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
Great Inventions There are some things we use every day. Can you imagine a world without zippers(拉链) to fasten clothing? Ha
Great Inventions There are some things we use every day. Can you imagine a world without zippers(拉链) to fasten clothing? Ha
admin
2010-03-26
36
问题
Great Inventions
There are some things we use every day. Can you imagine a world without zippers(拉链) to fasten clothing? Have you ever wondered about the layout of the keyboard of a typewriter, which we see every day on the computer? These are just two of the many inventions which have made our lives easier. Maybe that’s why we don’t think about them very much!
The zipper
Whatever did we do before the invention of the zipper?
In 1893 the world’s first zipper was produced in Chicago. Although the inventor claimed that it was a reliable fastening for clothing, this was not the case. The Chicago zipper sprang open without warning, or jammed shut, and it swiftly lost popularity. Twenty years later a Swedish-born engineer called Sundback solved the problem. He attached tiny cups to the backs of the interlocking teeth, and this meant that the teeth could be enmeshed (使陷入) more firmly and reliably.
At first zippers were made of metal. They were heavy, and if they got stuck it was difficult to free them. Then came nylon zippers which were lighter and easier to use, and had smaller teeth. The fashion industry liked the new zippers far better because they did not distort the line of the garment or weigh down light fabrics. They were also easier for the machinists to fit into the garment.
Meanwhile a new fastening agent made its appearance at the end of the twentieth century: Velcro (维可牢尼龙褡链扣). Velcro is another product made from nylon. Nylon is a very tough synthetic fiber first developed in the 1930s, and bearing a name to remind the hearer of the two places where it was developed: NY for New York and LON for London. It is strong and durable.
Velcro is used on clothing, luggage and footwear. It is quick and easy to fasten and unfasten, and has taken a large part of the zipper’s share of the market. It is also used in ways a zipper cannot be used—for instance as an easily changed fastening on plaster casts, and to hold furnishing fabrics in position.
The typewriter and the keyboard
The keyboard of the modern typewriter is laid out in a most odd fashion. Why would anyone place the letters on the left side of the top row of the keyboard in the order Q W E R T Y? The answer is simple: to slow the typist down. But first, let’s consider the history of the typewriter itself.
In the 1860’s a newspaper editor called Christopher Sholes lived in Milwaukee, USA. Sholes invented the first of the modern typewriters, although there had been patents for typewriter-like machines as early as 1714, when Queen Anne of England granted a patent to a man called Henry Mill for a machine which would make marks on paper "so neat and exact as not to be distinguished from print." In 1829, across the Atlantic in Detroit, USA, William Austin Burt took out a patent on a typewriter-like machine, four years before the French inventor Xavier Projean produced his machine designed to record words at a speed comparable to someone writing with a pen.
So the typewriter was not a new idea, although there had not been a successful realization of the idea before Christopher Sholes’ machine. His typewriter became very popular, and soon people learned to type very quickly—so quickly, in fact, that the keys became tangled (纠缠在一起). On manual typewriters the characters were set on the end of bars which rose to strike the paper when the key was pressed. In the first models, the keys were set alphabetically. When a quick typist tapped out a word like federal, it was very likely that the adjacent e and d keys would become entangled (缠住).
Sholes therefore set about finding ways to slow the typist down. He looked for the letters which were most often used in English, and then placed them far away from each other. For instance, q and u, which are almost always used together in English, are separated by five intervening (介于其间的) letters. The plan worked, and the typist was slowed down a little.
When computers came into use in the latter part of the twentieth century it was suggested that the keyboard should be rationalized. After all, there was no longer any need to avoid clashing manual typewriter keys. One new board included keys which produced letters which frequently occur together in English, like ing and th and ed, so the word thing would take two strokes to write instead of five. Although this made perfect sense, people found it very hard to learn to use a new keyboard, and the idea was dropped. It is unlikely that the keyboard will ever be changed: as we approach the twenty-first century the voice-activated computer, already in an advanced state of development, is becoming more and more accessible (易得到的). It is very likely that we will soon have machines which take dictation as we speak to them, and the keyboard will be used for corrections.
Of all the great inventions in modern history only two, zippers and the keyboard of a computer, are talked about in the passage.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
根据文章的标题、第一段及浏览全文可知答案是Y。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/zSk7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Whowillrunintothenewyearfirst?Couldyoutestyour【B1】______bytryingthesequestions?AnislandinthePacificOce
A、Hecan’texplainsomeconceptsofengineering.B、Heregularlygivestalkstohighschoolstudents.C、Hedoesn’twantthewoman
A、Hefounditfascinating.B、Ittookalongtimetofinishtheshow.C、Youhavetobedressedformallythere.D、Theyshouldleav
A、Themanshouldbuyamealticketeverymonth.B、Individualspaydifferentlyforthesamemeal.C、Buyingthemealticketwon’t
A、Physics.B、Computerscience.C、Tourism.D、Mechanicalengineering.B根据对话中“Well,whenIfirststartedcollege,Imajoredinphysic
A、Staywhereheis.B、Gohometotelephonetheorder.C、Trytogettheticketselsewhere.D、Returnafterlunch.AWhatwillthem
Accordingtotheauthor,educationissuretobelimitedtoacertainscopewithouttheuseofmedia.Computer-basededucation
Thewidespreadconcernoverthepossiblemergeriscausedby______.WhichofthefollowingisTRUEaboutFord?
A、Gatheringnon-relevantmaterials.B、Stealinganotherperson’sideas.C、Sharingnoteswithsomeoneelse.D、Handinginassignmen
AboutHomeownershipinAmericaIsthereahousing(住房供给)crisisinAmerica?Orarewesimplyinneedofadjustingasystemtha
随机试题
关于火灾隐患与火灾风险的描述,下列说法正确的是()。
正火不可以作为普通结构零件的最终热处理。
患者,女,36岁。右髋部疼痛1个月。该患者的MRIT2WI上出现了“双线征”,即可见1.骨质破坏区及肉芽组织形成高信号带,其外侧反应性新生骨形成低信号带2.骨质破坏区及肉芽组织形成低信号带,其外侧反应性新生骨形成高信号带3.骨质坏死区及肉芽组织形
短暂性脑缺血发作应用阿司匹林治疗的目的是
甲公司属于以境内外全部生产经营认定为高新技术企业的公司,在2019年年初汇算清缴2018年度企业所得税时,对有关收支项目进行纳税调整,自行将全年会计利润500万元调整为全年应纳税所得额600万元。全年已预缴所得税75万元。税务师事务所检查时,发现甲公司以下
某制药厂为增值税一般纳税人,2013年9月销售免税药品取得价款20000元。销售非免税药品取得含税价款93600元。当月购进原材料、水、电等取得的增值税专用发票(已通过税务机关认证)上的税款合计为10000元,其中有2000元进项税额对应的原材料用于免税药
在房地产市场上,银行要分析的风险包括()。
公司成立日期是()
同一句话重音的位置不同会表现出不同的意思来,下列句子表现“别人不知道你会唱歌”的一句是()。
使用VC6打开考生文件夹下的源程序文件modi3.cpp,其中定义了用于表示坐标的类TestClass1,但类TestClass1的定义并不完整,按要求完成下列操作,将类的定义补充完整。(1)声明TestClass2类为TestClass1类的友
最新回复
(
0
)