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
考研
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
2022-07-19
40
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.
It is implied that adaptiveness and inventiveness of the early American mechanics________.
选项
A、benefited a lot from their mathematical knowledge
B、shed light on disciplined school management
C、were brought about by privileged home training
D、owed a lot to the technological development
答案
A
解析
本题关键词是adaptiveness and inventiveness和early American mechanics,问题是:文章暗示早期美国技工的适应能力和创新能力是怎样的?定位到第二段。根据第二段第二、三句的内容,因为有了这些学校,早期技工才普遍能够读书识字、精通算术(arithmetic),并且了解一些几何和三角(geometry and trigonometry)的知识。美国人的适应能力和创新能力与这种教育优势(this educational advantage)是分不开的。这种教育优势就是指第二句中的数学知识,可见,早期美国技工的适应能力与创新能力在很大程度上得益于数学知识,选项A与原文属于相同含义,为正确选项。选项B来自第二段第四句,美国的孩子们在学校接受过全面的训练(thorough school discipline),所以他们能够迅速成长为技术熟练的工人。这里上下文强调的是学科训练,而不是学校管理,因此选项B偷换概念。选项C曲解文意,第二段第二句中的at home in表示“精通”,而不是在家训练数学(home training)。选项D无中生有,文章中没有技术发展 (technological development)导致早期美国技工的适应能力和创新能力的相关信息。第二段:美国的小学教育有助于培养美国人的适应能力和创新能力。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/3xi4777K
0
考研英语二
相关试题推荐
ThewriterwarnsAmericansthat______.Whatistheconclusionofthispassage?
ThewriterwarnsAmericansthat______.Thewritergivestheexampleofbreadtoshowthat______.
ThewriterwarnsAmericansthat______.By"commonresources"(Paragraph2),theauthormeansthat______.
Thenewcomerwas______admittancetotheclassroomfornotbeingproperlydressed.
JohnDeweybelievedthateducationshouldbeapreparationforlife,thatapersonlearnsbydoing,andthatteachingmust_____
Idon’tlikefootball,butsomepeopleare______aboutit,whichisbeyondmycomprehension.
IthasbeenawretchedfewweeksforAmerica’scelebritybosses.AIG’sMauriceGreenberghasbeendramaticallyoustedfromthef
EveryspringmigratingsalmonreturntoBritishColumbia’sriverstospawn.Andeveryspringnewreportsdetailfreshdisasters
"Universalhistory,thehistoryofwhatmanhasaccomplishedinthisworld,isatbottomtheHistoryoftheGreatMenwhohavew
随机试题
患者,女性,28岁。因急性阑尾炎在蛛网膜下腔阻滞麻醉下行阑尾切除术。行腰椎穿刺时患者感觉会阴部和左侧下肢有放电感。手术时可能发生的情况是
女性,55岁。刺激性咳嗽,咳痰带血伴右侧胸痛2周入胸外科病房。肺CT示右下肺前段阻塞性炎症,诊断右下肺叶中央型肺癌。经上述治疗后,下列随访项目中最重要的是
患者,男,26岁。患十二指肠球部溃疡2年,突发上腹剧痛2小时,继而全腹痛、大汗淋漓。查体:全腹压痛、反跳痛。考虑有溃疡病穿孔的可能。如为胃溃疡穿孔多见的部位是
A.左旋咪唑B.硝酸银溶液C.甲硝唑口腔粘贴片D.氯己定含漱液E.地塞米松粘贴片可能导致儿童和青年偶发口腔无痛性浅表脱屑性损害的是()。
[2005年,第108题]图7.5-1所示电路,R1=50kΩ,R2=10kΩ,RE=1kΩ,RC=5kΩ,晶体管的β=60,静态UBE=0.7V。所示电路的静态基极电流IB等于()。
某工程项目业主采用工程量清单计价方式公开招标确定了承包人,双方签订了工程承包合同,合同工期为6个月。合同中的清单项目及费用包括:分项工程项目4项,总费用为200万元,相应专业措施费用为16万元;安全文明施工措施费用为6万元;计日工费用为3万元;暂列金额为1
根据《企业破产法》司法解释(二)的规定,下列财产应认定为债务人财产的是()。
在VBA中,实现窗体打开操作的命令是
【21】【39】
Alotofpeopleinstinctivelybelieve—withoutreallyknowing—thatpoorreadersarenotespeciallysmart.Anewstudybyrese
最新回复
(
0
)