleducationandeconomicgrowthinpoorcountriesiswidelymisunderstoodbyeconomistsandpoliti
最新回复
(
0
)