考研英语阅读理解思路透析和真题揭秘(27)考研

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2009:01:03 22:52:04
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

　　 1996年Passage 4
　　 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.
　　 63. According to the author, the great outburst of major inventions in early America was in a
　　 large part due to__
　　 [A]elementary schools
　　 [B] enthusiastic workers
　　 [C] the attractive premium system
　　 [D]a special way of thinking
　　 [答案] D
　　 [解题思路]
　　 本题对应于文章第二段，该段列举了"the great outburst of major inventions in early America"的各项因素，其中该段最后一部分指出了"above all the American genius for nonverbal , "spatial" thinking about things technological"（最重要的是美国人在处理技术性事物时天生具备的非语言的"空间"思维才能），这种""spatial" thinking"正是选项D的"a special way of thinking"，因此D为正确选项。
　　 [题目译文]
　　 根据文章的作者，早期美国涌现大批重大发明的主要原因在于 。
　　 [A] 基础教育
　　 [B] 热情的工人
　　 [C] 吸引人的奖励制度
　　 [D] 特殊的思维方式
　　 65. A technologist can be compared to an artist because __
　　 [A] they are both winners of awards
　　 [B] they are both experts in spatial thinking
　　 [C] they both abandon verbal description
　　 [D] they both use various instruments
　　 [答案] B
　　 [解题思路]
　　 本题对应于文章倒数第二段关于技术人员和艺术家的比较"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.""（这种非语言的""空间"思维方式与绘画和写作一样具有创造性。罗伯特·法欧曾写道："技术人员坐在杠杆、螺钉、楔子、轮子等东西中间，就如同一位诗人处在字母表的字母之中，应该把它们看做是自己思想的一种表达，其中每一个新的组合都能传达一种新的想法。"），从该段第一句话就可以判断B为正确选项。C选项的错误在于他们擅长nonverbal "spacial" thnking并不意味着他们放弃了语言描述，而A和D选项的表述在原文没有提及。
　　 [题目译文]
　　 技术专家可以同艺术家相提并论是因为 。
　　 [A] 他们都是获奖者
　　 [B] 他们都擅长空间思维
　　 [C] 他们都放弃用语言来描述
　　 [D] 他们都使用不同的工具