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—breakthrough such as the telegraph, the steamboat and
What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America—breakthrough such as the telegraph, the steamboat and
admin
2016-02-04
43
问题
What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America—breakthrough 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.
Questions:
A technologist can be compared to an artist because______.
选项
A、they are both winners of awards
B、they are both experts in spatial thinking
C、they both apply various instruments
D、they both give up verbal description
答案
B
解析
第3题问为什么我们可以把技术专家比做是艺术家。本题仍然是一道具体细节题。利用查阅式阅读法,我们可以在文章第八段中找到相关信息。这段指出,这一非语言的思维方式像绘画、写作一样具有创造力。言外之意,技术专家和画家都是空间思维的专家。由此,我们可以推断出本题的正确答案应是B。而A项:他们都是获奖者,D项:他们都放弃语言描述和C项:他们都使用工具均不符合文章原文内容,是错误的干扰项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/QPPO777K
0
在职攻硕英语联考
相关试题推荐
Whosaysyourjobleavesyounotimetohitthegym?AdetailednewstudyofU.S.physicalactivitypatternsshowsthatmenwho
AdamSmithwasthefounderofeconomicsasadistinctfieldofstudy.Hewroteonlyonebookonthesubject—TheWealthofNati
AsthePresident’scarappeared,thewaitingcrowds______loudcheers.
NewYorkisidealforthisstudybecause______high-risebuildings.
OurculturehascausedmostAmericanstoassumenotonlythatourlanguageisuniversalbutthatthegesturesweuseareunderst
Woman:It’sawfullydarkforfouro’clock.Doyouthinkit’sgoingtorain?Man:You’dbetterdosomethingaboutthatwatchofy
TheChinesehaveusedamethodcalledacupuncture(针灸)toperformoperationsforabout4,000yearswithoutputtingthepatientt
TheChinesehaveusedamethodcalledacupuncture(针灸)toperformoperationsforabout4,000yearswithoutputtingthepatientt
Nowcustomhasnotbeencommonlyregardedasasubjectofanygreatimportance.Theinnerworkingsofourownbrainswefeelto
IntheUnitedStatesintheearly1800’s,individualstategovernmentshadmoreeffectontheeconomythandidthefederalgover
随机试题
设f(χ)三阶可导,且f″′(a)≠0,f(χ)=f(a)+f′(a)(χ-a)+(χ-a)2(0<θ<1),求.
通过抑制H+泵而减少胃酸分泌的药物是()。
王强在游乐园陪女儿玩耍时不慎丢失了一块手表,游乐园工作人员拾得后即交给公安部门。王强未能在期限内前去认领,公安部门即依有关规定将手表交寄卖商店出售。陈勇从寄卖商店购得手表后,将其送给了女友芳芳。芳芳在一次旅游中该手表被小偷偷走,小偷在路边将这块表以低价格卖
下列有关法与社会关系的表述错误的是:()
操作系统中的进程与处理器管理的主要功能是()。
毛泽东在《矛盾沦》中指出:矛盾问题的精髓是()。
下列关于多重中断系统的叙述中,错误的是()。
(10年)设A为m×n矩阵,B为n×m矩阵,E为m阶单位矩阵.若AB=E,则
Scientistshavelongsoughttopreventsharpmemoriesfromdullingwithage,buttheproblemremainsstubborn.Nowresearchpu
Whatisthewomanstudying?
最新回复
(
0
)