2. 外语
  3. To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf’s assertion(主张)that social change exists everywher

To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf’s assertion(主张)that social change exists everywher

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问题     To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf’s assertion(主张)that social  change exists everywhere. Technology, the application of knowledge for practical ends, is a major source of social change.
    Yet we would do well to remind ourselves that technology is a human creation; it does not exist naturally.  A spear or a robot is as much a cultural as a physical object. Until humans use a spear to hunt game or a robot to produce machine parts, neither is much more than a solid mass of matter. For a bird looking for an object on which to rest, a spear or robot serves the purpose equally well. The explosion of the Challenger space shuttle(航天飞机)and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl drive home the human quality of technology; they provide cases in which well-planned systems suddenly went haywire(失去控制的)and there was no ready hand to set them right. Since technology is a human creation, we are responsible for what is done with it. Pessimists worry that we will use out technology eventually to blow our world and ourselves to pieces. But they have been saying this for decades, and so far we have managed  to survive and even flourish. Whether we will continue to do so in the years ahead remains uncertain.  Clearly, the impact of technology on our lives deserves a closer examination.
    Few technological developments have had a greater impact on our lives than the computer revolution. Scientists and engineers have designed specialized machines that can do the tasks that once only people could do. There are those who assert(声称) that the switch to an information-based economy is in the same camp as other great historical milestones(里程碑), particularly the industrial revolution. Yet when we ask why the industrial revolution was a revolution, we find that it was not the machines. The primary reason why it was revolutionary is that it led to great social change. It gave rise to mass production and, through mass production, to a society in which wealth was not confined to the few.
    In somewhat similar fashion, computers promise to revolutionize the structure of American life, particularly  as they free the human mind and open new possibilities in knowledge and communication. The industrial revolution supplemented and replaced the muscles of humans and animals by mechanical methods.  The computer extends this development to supplement and replace some aspects of the mind of human beings by electronic methods. It is the capacity of the computer for solving problems and making decisions that represents its greatest potential and that peels the greatest difficulties in predicting the impact on society.
According to the author, the introduction of the computer is a revolution mainly because______.
选项 A、the computer has revolutionized the workings of the human mind
B、the computer can do the tasks that could only be done by people before
C、it has helped to switch to an information technology
D、it has a great potential impact on society
答案D
解析 推理题。本题问的是：作者认为计算机的使用是一种革命的原因是______。根据第3段第1句和第4、5句“Few technological developments have had a greater impact on our lives than the computer revolution．”“Yet when we ask why the industrial revolution was a revolution，We find that it was not the machines．The primary reason why it was revolutionary is that it led to great social change”可知，没有哪一种技术的发展能像计算机革命一样给我们的生活带来巨大的影响。而且工业革命之所以称之为革命，不是因为机器，而是因为带来了巨大的社会变革。文章第4段第1句和第3句“In somewhat similar fashion，computers promise to revolutionize the structure of American life，particularly as they free the human mind and open new possibilities in knowledge and communication．”“The computer extends this development to supplement and replace some aspects of the mind of human beings by electronic methods”更加强化了这样一种观点即计算机以相同的方式(即工业革命的方式)给美国人生活的结构带来变革，特别是解放了人们的思想并为获取知识和交流提供了更多的可能，计算机以电子的方式补充和替代了人们思想的某些方面。实际上也就是像工业革命那样，会带来巨大的社会变革，故选D 。
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