历年考研英语阅读理解mp3(96-4)

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[00:03.79]1996 Passage4
[00:07.41]What accounts for the great outburst
[00:09.50]of major inventions in early America
[00:12.62]--breakthroughs such as the telegraph,
[00:14.94]the steamboat and the weaving machine?
[00:18.62]Among the many shaping factors,
[00:20.94]I would single out the country's excellent elementary schools;
[00:24.57]a labor¹ force that welcomed the new technology;
[00:27.70]the practice of giving premiums³ to inventors;
[00:31.02]and above all the American genius for nonverbal,
[00:34.95]"spatial⁴" thinking about things technological⁵.
[00:39.24]Why mention the elementary schools?
[00:42.15]Because thanks to these schools our early mechanics,
[00:45.88]especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states,
[00:49.52]were generally literate⁶ and at home in arithmetic
[00:52.95]and in some aspects of geometry and trigonometry.
[00:57.29]Acute foreign observers related American adaptiveness
[01:01.22]and inventiveness to this educational advantage.
[01:05.34]As a member of a British commission visiting here
[01:08.07]in 1853 reported,
[01:10.49]"With a mind prepared by thorough school discipline,
[01:14.11]the American boy develops rapidly into the skilled workman."
[01:19.16]A further stimulus⁷ to invention
[01:21.38]came from the "premium²" system,
[01:23.49]which preceded our patent system
[01:25.81]and for years ran parallel with it.
[01:28.95]This approach, originated abroad, offered inventors medals,
[01:33.08]cash prizes and other incentives⁸.
[01:36.51]In the United States,
[01:38.42]multitudes of premiums for new devices
[01:41.35]were awarded at country fairs
[01:43.77]and at the industrial fairs in major cities.
[01:47.20]Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines
[01:51.63]and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence
[01:54.55]of technological advance.
[01:57.48]Given this optimistic approach to technological innovation,
[02:01.44]the American worker took readily to
[02:03.85]that special kind of nonverbal thinking required
[02:06.57]in mechanical technology.
[02:09.19]As Eugene Ferguson has pointed⁹ out,
[02:11.71]"A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be reduced
[02:15.64]to unambiguous verbal descriptions;
[02:18.57]they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process...
[02:23.71]The designer and the inventor...
[02:25.74]are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices
[02:29.96]that as yet do not exist."
[02:33.06]This nonverbal "spatial" thinking can be just as creative
[02:37.26]as painting and writing.
[02:39.62]Robert Fulton once wrote,
[02:41.64]"The mechanic should sit down among levers,
[02:44.47]screws, wedges, wheels, etc.,
[02:48.09]like a poet among the letters of the alphabet,
[02:51.12]considering them as exhibition of his thoughts,
[02:54.45]in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea."
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[02:59.06]When all these shaping forces--schools,
[03:02.08]open attitudes, the premium system,
[03:05.01]a genius for spatial thinking
[03:07.48]--interacted with one another on the rich U.S. mainland,
[03:11.52]they produced that American characteristic, emulation¹⁰.
[03:16.05]Today that word implies mere¹¹ imitation.
[03:19.78]But in earlier times it meant a friendly
[03:22.38]but competitive striving for fame and excellence¹².

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

3 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

5 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

6 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

7 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

8 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

10 emulation   

n.竞争；仿效

参考例句：

• The young man worked hard in emulation of his famous father.这位年轻人努力工作，要迎头赶上他出名的父亲。
• His spirit of assiduous study is worthy of emulation.他刻苦钻研的精神，值得效法。

11 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

12 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。