考研英语阅读命题思路透析和真题揭秘(48)

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.

在早期美国，像电报、汽船和织布机这样重大的发明和突破纷涌而出，各种原因是什么呢？

在诸多成因中，我想特别指出这个国家优秀的基础教育、欢迎新技术的劳动大军、奖励发明者的做法、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。

为什么要提小学教育？正是因为有了这些学校，我们的早期技工才普遍能够读书认字、精通算术、并且了解一些几何和三角，尤其是在新英格兰和大西洋中部各州。

在目光敏锐的外国观察家眼里，美国人的适应能力和创新能力与这种教育优势是分不开的。正如1853年访美的一个英国访问团成员所报道的那样，"由于美国的孩子们在学校接受过彻底的训练，他们能够迅速地成长为技术熟练的工人。"

对发明创造的另一刺激因素来自"奖励"制度，它产生于专利制度之前，且与后者共存了许多年。这种做法源自国外，它不仅为发明者颁发奖章和奖金，也带来了其他奖励。

在美国，乡村博览会和在大城市中举办的工业博览会大量地颁发各种奖项给新发明。美国人纷纷涌向这些博览会去欣赏新机器，因而更加坚信技术进步将会造福人类。

由于对这种对技术革新的乐观态度，美国工人很快便接受了机械技术需要的那种特殊的非语言的思维方式。正如尤金·弗格森曾指出的那样："技术人员思考的东西是无法用明确的语言来表述的；这些东西在他们的头脑中通过想象的、非语言性的方式被处理加工......设计者和发明者......能在头脑中组装和操作那些尚不存在的机器。"

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。"

当所有这些因素--学校、开放的态度、奖励制度及空间思维天赋--在富饶的美国大陆上相互作用时，便造就了美国人的特性：竞争。今天这个词仅意味着"模仿"，但在早期美国，它却意味着为名誉和出类拔萃而进行友好且激烈的竞争。