单选题 Man has been storing up useful knowledge about himself and the universe at the rate which has been spiraling upward for 10,000 years.
The 1 took a sharp upward leap with the invention of writing, but even 2 it remained painfully slow for several centuries. In Europe the next great leap forward 3 knowledge acquisition did not occur 4 the invention of movable type in the 15th century by Gutenberg and others. 5 to 1,500, by the most optimistic 6 , Europe was producing books at a rate of 1,000 titles per year. This means that it 7 a full century to produce a library of 100,000 titles. By 1950, four and a half 8 later, the rate had accelerated so sharply that Europe was producing 120,000 titles a year. 9 once took a century now took only ten months. By 1960, a 10 decade later, the rate had made another significant jump, 11 a century"s work could be finished in seven and a half months. 12 , by the mid-sixties, the output of books on a world 13 , Europe included, approached the prodigious figure of 900 titles per day.
One can 14 argue that every book is a net gain for the advancement of knowledge. Nevertheless we find that the accelerative 15 in book publication does, in fact, crudely 16 the rate at which man discovered new knowledge. For example, prior to Gutenberg 17 11 chemical elements were known. Antimony, the 12th, was discovered 18 about the time he was working on his invention. It was fully 200 years since the 11th, arsenic, had been discovered. 19 the same rate of discovery continued, we would by now have added only two or three additional elements to the periodic table since Gutenberg. 20 , in the 450 years after his time, certain people discovered some seventy additional elements. And since 1900 we have been isolating the remaining elements not at a rate of one every two centuries, but of one every three years.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] the rate“速率”,全文自始至终都在谈存储知识——出版书的速率问题。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] even so“即使这样”。
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] in knowledge acquisition“在知识的获得方面”。“在…方面”应用in。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] not…until“直到…才”,固定搭配。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] prior to“在…之前”,固定搭配。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] by the most optimistic estimates“依最乐观的估计”。estimate“估计,猜测”,如It is estimated that the painting was worth of $20,000 at that time。evaluation“评估”,如risk evaluation“风险评估”。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 过去将来时。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 从1500年到1950年,正好是4个半世纪,因此选centuries。
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 主语从句,既缺少主语又缺少关联词。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 从上文by 1950,by 1960看,强调的是时间的短暂性,只用了一个10年。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] so that“以至于”;now that=since“既然”。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 从下文20世纪60年代中期书的产量来看,文章是要表达20世纪60年代一个世纪的工作在7个半月完成的并列关系,都突出了时间的快速。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] sphere“球”;stretch表示“地方;空间”;scope表示“覆盖面的宽,用于指空间”; scale表示“大,巨大”,表程度。on a world scale“在世界范围内”,表示一种程度,而不是空间范围。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] hardly“几乎不能”,本句意为我们并不能说,每本书都能促进知识的进步。
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] diagram“示意图,图解”;curve“曲线图”。本文指的是曲线图。
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] parallel“和…平行”。本句意为出版速率曲线和发现新知识的速率曲线平行相似,因此最好选parallel,而不是resemble。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] only“仅仅”。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] at the time“在那时”。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 本句是表示与过去事实相反的虚拟语气,省略if,助动词had提前。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] instead“而”,表示与前面陈述的事实相反。