. By "a well-oiled cog in the machinery" the author intends to render the idea that man is
A. a necessary part of the society though each individual's function is negligible
B. working in complete harmony with the rest of the society
C. an unimportant part in comparison with the rest of the society, though functioning
smoothly
D. a humble component of the society, especially when working smoothly
37 . The real cause of the anxiety of the workers and employees is that
A. they are likely to lose their jobs
B. they have no genuine satisfaction or interest in life
C. they are faced with the fundamental realities of human existence
D. they are deprtved of their individuality and independence
38. From the passage we can infer that real happiness of life belongs to those
A. who are at the bottom of the society
B. who are higher up in their social status
C. who prove better than their fellow-competitors
D. who could keep far away from this competitive world
39. To solve the present social problems the author suggests that we should
A. resort to the production mode of our ancestors
B. offer higher wages to the workers and employees
C. enable man to fully develop his potentialities
D. take the fundamental realities for granted
40 . The author's attitude towards industrialism might best be summarized as one of __
A. approval B. dissatisfaction
C. suspicion D. tolerance
3
When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: he
can give the invention to the world by publishing it, keep the idea secret, or patent it.
A granted patent is the result of a bargain struck between an inventor and the state, by
which the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly (垄断) and publishes full details of his in-
vention to the public after that period terminates.
Only in the most exceptional circumstances is the lifespan of a patent extended to alter this
normal process of events.
The longest extension ever granted was to Georges Valensi; his 1939 patent for color TV re-
ceiver circuitry was extended until 1971 because for most of the patent' s normal life there was no
colour TV to receive and thus no hope of reward for the invention.
Because a patent remains permanently public after it has terminated, the shelves of the li-
brary attached to the patent office contain details of literally millions of ideas that are free for any-
one to use and , if older than half a century, sometimes even re-patent. Indeed, patent experts of-
ten advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through live patents that
the one sure way of avoiding violation of any other inventor' s right is to plagiarize a dead patent.
Likewise , because publication of an idea in any other form permanently invalidates further patents
on that idea, it is traditionally safe to take ideas from other areas of print. Much modern techn
上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] 下一页
