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The old symbols of technology are even more misleading today, when the most advanced technological processes are carried out far from assembly lines or blast furnaces. Indeed, in electronics, in space technology, in most of the new industries, quiet and clean surroundings are characteristic — even sometimes essential. And the assembly line — the organization of large numbersof men to carry out simple repetitive functions — is outdated. It is time for our symbols of technology to change — to catch up with the quickening change in technology itself.
到了今天，舊的技術(shù)象征更會引起誤解，因為當(dāng)今最先進(jìn)的工藝流程是在遠(yuǎn)離流水裝配線和鼓風(fēng)爐的地方進(jìn)行的。實際上，在電子技術(shù)、太空技術(shù)以及大部分新興工業(yè)中，安靜和清潔的環(huán)境是其特色—有時甚至是必不可少的。而流水裝配線—組織大批的人從事簡單的重復(fù)性的勞動—已經(jīng)過時。現(xiàn)在該是更換我們的技術(shù)象征的時候了—以便趕上技術(shù)本身越來越快的變化。
This acceleration is frequently dramatized by a brief account of the progress in transportation.It has been pointed out, for example, that in 6000 BC the fastest transportation available to man over long distances was the camel caravan, averaging eight miles per hour(mph). It was notuntil about 1600 BC when the chariot was invented that the maximum speed was raised to roughly twenty miles per hour.
簡要地回顧一下交通發(fā)展史，工藝技術(shù)的這種加速變化往往便可得到生動形象的說明。譬如，有人指出，在公元前6千年的時候，人類遠(yuǎn)距離交通的最快手段是駱駝運輸隊，平均每小時8英里。直到公元前大約1千6百年雙輪馬拉戰(zhàn)車的發(fā)明，才將最高速度提高到每小時20英里。
