考研英语

原文、二段：

Many objects in daily use have clearly been influenced by science,but their form and function,their dimensions and appearance,were determined by technologists,artisans,designers,inventors,and engineers &mdash using nonscientific modes of thought. Many features and qualities of the objects that a technologist thinks about cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptionsthey are dealt with in the mind by a visual,nonverbal process. In the development of Western technology,it has been nonverbal thinking,by and large,that has fixed the outlines and filled in the details of our material surroundings. Pyramids,cathedrals,and rockets exist not because of geometry or thermodynamics,but because they were first a picture in the minds of those who built them.

The creative shaping process of a technologist''s mind can be seen in nearly every artifact that exists. For example,in designing a diesel engine,a technologist might impress individual ways of nonverbal thinking on the machine by continually using an intuitive sense of rightness and fitness. What would be the shape of the combustion chamber? Where should be valves be placed? Should it have a long or short piston? Such questions have a range of answers that are supplied by experience,by physical requirements,by limitations of available space,and not least by a sense of form. Some decisions such as wall thickness and pin diameter,may depend on scientific calculations,but the nonscientific component of design remains primary.

3.Which of the following statements best illustrates the main point of the first two paragraphs of the text?

[A] When a machine like a rotary engine malfunctions,it is the technologist who is best equipped to repair it.

[B] Each component of an automobile &mdash for example,the engine or the fuel tank &mdash has a shape that has been scientifically determined to be best suited to that component''s function.

[C] A telephone is a complex instrument designed by technologists using only nonverbal thought.

[D] The distinctive features of a suspension bridge reflect its designer''s conceptualization as well as the physical requirements of its site.

「答案」D

「考点解析」本题是一道细节归纳推导题。其实只要考生抓住段中的中心主旨句(倒数第二句)和第二段中的中心主旨句(倒数句)，就不难寻找出本题的正确答案D.要想知道某一段的主要含义就要首先找出该段的中心主旨句。另外考生在破解此类题型时还要善于根据中心主旨句进行合理的逻辑推导。