Man has been storing up useful knowledge about himself and the universe at the rate which has been spiraling upward for 10000 years.
The __1_ took a sharp upward leap with the invention of writing,but even __2_ it remained painfully slow for several centuries.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 1500,by the most optimistic __6_,Europ was producing books at a rate of 1000 titles per year.This means that it __7_ a full century to produce a library of 100000 titles.By 1950,four and a half __8_later,the rate had accelerated so sharply that Europe was producing 120000 ttitles 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_ 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 contioned,we could by now have added only two or three additional elements to the periodic table since Gutenberg.__20_,in the 450 years after the time,certain people discovered some seventy additional elements.And since 1900 we have been isolating the remaining elements not a rate of one every two centuries,but of one every three years.
1） A accumulation B development C knowledge D rate
2） A so B if C then D when
3） A to B by C from D in
4） A until B since C when D before
5） A as B due C prior D next
6） A examples B estimates C evidence D evaluation
7） A would take B had taken C was taking D would have taken
8） A decades B centuries C dozens D years
9） A this B these C it D what
10） A plain B historic C single D eventful
11） A now that B so that C as D when
12） A however B but C and D therefore
13） A scope B sphere C scale D stretch
14） A therefore B hardly C accordingly D therefore
15） A line B circle C diagram D curve
16） A fit B like C resemble D parallel
17） A about B only C more than D less than
18） A in B at C on D for
19） A as B had C if D with
20） A in addition B in turn C instead D in particular |
