Lesson 7 On the Industrialization.

The process of industrialization involved the harnessing of inanimate sources of energy, the replacement of handicraft production with machine-based manufacturing, and the generation of new forms of business and labor organization.

Along with industrialization came demographic growth, large-scale migration, and rapid urbanization, which increased the demand for manufactured goods by the masses of working people. Societies that underwent industrialization enjoyed sharp increases in economic productivity: they produced large quantities of high-quality goods at low prices, and their increased productivity translated into higher material standards of living. Yet industrialization brought costs, in the form of unsettling social problems, as well as benefits. Family life changed dramatically in the industrial age as men, women, and children increasingly left their homes to work in factories and mines, often under appalling condition.

Socialist critics sought to bring about a more just and equitable society and government authorities curtailed the worst abuses of the early industrial era. Governments and labor unions both worked to raise living standards and provide security for working people.

Meanwhile, industrialization increasingly touched the lives of peoples around the world. Western European, North American, and Japanese societies followed Britain's lead into industrialization, while many African, Asian, and Latin American land become dependent on the export of raw materials to industrial societies.

inanimate 無生命的；無生氣的（既可以表示生命體征，即死活狀態(tài)，也可以表示精神風(fēng)貌，如有氣無力等）

demographic 人口的；人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)的

urbanization 城市化（隨著工業(yè)化的發(fā)展，還有另一種發(fā)展，即逆城市化 'de-urbanization'）

curtail 縮短；減縮；限制

論工業(yè)化

工業(yè)化進(jìn)程包括利用無生命的能源、以機(jī)器生產(chǎn)代替手工業(yè)生產(chǎn)以及產(chǎn)生新的商業(yè)和勞動(dòng)組織形式。伴隨著工業(yè)化會(huì)出現(xiàn)人口增長(zhǎng)、大規(guī)模移民和快速城市化，這加劇了勞動(dòng)大眾對(duì)工業(yè)制成品的需求。在經(jīng)歷工業(yè)化的社會(huì)里，經(jīng)濟(jì)生產(chǎn)率急速增長(zhǎng)：以低廉的價(jià)格生產(chǎn)出大量的優(yōu)質(zhì)商品，而生產(chǎn)率的增長(zhǎng)提高了物質(zhì)生活水平。然而，在帶來福利的同時(shí)，工業(yè)化也帶來了成本，其體現(xiàn)是那些隨之產(chǎn)生的令人不安的社會(huì)問題。工業(yè)化時(shí)代的家庭生活發(fā)生了急劇的變化，越來越多的男人、女人和兒童離開家園到工廠和礦山工作，他們的工作條件通常極差。社會(huì)主義批判家們?cè)噲D建立一個(gè)更公平和平等的社會(huì)，政府部門制止了早期工業(yè)時(shí)代最嚴(yán)重的弊端。政府和工會(huì)都努力提高人們的生活水平，為勞動(dòng)人民提供保障。同時(shí)，工業(yè)化越來越多地觸及到世界各地人們的生活。在英國(guó)的帶領(lǐng)下，西歐、北美、和日本的社會(huì)相繼進(jìn)入了工業(yè)化時(shí)代，而許多非洲、亞洲，和拉丁美洲的國(guó)家依賴于向工業(yè)社會(huì)出口原材料。