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  3. 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

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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.
Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
选项 A、Patent system came before the premium system.
B、Unlike the premium system, patent system originated abroad.
C、Mechanical technology needs nonverbal thinking.
D、A technologist can deal with devices in a visual, nonverbal process.
答案C
解析 本题题干中没有关键词，属于细节题，通过选项关键词定位到第三、四段。根据第四段第一、二句，美国工人很快便接受了机械技术(mechanical technology)所需要的那种特殊的、非语言的思维方式(nonverbal thinking)。技术人员思考的东西是无法(cannot be reduced to)用明确的语言来表述的。因此选项C的说法与原文一致，为正确选项。同理，选项D偷换概念，因为文章强调的是技术人员能用非语言的方式来处理头脑中的东西，即不存在的(do not exist)物体，而不是各类设备这样的有形物体。选项A、B来自第三段第一、二句，对发明创造的另一刺激因素来自“奖励”制度，它产生于专利制度之前(preceded our patent system)，奖励制度这种做法源自国外(originated abroad)，它不仅为发明者颁发奖章和奖金，也带来了其他奖励。由此可见，选项A、B均属于正反混淆。第三段：早期美国的奖励制度和专利制度有助于新发明的产生。第四段：美国人很快接受了非语言的空间思维方式。
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