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  3. My car’s gear lever does more than dispense transmission rations. It panders

My car’s gear lever does more than dispense transmission rations. It panders

游客2023-12-03  22
问题     My car’s gear lever does more than dispense transmission rations. It panders to me. It cajoles and beckons. It wears out its chrome heart to make my life easier, for—as its manufacturers are quick to claim—the company devotes hundreds of man-hours to testing and retesting each possible design and configuration to see which does the job best. Which shape fits most naturally into a human hand? Which covering is most pleasing? And which overall look makes your fingers tremble with anticipation?
    This curious pursuit, reputedly espoused by and entrenched within all of today’s major manufacturing firms, is called ergonomics, defined as "the degree to which the system has been developed with the human user in mind". Personally, I like the sound of the word. I wish only that the results lived up to the hype.
    Recently, for example, I purchased a rowing machine for home exercise. Within minutes of unwrapping my booty, I realized the unit I was so cautiously dissecting did not in any way match the color picture on the box. The assembly instructions hinted darkly that putting the contraption together would be only slightly less complex than building a nuclear reactor. Perseverance paid off, however. After applying equal amounts of time and luck, I was finally able to make my rower. But the only cogent ergonomic thought that went into the design of this product was the shape of the cardboard container it was packed in. That’s ergonomics in the real world.
    Take videocassette recorders: VCRs are like snowflakes—no two are quite alike. While all are intended to do more or less the same things—play, record now, record later—the actual designs are about as consistent and predictable as a roulette wheel. If you lose or misplace the manual, you end up with little more than a digital clock.
    And then there is the ubiquitous microwave oven. What do those "low","medium" and "high" settings really hint at? Show me a consumer sufficiently schooled in the effect of microwave transmissions on food molecules to properly—and intuitively—select the optimal setting! Only small children, bless then, seem to know how to make these machines bend to their wills. "Put it on high and blast it," says my nine-year-old niece. I do. It works.
    Can anyone truly say the modern car is designed with the human user in mind? Recall the last time you plopped behind the wheel of your neighbor’s new vehicle. How quickly did you find the knob that popped open the bonnet or the hood? Were you able to adjust the left-side mirror without adjusting the right-side mirror, activating the headlight washers or wipers, or possibly lowering the convertible top? Did you know which lever to push or pull to slide the seat forward without simultaneously upsetting the angle of the seat back or exploding the pneumatically pressured back-support?
    As with most of today’s products, the only thing we really know about car seats is that, given the correct incentive, they will move. Beyond that, you—and your ergonomically inspired intuition—are completely on your own. [br] It can be inferred from the third paragraph that______.
选项 A、ergonomics is nothing but an illusion
B、the philosophy of ergonomics is not practiced faithfully
C、the rowing machine is carefully designed into a desirable shape
D、the writer likes assembling the parts of a rowing machine
答案 B
解析 推断题。第三段中作者以购买一台划船练习机的经历为例来说明在现实中商家是如何执行人体工程学的理念的：划船练习机的组装指南模糊地暗示，组装该机器比建造一座核反应堆简单不了多少……这个产品设计中唯一令人信服的人类工程学理念就是外包装厚纸板容器的形状了。可见，作者认为在现实生活中人体工程学理念没有得到很好的贯彻执行，故[B]为答案。作者并没有对“ergonomics”表现出彻底的失望，不能说该理念是一种幻想，故排除[A]；该段提到外包装的形状体现了人体工程学理念，但并未提及划船练习机的外形经过精心设计，故排除[C]；该段没有提到作者喜欢组装零部件，故排除[D]。
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