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本文是一篇介绍美国早期发明创造热的文章。

Eugene Ferguson

Robert Fulton
U.S.

etc.
文中22s处有分号；

64s处、71s处有破折号


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.
有了这种对技术革新的乐观态度，美国工人很快便习惯了机械技术需要的那种特别的非语言的思维方式。正如尤金•弗格森曾指出的：“技术人员思考那些不能被简化为用明确的语言进行描述的物体；这些物体在他的头脑中以视觉性的、非语言性的方式被处理加工…设计者和发明者…能把那些尚不存在的机械在头脑中组装和操作。” 这种非语言的空间思维方式与绘画和写作一样具有创意。罗伯特•法欧曾写道：“技术人员坐在杠杆、螺钉、楔子、轮子等中间，如同一位诗人处在词汇之中，应该把它们看做是自己思想的一种表达，每一个新的组合都能传达一个新的意念。” 当所有这些成因——学校、开放的态度、奖赏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点——竞争。今天这个词仅表示“模仿”（取其仿效之意），而在早期美国，它却意味着为名誉和优秀而进行友好、竞争的拼搏。