1996 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 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 US 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

64. 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

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

66. The best title for this passage might be ________.
　　[A] Inventive Mind
　　[B] Effective Schooling
　　[C] Ways of Thinking
　　[D] Outpouring of Inventions

重点词汇：

breakthrough（n.突破）←break+through。

premium（奖金）看作pre+mi+um，pre-在前，mi拼音“米”即money，-um后缀表物，“在前面放着的钱”→奖金。

nonverbal（不用语言的）即non+verb+al，non-否定前缀，verb词根“言语”，-al形容词后缀。Gestures are a nonverbal means of expression.打手势是一种非言语的表达方式。

spatial（空间的）即spacial←spac(e)+ial。

trigonometry（三角学）即tri+gon+o+metry，tri-前缀“三”，-gon后缀“…角形”，-o-连接字母，-metry后缀表“测量学”。

stimulus（n.刺激；刺激物）←stimul刺激+us名词后缀。参stimulant（刺激物；兴奋剂），1997年Passage 3。

incentive（动机；鼓励a.激励的）←in+cent+ive，in-前缀，cent单词“分币”引申为“钱”，-tive后缀，“用钱去激励”。incentive — the possibility of getting more money than you can earn 奖励——得到比你挣的钱更多的可能性。

beneficence（恩惠）←benefic+ence，benefic看作benefit，-ence名词后缀。

emulation（竞争；仿效）看作emul(e)+ation，emule即BT出现前极受欢迎的一种P2P下载软件，-ation名词后缀，各种P2P软件为“竞争”而相互“效仿”。

试题解析：

63. [D] 在作者看来，美国早期出现的发明创造热是由几个因素共同促成的，但是，在这些因素中，美国人在思考技术问题时所表现出的非语言的（指：无法用语言表达的）“空间”思维能力起了最大的作用。参阅第二段，持别注意本段中above all的使用。在文章最后三段，作者又对这种持殊的思维方式进行了进一步的、重点的说明。
　　A意为：小学。
　　B意为：充满热情的工人们。
　　C意为：吸引人的奖励制度。
　　[A]、[B]、[C]所谈的内容都是促成美国早期的发明创造热的因素，但都不是主要因素。

64. [A]
　　第三段指出，由于这些学校的存在，我们的技工们基本上都识文断字、熟知算术及某些几何学与三角学知识。可见，早期美国技工的适应能力与创造能力在很大程度上得益于数学知识。第四段对此进行了进一步说明。
　　B意为：解释了学校管理的严格性。
　　C意为：产生于优越的家庭训练。
　　D意为：在很大程度上归功于技术的发展。

65. [B]
　　第八段指出，这种非语言的“空间”思维在创造力方面可以与绘画和写作相比。正如Fulton所指出的：“正像诗人坐在字母中一样，技工应该坐在杠杆、螺钉、楔子、轮子等中间，把它们看作自己思想的展现。在这个展现过程中，每一个新的排列方式都传达一种新的思路。”可见，进行形象的空间思维是这两种人的共同特征。
　　A意为：他们都是获奖者。
　　C意为：他们都放弃了语言的描述。善于进行非语言的空间思维不等于说放弃语言的表达。
　　D意为：他们都使用各式各样的工具。

66. [A] 意为：创造精神。
　　文章第一、二段是自问自答，提出了本文旨在论证的问题；第三、四段指出了教育的影响；第五、六段指出了奖励制度带来的鼓励的影响；第七、八段探讨了早期美国人特有的思维方式所起的决定性作用。最后一段是全文的总结。可见，本文主要探讨了早期美国人的创造热情及其根源。
　　B意为：有效的教育。
　　C意为：思维方式。
　　D意为：发明热。
　　可见，[B]、[C]、[D]都太抽象而且片面。