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
49
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
Jeanswereinventedalittleoveracenturyagoandarecurrentlytheworld’smostpopular,versatilegarment,crossingboundari
Thesearchforthelostshipmustbe_____becauseofpoorweather.
Thereisaquestion,however,thatmustbeansweredbeforethissynthesisisattempted,namely,whicharethesocialtendencies
Accordingtoagrowingnumberofexperts,itisalreadytechnically______toconstructapioneeringspacecolony,poweredbyso
ThementalhealthmovementintheUnitedStatesbeganwithaperiodofconsiderableenlightenment.DorotheaDixwasshockedtof
Writeanessayofnolessthan150wordsaboutyourviewpointsto~opiniononthewritingclassforthePH.Dstudents.Writeyour
Inmostpeople’smind,growthisassociatedwithprosperity.WejudgehowwelltheeconomyisdoingbythesizeoftheGrossNat
Punditswhowanttosoundjudiciousarefondofwarningagainstgeneralizing.Eachcountryisdifferent,theysay,andnoonest
Yearsago,agroupofbrilliantyoungmenattheUniversityofWisconsinseemedtohaveamazingcreativeliterarytalent.Theyw
Thereisanewtypeofadvertisementbecomingincreasinglycommoninnewspaperclassifiedcolumns.Itissometimesplacedamong
随机试题
气体保护焊有哪些特点?
活塞式压缩机后一级的吸、排气阀漏气,必然增大前一级的排气压力,所以必须更换后一级的吸、排气阀。
生态系统中的消费者
以利益均衡作为价值判断标准来配置卫生资源,协调卫生保健活动,体现的卫生法基本原则是
A.便色黄或暗绿,有腥臭味B.便次较多,发育不受影响C.黏液脓血便,常伴有发热D.血便或呈“赤豆汤样”便E.便泡沫多,含黏液,豆渣样生理性腹泻
通过抑制甲状腺素释放治疗甲状腺危象的药物是
净现金流量是指某一时点的现金流入量与现金流出量之和。()
[2010年真题]钢筋抗拉性能的技术指标主要是()。
机电工程项目联动试运行的中间交接的内容包括( )。
我国《中小学教师职业道德规范》中提出“教书育人”,要求不以分数作为评价学生的唯一标准。()
最新回复
(
0
)