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
96
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
Ararepieceofgoodnewsfromtheworldofconservation:theglobalextinctioncrisismayhavebeenoverstated.Theworldisun
Thecorporateworldisincreasinglyrejectingimperialchiefexecutivesinfavourofanonymousmanagers—prudentandboringmena
Althoughyoungpeopleisviewedasadriverofculture,asastateofcontrariness,thesubspeciesknownasteenagerwasn’tiden
AccordingtotheWallStreetJournal:"Moreandmoreshoppersarebypassinghouseholdnamesforthecheaper,no-nameproductson
ReadthefollowingtextandanswerthequestionsbychoosingthemostsuitablesubtitlefromthelistA-Gforeachnumberedpara
Readthefollowingtextandmatcheachofthenumbereditemsintheleftcolumntoitscorrespondinginformationintherightco
Thereareplentyofgoodreasonsforayoungpersontochoosetogotouniversity:intellectualgrowth,careeropportunities,ha
Autismisastrangecondition.Sometimesitssymptomsof"socialblindness"(aninabilitytoreadorcomprehendtheemotionsof
Yourcameraissnatched.Willyoueverseeita-gain?Probablynot.Butitmaysendpostcardsfromitsnewowner.The【C1】_______
Amongthephrasesyoureally,reallydonotwanttohearfromclimatescientistsare:"thatreallyshockedus,""wehadnoidea
随机试题
邓小平关于社会主义本质概括中属于人民利益方面目标的是()
发育沟是指
项目的属性不包括()
现浇钢筋混凝土阳台的混凝土浇捣工程量()计算。
以轻钢龙骨为龙骨体系的骨架隔墙在安装贯通系列龙骨时,下列叙述不正确的是()。
设两种情形下资产A和资产B的预期收益率的分布如下表所示,那么以下说法错误的是()。
将账簿划分为序时账、分类账、备查账的依据是()。
某大学二年级要进行下一学年的选修课报名。下一学年共有8科可选,每人至少要报1科,至多可报3科。若要保证至少有29人选择相同科目组合,则需要多少人报名?()
Excel2003函数的参数中,对单元格的引用只能进行手工输入,无法用鼠标选定。
A.serveB.sponsoredC.profitsD.principlesE.developingF.understandG.bills
最新回复
(
0
)