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
考研
It is impossible to measure the importance of Edison by adding up the specific inventions with which his name is associated. Far
It is impossible to measure the importance of Edison by adding up the specific inventions with which his name is associated. Far
admin
2009-04-27
99
问题
It is impossible to measure the importance of Edison by adding up the specific inventions with which his name is associated. Far-reaching as many of them have been in their effect upon modern civilization, the total effect of Edison’s career surpasses the sum of all of them.
He did not merely mak6 the incandescent lamp and the phonograph and innumerable other devices practicable for general use; (46)
it was given to him to demonstrate the power of applied science so concretely, so understandably, so convincingly that he altered the mentality of mankind.
In his lifetime, largely because of his successes, there came into widest acceptance the revolutionary conception that man could by the rise of his intelligence invent a new mode of living on this planet; the human spirit, which in all previous ages had regarded the conditions of life as essentially unchanging and beyond man s control, confidently, and perhaps somewhat naively, adopted the conviction that anything could be’ changed and-everything could be controlled.
This idea of progress is in the scale of history a very new idea. It seems first to have taken possession of a few minds in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as an accompaniment of the great advances in pure science. It gained greater currency in the first half of the nineteenth century when industrial civilization began to be transformed by the application of steam power. (47)
But these changes, impressive as they were, created so much human misery by the crude and cruel manner in which they were exploited that all through the century men instinctively feared and opposed the progress of machines, and of the sciences on which they rested.
It was only at the end of the century, with the perfecting of the electric light bulb, the telephone, the phonograph, and the like, that the ordinary man began to fell that science could actually benefit him. (48)
Edison supplied the homely demonstrations which insured the popular acceptance of science, and clinched the popular argument, which had begun with Darwin, about the place of science in man’s outlook upon life.
Thus he became the supreme propagandist of science and his name the great symbol of an almost blind faith in its possibilities. Thirty years ago, when I was a schoolboy, the ancient conservatism of man was still the normal inheritance of every child. We began to have electric lights, and telephones, and to se, homeless carriages, but our attitude was a mixture of wonder, fear, and doubt. Perhaps these would work Perhaps they would not explode. Perhaps it would be amusing to play with them. (49)
Today every school boy not only takes all the existing inventions as much for granted as we took horses and dogs for granted, but also, he is entirely convinced that all other desirable things can and will be invented.
In my youth the lonely inventor who could not obtain a hearing was still the stock figure of the imagination. Today the only people who are not absolutely sure that television is perfected are the inventors themselves. (50)
No other person played so great a part as Edison in this change in human expectation, and finally, by the cumulative effect of his widely distributed inventions plus a combination of the modem publicity technique and the ancient myth-making faculty of men, he was lifted in the popular imagination to a place where he was looked upon not only as the symbol but as the creator of a new age.
选项
答案
他肩负起命运赋予他的使命,将应用科学的威力展示得如此具体、如此易懂、如此令人信服,进而改变了人类的思想状态。
解析
该句是一复合句。主语为to demonstrate...of mankind。So concretely...作状语修饰 demonstrate
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/k0a4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Ifyou’relikemostpeople,you’rewaytoosmartforadvertising.Youfliprightpastnewspaperadsandneverclickonadsonlin
Banks,troubledbyregulatorsandshortofcapital,arefleeingthecommoditiesbusiness.DeutscheBank,MorganStanleyandUBS
Althoughyoungpeopleisviewedasadriverofculture,asastateofcontrariness,thesubspeciesknownasteenagerwasn’tiden
Althoughyoungpeopleisviewedasadriverofculture,asastateofcontrariness,thesubspeciesknownasteenagerwasn’tiden
Itmaybesummertime,butthelivingisn’teasy—notforwearyworkerswhoselastvacationisadistantmemory.Accordingtoone
MPsaretoinvestigatetheenvironmentalimpactofthrowaway"fastfashion"intheUKamidgrowingconcernsthatthemulti-billi
MostforecastssuggestthatBritainwillbeapoorercountryafterBrexit,largelybecausetradingwiththeEuropeanUnionwill
[A]Providehealthcareinsurance[B]Implementeconomicalplansinrecovery[C]Increaseincomeforlower-incomeAmericans[D]
ThinkofDisneyandyoumayconjureupimagesofanimatedfilmsandenchantinglyunrealthemeparks.Whatprobablydoesn’tsprin
Nameshavegainedincreasingimportanceinthecompetitiveworldofhighereducation.Ascollegesstriveformarketshare,they
随机试题
烟酸降低血脂的机制可能是
网络图中的箭线应保持()。
除当地公积金管理中心有特殊规定外,公积金个人住房贷款必须采用()的支付管理方式。
正确发挥意识能动作用的客观前提是()。
根据以下资料,回答86-90题。2010年5月1日到10月31日,世博会在中国上海举行。自开幕以来,世博会的消费拉动效应初步显现。世博园区共有浦东和浦西两个片区,5月份的销售总额为4.13亿元,其中浦东片区的销售额占89.4%。园区5月份日
我国的国家结构形式属于()。
()isrenownedforitsuniqueplantandanimalspecies.Itisestimatedthattherearearound20,000to25,000different
ScienceandTruth"FINAGLE"isnotawordthatmostpeopleassociatewithscience.Onereasonisthattheimageofthescient
Therelationshipbetweenformaleducationandeconomicgrowthinpoorcountriesiswidelymisunderstoodbyeconomistsandpoliti
Specialisationcanbeseenasaresponsetotheproblemofanincreasingaccumulationofscientificknowledge.Bysplittingupt
最新回复
(
0
)