雅思G类阅读答案.pdfVIP

第一篇：收音机RadioAutomation

Todaytheyareeverywhere.Productionlinescontrolledbycomputersandoperatedby

robots.Theresnochatterofassemblyworkers,justthewhirrandclickofmachines.

Inthemid-190s,theworkcrlcssfactorywasstillthestuffofsciencefiction.There

werenocomputerstospeakofandelectronicswasprimitive.Yethiddenawayinthe

EnglishcountrysidewasahighlyautomatedproductionlinecalledECME,which

couldturnout1500radioreceiversadaywithalmostnohelpfromhumanhands.

A

JohnSargrove,thevisionaryengineerwhodevelopedthetechnology,waswayahead

ofhistime.Formorethanadecade,Sargrovehadbeentryingtofigureouthowto

makecheaperradios.Automatingthemanufacturingprocesswouldhelp.Butradios

didntlendthemselvestosuchmethods:thereweretoomanypartstofittogetherand

toomanywirestosolder.Evenasimplereceivermighthave30separatecomponents

and8()hand-solderedconnections.Ateverystage,thingshadtobetestedand

inspected.Makingradiosrequiredhighlyskilledlabor-andlotsofit.

B

In19,Sargrovecameupwiththeanswer.Uissolutionwastodispensewithmostof

thefiddlybitsbyinventingaprimitivechip-aslabofBakelitewithallthereceivers

electricalcomponentsandconnectionsembeddedinit.Thiswassomethingthatcould

bemadebymachines,andhedesignedthoseloo.Attheendofthewar,Sargrovebuilt

anautomaticproductionline,whichhecalledECME(electronic

circuit-makingequipment),inasmallfactoryinEffingham,Surrey.

ECMELine

C

AnoperatorsatatoneendofeachECMEline,feedingintheplates.Shedidntneed

muchskill,onlyquickhands.Fromnowon,everythingwa