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
2017-07-31
61
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, especially 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.
According to the author, the great outburst of major inventions in early America was in a large part due to______.
选项
A、elementary schools
B、enthusiastic workers
C、the attractive premium system
D、a special way of thinking
答案
D
解析
本题中,A、B、C三项都只是一般原因,不是主要原因。从文章第2段的内容可知,在许多决定性因素中,作者特别提到美国优秀的初等学校、欢迎新技术的劳动力以及奖励发明者的做法这些因素;最重要的是美国人的天赋——处理技术性事务的非语言的“立体”思维。据此可知,D项与文中的意思相符,因此D项为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/nqFO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Thequestionofsalaryincreasewill____atthenextgeneralmeeting.
Therearethreeseparatesourcesofhazard【C1】______totheuseofnuclearreactiontosupplyuswithenergy.Firstly,theradioa
Scientistsgenerallyholdthatlanguagehasbeensolonginusethatthelengthoftimewritingisknowntocoveris____incompa
democracyimaginationdifferentflexibilityovercomeonlineoffertraditionalmodern
Itisimportantthatanundergraduate____agradepointaverageof"B"inhismajorfield.
Today,cigarettesmokingisawidespreadhabit.About43percentoftheadultmenand31percentoftheadultwomenintheUSsm
Asthefirm’sbusinessincreasedthey______moreandmoreemployees.
Iflawandorder______notmaintained,neitherthecitizensnortheirpropertiesaresafe.
Thecompanywasfinancially______andalmostwenttobankruptcyduringlastyear’seconomicrecession.
TodayistheanniversaryofthatafternooninAprilayearagothatIfirstsawthestrangeandappealingdollinthewindowof
随机试题
A.有沟多乳头肾B.平滑多乳头肾C.平滑单乳头肾D.有沟单乳头肾E.复肾牛肾脏的大体解剖结构表明其肾脏类型为
5岁患儿,患单纯性肾病半年,近1个月间断发热,频咳,有痰,夜间多汗.食欲不振,乏力,静脉给予青霉素等抗生素治疗不见好转。查体:营养稍差,面色苍白,咽微红,颈部及腹股沟可触及数个黄豆大小之活动淋巴结,心脏正常,肺呼吸音略粗,肝肋下1cm,质软,脾可触及,无浮
关于银行汇票叙述正确的有()。
适用于股份制企业,尤其是上市公司的年薪制模式的是()。‘
甲公司采用递延法核算所得税,适用的所得税税率为33%。2003年其税前会计利润为1000万元,其中包括投资国债取得的利息收入100万元。当期按会计制度提取并计入损益的折旧超过税法允许扣除的折旧额807元;此外,当期另发生应纳税时间性差异20万元。该公
在某次旅游安全事故中,造成旅游者3人轻伤,经济损失3万余元,该事故属于()。
2007年12月,朱某所在公司决定派他到日本工作两年,因办理出国手续一时钱不够用,遂向朋友陈某借款2万元,并立字据约定朱某在出国前将钱还清。但朱某直到2008年7月27日出国,都一直没有还钱。此前陈某虽然经常来看望朱某,但也对钱的事只字未提。朱某在国外两年
用50cm见方的地砖铺地,需要96块,如果改用40cm见方的地砖,需要()块.
大道之行,天下为公。站立在960多万平方公里的广袤土地上,吸吮着5000多年中华民族漫长奋斗积累的文化养分,拥有14亿中国人民聚合的磅礴之力,我们走中国特色社会主义道路,具有无比广阔的时代舞台,具有无比深厚的历史底蕴,具有无比强大的前进定力。中国共产党的
系统论认为系统是“相互作用的多个元素的复合体”,系统具有多元性、相关性及整体性,其中______ 是系统思想的核心。
最新回复
(
0
)