Unit one
Elementary Schools in early America
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.
invention n. 1.發明,發明物 2.捏造,虛構
inventor n.發明家,發明者
[聯想詞]
inventory n.1.詳細目錄 2.存貨清單
breakthhrough n. 1.突圍,突破 2.重大成就,驚人發現
[聯想詞]
breakdown n. 1.垮臺,破裂 2.衰竭,衰弱 3.損壞,故障 4.分類
premium n. 1.保險金 2.額外費用 3. 獎品,贈品,額外津貼
a. 1.高級的,優質的 2.售價高的
[聯想詞]
subsidy n. 津貼,補貼
verbal a. 1.口頭的 2.用言辭的,用文字的
[聯想詞]
vocal a. 發聲的,嗓音的
spatial a. 空間的,與空間有關的
literacy n.識字,有文化,讀寫能力
literate a.1.有讀寫能力的 2.有文化修養的
stimulus n. 1.促進 2.刺激
[聯想詞]
provocation n. 1.挑釁,挑撥 2.刺激,激怒
provocative a. 1.挑釁的,煽動的 2.刺激的
precede vt. 在...之前,先于
precedent n. 1.先例,范例,判例 2.慣例
patent n.專利,專利權
a.專利(權)的,受專利保護的
vt.得到...的專利權
originate vi. 起源于,來自,產生
vt.創造,創始,開創
[聯想詞]
commence v.開始
incentive n.刺激,鼓勵
multitude n. 1.大量,許多 2.大眾,民眾
ambiguous a.引起歧義的,模式棱兩可的,含糊不清的
[聯想詞]
indefinite a. 1.不明確的,含糊的 2.無限期的
exdplicit a. 1.明確的,明晰的;詳述的 2.直言的,毫不隱瞞的,露骨的
manipulate vt. 1.操縱,控制,影響 2.操作,使用
lever n. 1.杠桿 2.途徑,工具,手段
vt. 撬動,撬起
wedge n.楔(子) vt. 把...楔入,塞入
[聯想詞]
groove n. 溝,槽
hinge n. 鉸鏈
interact vi. 相互作用,相互影響
emulation n. 1.競賽,競爭 2.仿效,仿真
imitation n. 1.模仿 2.仿制,仿制品 3.贗品
strive vi. 努力,奮斗,力求
sculpture n.1.雕刻,雕塑 2.雕刻作品,雕塑品
[聯想詞]
carve vt. 1.切,把...切碎 2.雕刻,刻
engrave vt. 1.在...上雕刻 2.使銘記,使牢記
statue n. 雕像,塑像
bust n. 1.胸像,半身像 2.胸部,胸圍
marble n. 1.大理石
diploma n. 畢業文憑,畢業證書,資格證書
[聯想詞]
diplomat n. 1.外交官,外交家 2.有交際手段的人,圓滑的人
perpetual a. 1.永久的,永恒的,長期的 2.無休止的,沒完沒了的