2017年專八英語考試閲讀理解練習題附答案
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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.
習題
1. 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
2. It is implied that adaptiveness and inventiveness of the early American mechanics ________.
[A] benefited a lot from their mathematical knowledge
[B] shed light on disciplined school management
[C] was brought about by privileged home training
[D] owed a lot to the technological development
3. 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
4. The best title for this passage might be ________.
[A] Inventive Mind
[B] Effective Schooling
[B] Ways of Thinking
[D] Outpouring of Inventions
全文翻譯
在早期美國，像電報、汽船和織布機這樣重大的發明突破紛湧而出，其原因何在?
在諸多形成因素中，我想特別指出如下因素：這個國家優異的國小教育;歡迎新技術的勞動大軍;對發明者進行獎勵的做法;尤其是美國人在處理技術**物時所具有的非語言的空間思維才能。
為什麼要提國小教育?正是因為有了這些學校，我們的早期技工才普遍能讀會寫，並精通算術及部分幾何和三角，這種情況在新英格蘭和大西洋中部各州尤為可見。
目光敏鋭的外國觀察家把美國人的適應能力和創新能力與這種教育優勢聯繫起來。正如1853年訪美的一個英國訪問團成員所報道的那樣，“由於有了學校徹底訓練過的頭腦，美國小夥子迅速地成為技術熟練的工人。”
推動發明的另一刺激因素來自“獎賞”制度，它產生於我們的專利制度之前，且多年來與後者一同實施。這種做法起源於國外，做法是為發明者頒發獎章、獎金和其他獎勵。
在美國，大量獎勵新發明的獎品在鄉村集市和大城市的工業博覽會上頒發。美國人紛紛湧向這些集市和博覽會去欣賞新機器，因而更加堅信技術進步會造福人類。
有了這種對技術革新的樂觀態度，美國工人很快便習慣了機械技術需要的'那種特別的非語言的思維方式。(長難句④)正如尤金•弗格森曾指出的：“技術人員思考那些不能被簡化為用明確的語言進行描述的物體;這些物體在他的頭腦中以視覺性的、非語言性的方式被處理加工…設計者和發明者…能把那些尚不存在的機械在頭腦中組裝和操作。”
這種非語言的空間思維方式與繪畫和寫作一樣具有創意。羅伯特•法歐曾寫道：“技術人員坐在槓桿、螺釘、楔子、輪子等中間，如同一位詩人處在詞彙之中，應該把它們看做是自己思想的一種表達，每一個新的組合都能傳達一個新的意念。”
當所有這些成因——學校、開放的態度、獎賞制度及空間思維天賦在富饒的美國大陸上相互作用時，便造就了美國人的特點——競爭。今天這個詞僅表示“模仿”(取其仿效之意)，而在早期美國，它卻意味着為名譽和優秀而進行友好、競爭的拼搏。
重點句
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.
該句意義：
該句使用了一個多內容的並列結構，其中關係相對等的成分使用了“; ”進行連接。在考研寫作中，當各位同學們要從眾多的原因中羅列幾個，並且着重點出一個時，可以仿照該句用分號表示並列，用短語突出其中之一。
該句語法：
(1)介詞短語作狀語：Among the many shaping factors
(2)定語從句：that welcomed the new technology
(3)介詞短語作後置定語：of giving premiums to inventors
答案DBBD
rding to the author, the great outburst of major inventions in early America was in a large part due to .
1.根據作者的觀點，促成美國早期發明創造熱的主要原因是 。
[A] elementary schools
[A] 初等教育
[B] enthusiastic workers
[B] 充滿熱情的工人
[C] the attractive premium system
[C] 吸引人的獎勵制度
[D] a special way of thinking
[D] 特殊的思維方式
is implied that adaptiveness and inventiveness of the early American mechanics .
2.文中暗示了美國早期技工的適應性和創造性 。
[A] benefited a lot from their mathematical knowledge
[A] 很大程度上得益於數學知識
[B] shed light on disciplined school management
[B] 解釋了嚴格的學校管理
[C] was brought about by privileged home training
[C] 產生於優越的家庭訓練
[D] owed a lot to the technological development
[D] 在很大程度上歸功於技術的發展
3.A technologist can be compared to an artist because .
3.把技術專家比做藝術家的原因是 。
[A] they are both winners of awards
[A] 他們都是獲獎者
[B] they are both experts in spatial thinking
[B] 他們都是空間思維的專家
[C] they both abandon verbal description
[C] 他們都放棄了語言描述
[D] they both use various instruments
[D] 他們都使用多種工具
best title for this passage might be .
4.本文最恰當的標題是 。
[A] Inventive Mind
[A] 發明創造精神
[B] Effective Schooling
[B] 有效的教育
[C] Ways of Thinking
[C] 思維方式
[D] Outpouring of Inventions
[D] 發明熱
