[讨论]GWD3-6~7

   In American Genesis, which covers

       the century of technological innovation

       in the United States beginning in 1876,

Line       Thomas Hughes assigns special promi-

  (5)      nence to Thomas Edison as archetype

of the independent nineteenth-century

inventor.  However, Hughes virtually

ignores Edison’s famous contem-

porary and notorious adversary in

 (10)      the field of electric light and power,

George Westinghouse.  This com-

parative neglect of Westinghouse is

consistent with other recent historians’

works, although it marks an intriguing

 (15)      departure from the prevailing view

during the inventors’ lifetimes (and for

decades afterward) of Edison and

Westinghouse as the two “pioneer

innovators” of the electrical industry.

 (20)           My recent reevaluation of Westing-

       house, facilitated by materials found

       in railroad archives, suggests that

while Westinghouse and Edison shared

important traits as inventors, they

 (25)      differed markedly in their approach to

the business aspects of innovation.

For Edison as an inventor, novelty

was always paramount:  the overriding

goal of the business of innovation was

 (30)      simply to generate funding for new

inventions.  Edison therefore undertook

just enough sales, product development,

       and manufacturing to accomplish this.

Westinghouse, however, shared the

 (35)      attitudes of the railroads and other

industries for whom he developed

innovations:  product development,

standardization, system, and order

were top priorities.  Westinghouse

 (40)      thus better exemplifies the systematic

approach to technological development

that would become a hallmark of modern

corporate research and development.

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According to the passage, Edison’s chief concern as an inventor was the

1. availability of a commercial market
2. costs of developing a prototype
3. originality of his inventions
4. maintenance of high standards throughout production
5. generation of enough profits to pay for continued marketing

答案是C，我选了B，因为文中说the overriding goal of the business of innovation was simply to generate funding for new inventions。我的理解是爱迪生只考虑做原型prototype 所需的费用，不考虑市场化

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Q7:

The author of the passage implies that the shift away from the views of Westinghouse’s contemporaries should be regarded as

1. a natural outgrowth of the recent revival of interest in Edison
2. a result of scholarship based on previously unknown documents
3. reflective of modern neglect of the views of previous generations
4. inevitable, given the changing trends in historical interpretations
5. surprising, given the stature that Westinghouse once had

答案是E， 我的答案是A，因为文中说This comparative neglect of Westinghouse is consistent with other recent historians’ works, although it marks an intriguing departure from the prevailing view during the inventors’ lifetimes ，既然cinsistent with other recent historians’ works，不是很natural吗

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