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  3. Society was fascinated by science and things scientific in the nineteenth century. Great breakthroughs in engineering, the use o

Society was fascinated by science and things scientific in the nineteenth century. Great breakthroughs in engineering, the use o

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问题      Society was fascinated by science and things scientific in the nineteenth century. Great breakthroughs in engineering, the use of steam power, and electricity were there for all to see, enjoy, and suffer. Science was fashionable and it is not surprising that, during this great period of industrial development, scientific methods should be applied to the activities of man, particularly to those involved in the processes of production. Towards the end of the nineteenth century international competition began to make itself felt. The three industrial giants of the day, Germany, America, and Great Britain, began to find that there was a limit to the purchasing power of the previously apparently inexhaustible markets. Science and competition therefore provided the means and the need to improve industrial efficiency.
     Frederick Winslow Taylor is generally acknowledged as being the father of the scientific management approach, as a result of the publication of his book. The Principles of Scientific Management, published in 1911. However, numerous other academics and practitioners had been actively applying such approaches since the beginning of the century. Charles Babbage, and English academic, well-known for his invention of the mechanical computer (with the aid of a government grant as long as 1820) applied himself to the costing of processes, using scientific methods, and indeed might well be recognized as one of the fathers of cost accounting. Taylor was of well-to-do background and received an excellent education but, partly owing to troubles with his eyesight, decided to become an engineering apprentice. He spent some twenty-five years in the tough, sometimes brutal, environment of the US steel industry and carefully studied methods of work when he eventually attained supervisory status. He made various significant innovations in the area of steel processing, but his claim to fame is through his application of methods of science to methods of work, and his personal efforts that proved they could succeed in a hostile environment.
     In 1901, Taylor left the steel industry and spent the rest of his life trying to promote the principles of managing scientifically and emphasizing the human aspects of the method, over the slavedriving methods common in his day. He died in 1915, leaving a huge school of followers to promote his approach worldwide.
According to the passage, what was badly needed to improve industrial efficiency?
选项 A、Great breakthroughs.
B、Unlimited purchasing power.
C、Science and competition.
D、International competition.
答案C
解析 具体题。文章第一段主要谈的是科学给工业带来的巨大突破和工业巨头们开始感觉到竞争的必要性。所以要提高生产效率，科学和竞争是必需的。参阅第一段最后一句，A选项不全面。工业上的重大突破，如蒸汽机的问世，电的发明，科学管理方法的应用，都促进了工业的发展，但这只是一个方面。B选项不全面。工业的发展需要一个广阔的市场，而到19世纪末，国际竞争加剧，原来似乎取之不尽、用之不竭的 (inexhaustible)市场现已近枯竭，这时三大工业巨头更加感觉到，他们应该利用科学的方法提高生产效率，以加强其竞争力，占领有限的市场。
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