2. 职称英语
  3. To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf

To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf

游客2025-04-20  23
问题     To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf’s assertion 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 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 and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl make people see how important the human quality of technology is: they provide cases in which well-planned systems suddenly became completely disordered 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 our 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 that the switch to an information-based economy is in the same camp as other great historical milestones, 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 a revolution 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 emends 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 poses the greatest difficulties in predicting the impact on society. [br] The examples of the Challenger and Chernobyl cited by the author serve to show that______.
选项 A、if not given close examination, technology could be used to destroy our world
B、technology is a human creation, so we are responsible for it
C、technology usually goes wrong, if not controlled by man
D、being a human creation, technology is liable to error
答案 A
解析 题目问：作者引用的挑战者号航天飞机爆炸和切尔诺贝利核泄漏的例子是想表明什么?第二段：The explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl make people see howimportant the human quality of technology is；they provide cases in which well—planned systems suddenly becamecompletely disordered and there was no ready hand to set them right．通过这段话可知，挑战者号航天飞机的爆炸和俄罗斯在切尔诺贝利的核事故让人们看到了技术的人性化是多么的重要，这些事故表明了那些经过周密计划的系统会突然变得混乱，也不可能让它们恢复到正常轨道上来。据此判断，答案是A。
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