GWD3-Q7(讨论帖中很多是另一篇文章,我这个是GWD31套里的题号)

maypurple

Q5 to Q7:

       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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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，　虽然知道要看原文红字标注的，但还是不明白为什么是surprising NN指教啊

lukeleng

红色否定Ｂbased on previously unknown documents，是ignores

although it marks an intriguing　departure from the prevailing view

intriguing＝something that is interesting because it is strange ,mysterious,or unexpected.

加上最后一句Westinghouse     thus better exemplifies the systematic
     

approach to technological development

that would become a hallmark of modern

corporate research and development.

跟 Thomas Hughes 相反的观点

就是surprising

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-6 18:15:34编辑过]

lukeleng

两个人，两家公司，交流电对直流电．

威斯汀豪斯－托马斯爱迪生

美国发明家和企业家。1846年 10月6日生于纽约。1914年 3月12日去世。威斯汀豪斯于1890年在美国取得哲学博士学位，1906年又在柏林皇家高等技术学校取得博士学位。他早期曾在他父亲的农业机械厂工作。1868年因发明空气制动器而闻名，1869年成立威斯汀豪斯空气制动器公司。此后，气动装置开始用于控制道岔和信号系统。1885年后，威斯汀豪斯在电灯和电力系统中引进交流输电和配电，资助N.泰斯拉发展交流感应电动机，为机械的电气化和纽约地下铁路创造了条件。他曾设计天然气远距管道运输和控制系统，使家庭和工厂应用天然气得以实现。1890年前后，威斯汀豪斯在和T.A.爱迪生关于交直流输电上的论战中取胜，这对交流电在美国广泛应用和他的公司承建尼亚加拉大瀑布发电站有重大影响。

通用电气公司的历史可追溯到托马斯·爱迪生，他于1878年创立了爱迪生电灯公司。1892年，爱迪生通用电气公司和汤姆森－休斯顿电气公司合并，成立了通用电气公司(GE)。

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-6 20:14:54编辑过]