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-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
2010-04-24
22
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, specially 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.
A technologist can be compared to an artist because they both _______.
选项
A、use various instruments
B、abandon verbal description
C、are experts in special thinking
D、are winners of awards
答案
C
解析
推断题。第六段开头说美国工人很快就习惯了机械技术所需要的非语言的思维方式;第七段开头说这种非语言的空间思维方式与绘画和写作一样具有创意。由此可以推出,技术工人和艺术家的共同点就是他们都擅长空间思维,故C正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/fT2K777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Whileinbedthedoctorwastelephonedtogobacktothehospitalbecauseof________case.
WriteonANSWERSHEETTWOacompositionof200wordsonthefollowingtopic:IsaTestofSpokenEnglishNecess
Atariffisacustomarilycollectedtaxongoods_______intoacountry.
OfficeworkersBobKearnsandHelenBellwerebothupsetbytheboss’snews.Theyhadjustbeentoldthenewsthat,despiteearl
Thefitnessmovementthatbeganinthelate1960sandearly1970scenteredaroundaerobicexercise.Millionsofindividualsbeca
Inordertostrengthenhisarguments,Toffler______respectablesocialscientistswhoagreewithhim.
Yesterday’sstrikecausedcompleteconfusionfor______.
Theworld-renowneddirectorandactionactor______thesymposiumonthedevelopmentofactionpictures.
Thismanis______.
Advertisingisdistinguishedfromotherformsofcommunication______theadvertiserpaysforthemessagetobedelivered.
随机试题
A.增塑剂B.增稠剂C.增光剂D.遮光剂E.防腐剂山梨醇在明胶空心胶囊中作
银河系是星系考古学研究的“重点实验室”,恒星则是银河系考古的天然“化石”:恒星表面的化学元素,完整记录着其诞生时银河系星际环境的化学组成;恒星运动的相似性,也为天文学家研究恒星起源问题提供了重要线索。因此,实现对银河系形成和演化全面认识的关键,在于获取银河
You’dbettergotherebytrain.Thetrainticketis______theplaneticket.
患者男,糖尿病,59岁,入院时护士说:您好,我是您的责任护士。这属于
本案中尼康相机的买卖行为是否属于重大误解的民事行为?为什么?法院对本案应如何处理?
背景资料某大型顶进箱涵工程为三孔箱涵,箱涵总跨度22m,高5m,总长度33.66m,共分三节,需穿越5条既有铁路站场线;采用钢板桩后背,箱涵前设钢刃脚,箱涵顶板位于地面经下0.6m,箱涵穿越处有一条自来水管需保护。地下水位于地面下3m。箱涵预制工作坑采用
银行本票提示付款期限为()。
1971年,美国总统尼克松提出,世界不再仅仅有两个超级大国,而是有美国、西欧、苏联、日本、中国五极。这反映出()。
考生文件夹下存在一个数据库文件“samp2.accdb”,里面已经设计好“tStud”、“tCourse”、“tScore”三个关联表对象和一个空表“tTemp”。此外,还提供窗体“fr,est”和宏“mTest”,试按以下要求完成设计:创建追加查询,
WhydidPetersuddenlywanttoleavehisseat?
最新回复
(
0
)