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
2010-04-24
43
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, specially 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.
Which of the following statements about early American mechanics is TRUE?
选项
A、They had received privileged home training.
B、They contributed to disciplined school management.
C、They are result of technological development.
D、They benefited a lot from their mathematical knowledge.
答案
D
解析
细节题。第三段第二句话说美国的早期技工熟悉算术及一些几何、三角方面的知识,这要感谢初等教育,可见D正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/Px8MFFFM
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Afewweeksago,Ihada【C1】______unusualflightfromLondontoKhartoum.Theflightwas【C2】______toleaveataquarterpast
Peopleunderstresshaveperformed________featsofstrength,likeliftinganautomobileoffanaccidentvictim.
TheaimoftheconferenceisallofthefollowingEXCEPT______.
Althoughrecentyearshaveseensubstantialreductionsinnoxiouspollutantsfromindividualmotorvehicles,thenumberofsuch
ThesurveyfoundthatHungary______asthemostenvironment-consciouscountryofEastEurope.
Althoughcustomerskeepcomplainingabouttheirpoorservice,they’vemadeno______tomakeanyimprovement.
Mostchildrenwithhealthyappetitesarereadytoeatalmostanythingthatisofferedtothemandachildrarelydislikesfood【
Yesterday’sstrikecausedthemostconfusionfor______.
Chinastartedinnuclearpowerindustryonlyinrecentyears,andshould______notimeincatchingup.
AdictionaryofEnglishlanguage,______byDrSamuelJohnson,wasthefirstrealattemptasasystematicandinterestinglywrit
随机试题
配制聚合物时清水温度不要超过()。
患者,女性,29岁。初产后30天,哺乳,右乳肿块伴胀痛3天,疼痛加重伴畏寒发热1天。查体:T38.5℃,全身情况可,右乳外上皮肤轻度发红,皮温略高,可扪及增厚块4cm×5cm×6cm,边界不清楚,压痛,质地韧硬,无波动感,右腋下扪及肿大的淋巴结,质地软,活
奶牛,3岁,精神沉郁,反刍,嗳气减少,前胃弛缓,产奶量下降,体温升高,呼吸困难,呈明显腹式呼吸。叩诊胸部敏感,咳嗽。左侧胸下部听诊呼吸音微弱,有拍水音。治疗本病静脉注射的适宜药物是
A.鞣质B.热原C.细菌D.不溶性微粒E.有效成分
某企业对其生产用设备向某保险公司投保,后因人为原因,该设备价值受到较大的损失,该企业即向保险公司索赔,由于双方对保险合同条款的理解有分歧,遂引发诉讼。则有管辖权的法院包括()。
下列不属于正式沟通的优点的是()。
重读“国家聚焦”专栏中的文章“土耳其的伊斯兰资本主义”。然后回答以下问题:你在伊斯兰国家的价值观中有没有发现对商业的敌意?
为说明某一问题,在学术论文中需要引用某些资料。以下叙述中错误的是(13)。
从介质访问控制方法的角度,局域网可分为两类,即共享局域网与______。
下列安全设备中,不能部署在网络出口的是()。
最新回复
(
0
)