Many objects in daily use have clearly been influenced by science. However, their form and function, their dimensions and appearance, were determined by technologists, designers, inventors, and engineers using nonscientific modes of thought. Many features and qualities of the objects that a technologist thinks about cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in the mind by a visual, nonverbal process, pyramids, cathedrals, and rockets exist not because of geometry or thermos-dynamics (熱動力學), because they were first the picture in the minds of those.
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 express 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 the valves be placed? Would it have a long or short piston? Such questions have a range of answers that are supplied by experience, by physical requirement, by limitations of available space, and not in the least by a sense of form. Some decisions, such as wall thickness and pin diameter, may depend on scientific calculations, but the nonscientific component design remains primary.
Design courses, then should be an essential element of engineering curricula. Nonverbal thinking, a central mechanism in engineering design, involves perceptions, which is the special technique of the artists, not the scientist. Because perceptive processes are not assumed to need "hard thinking", nonverbal thought is sometimes seen as a primitive stage in the development of cognitive processes and inferior to verbal mathematical thought.
If courses in design, which in a strongly analytical engineering curriculum provide the background required for practical problem-solving, are not provided, we can expect to encounter silly but costly errors occurring in advanced engineering systems. For example, early modes of high-speed railroad cars loaded with sophisticated controls were unable to operate in a snowstorm because the fan sucked snow into the electrical system. Absurd random failures that plague automatic control systems are a reflection of the chaos that results when design is assumed to be primarily a problem in mathematics.
57. In the passage, what is the writer primarily concerned with?
A) Identifying the kinds of thinking that are used by technologists.
B) Stressing the importance of scientific thinking in engineering design.
C) Proposing a new role for nonscientific thinking in engineering.
D) Contrasting the goals of engineers with those of technologists.

58. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an example of nonverbal thinking in Paragraphs 1 and 2?
A) Building cathedrals. B) Creating rockets.
C) Designing diesel engines. D) Making automobiles.

59. It can be inferred that the writer thinks engineering curricula are ______.
A) strengthened when they include courses in design
B) weakened by the courses designed to develop mathematical skills
C) weak because they include some non-scientific components
D) strong despite the absence of nonscientific modes of thinking

60. Why is the example of diesel engine used in the passage?
A) To challenge the argument that errors in engineering design are unavoidable.
B) To support the idea that engineering design involves more than a sense of form.
C) To criticize the view that mathematics is a necessary part of the study of design.
D) To questions the idea that design courses form a part of engineering curricula.

61. What contributes to random failures in automatic control systems?
A) Using too many inexperienced engineers in the field.
B) Relying too heavily on the role of mathematics in design.
C) Attaching too much importance to nonverbal thinking in Engineering.
D) Depending very little on verbal mathematical thought.

57--61 CDABB
57.主旨題。通讀本篇文章，第一段中提到日常生活中很多物品被科學所影響，然而也有很多被nonscientific thinking所影響;第二段中提到nonscientific thinking在生活中處處可見，并舉例說明;第三段中提到設計課程本來是純科學的，但電應該引進nonscientific thinking;最后一段用一個反面例子論證如果設計小引入nonscientific thinking in engineering后果，因此正確答案為C項。
58.細節查找題。從第一、二段中找出在論述nonverbal thinking 時“未提及的例證”，閱讀并比對發現作者提及了pyramids，cathedrals，rockets和diesel engine，因而此正確答案為D項。
59.推斷題。由最后一段第一句“If courses in design...are not provided，we can expect to encounter silly but costly errors occurring in advanced engineering system.”可見設計是一門強分析的工程科目，能提供解決實際問題所需的背景知識。如果工程學里不引入設計課，則大的工程系統很可能面臨愚蠢、巨大的錯誤。由此可以推斷作者認為工程學是一門科學，工程學里必須有設計科目，設計科目必須有nonscientific thinking。引入了nonscientific thinking的設計課將會更好，引入了設計科目的工程學將會更強，因此正確答案為A項。
60.因果推斷題。第二段中引用柴油發動機例子是為了說明，由“supplied by experience，by physical requirement，by limitations of available space，and not in the least by a sense of form”可知其構造主要由經驗、物理條件、有限空間和對形態把握的感覺決定。因此正確答案為B項。
61.理解判斷題。由文章最后一句“Absurd random failures that plague automatic control systems are a reflection of the chaos that results when design is assumed to be primarily a problem in mathematics.”可知正確答案為B項。