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
The Greek’s lofty attitude toward scientific research and the scientists’ contempt of utility was a long time dying. For a mille
The Greek’s lofty attitude toward scientific research and the scientists’ contempt of utility was a long time dying. For a mille
admin
2013-01-29
34
问题
The Greek’s lofty attitude toward scientific research and the scientists’ contempt of utility was a long time dying. For a millennium after Archimedes, this separation of mechanics from geometry inhibited fundamental technological progress and in some areas repressed it altogether. But there was a still greater obstacle to change until the very end of the middle ages: the organization of society. The social system of fixed class relationships that prevailed through the Middle Ages (and in some areas much longer) itself hampered improvement. Under this system, the laboring masses, in exchange for the bare necessities of life, did all the productive work, while the privileged few--priests, nobles, and kings--concerned themselves only with ownership and maintenance of their own position. In the interest of their privileges they did achieve considerable progress in defense, in warmaking, in government, in trade, in the arts of leisure, and in the extraction of labor from their dependents, but they had no familiarity with the process of production. On the other hand, the laborers, who were familiar with manufacturing techniques, had no incentive to improve or increase production to the advantage of their masters. Thus, with one class possessing the requisite knowledge aid experience, but lacking incentive and leisure, and the other class lacking the knowledge and experience, there was no means by which technical progress could be achieved.
The whole ancient world was built upon this relationship--a relationship as sterile as it was inhuman. The availability of slaves nullified the need for more efficient machinery. In many of the commonplace fields of human endeavor, actual stagnation prevailed for thousands of years. Not all the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome could develop the windmill or contrive so simple an instrument as the wheelbarrow--products of the tenth and thirteenth centuries respectively.
For about twenty-five centuries, two-thirds of the power of the horse was lost because he wasn’t shod, and much of the strength of the ox was wasted because his harness wasn’t modified to fit his shoulders. For more than five thousand years, sailors were confined to rivers and coasts by a primitive steering mechanism which required remarkably little alteration (in the thirteenth century) to become a rudder.
With any ingenuity at all, the ancient plough could have been put on wheels and the ploughshare shaped to bite and turn the sod instead of merely scratching it but the ingenuity wasn’t forthcoming. And the villager of the Middle Ages, like the men who first had fire, had a smoke hole in the center of the straw and reed thatched roof of his one-room dwelling (which he shared with his animals), while the medieval charcoal burner (like his Stone Age ancestor) made himself a hut of small branches.
In supporting his contentions about the ancient world, the author relies mainly on illustrations drawn from ______.
选项
A、examples of the separation of mechanics and geometry
B、case studies of lack of social communication between classes
C、technology
D、his concern with the plight of the laboring classes.
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/R01O777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Mostpeoplewhotravellongdistancecomplainofjetlag.Jetlagmakesbusinesstravelerslessproductiveandmoreprone【21】makin
Throughouthistorymanhashadtoacceptthefactthatalllivingthingsmustdie,butpeoplenowlivelongerthanthey【51】Yet,
TheOlympicGameswerewatchedby______billionsofpeoplearoundtheworld.
Superstitionisadifficultquestion.WecannotquitesaythatsuperstitioninBritainisdead.Itshistoryisboth【76】longand
Thefactknowntousisthatwar,differentfromwhatmanypeoplebelieveittobe,isnotcompletelyanoutcomeof"humanity".
EnergyuseandairpollutionhavebeensynonymousinChinafordecades,especiallyinurbanareas.【66】Fifteenor20yearsagoin
EnergyuseandairpollutionhavebeensynonymousinChinafordecades,especiallyinurbanareas.【66】Fifteenor20yearsagoin
Asstudentsreturntoschoolthisfall,parentswillagainworryaboutnewillnessesaskidscomeintocontactwithflugerms.T
Thereareanumberofformatsforreportingresearch,suchasarticlestoappearinjournals,reportsaddressedtofundingagenc
IwastravellingthroughStHelensontheA58towardstheA580.andapproachingabendtomyright.Luckilyit’sawideopenbend
随机试题
下列哪项不属乳痈初起的临床症状
根据企业所得税法律制度的规定,企业从事下列项目取得的所得中,免征企业所得税的是()。
经考试合格的,由组织考试的旅游行政管理部门在考试结束之日起()个工作日内颁发“导游人员资格证”。
下列选项中属于无轮轨接触的交通工具是:
实验主义
ReadthetextbelowabouttheWeblifestyle.Inmostofthelines(34-45),thereisoneextraword.Itiseithergrammaticallyin
Themediacanimpactcurrentevents.AsagraduatestudentatBerkeleyinthe1960s,Irememberexperiencingtheeventsrelated
You______borrowmynotesprovidedyoutakecareofthem,itoldmyfriend.
A、PlayingCinderellainEngland.B、Givingbirthtolotsofbabies.C、Goingintochoreography.D、Coachingyoungdancers.D选项都为动名词
Onceapictureisprovedtobeaforgery,itbecomesquite______.
最新回复
(
0
)