Based on the passage provided below regarding technological systems, analyze the contextual meaning of the highlighted term and identify the correct noun referent for the specified pronoun by completing the blanks.
Cevap:Passage:
In his seminal analysis of technological systems, Thomas Hughes introduced the concept of 'technological momentum' to mediate between technological determinism—the view that technical artifacts independently dictate social structures—and social constructivism, which posits that human agency exclusively shapes technological trajectories. Hughes observed that as infrastructural networks grow in scale and capital investment, they acquire a structural inertia akin to momentum. In its formative phase, a nascent system remains remarkably plastic, vulnerable to the competing intentions of system builders and social groups. Once fully consolidated, however, the system exerts a powerful determinative effect upon the society it serves, restricting future policy choices. Scholars examining this mature state often confuse its pervasive influence with intrinsic determinism, failing to recognize that such autonomy is sociotechnically constructed rather than inherent. In discussing this developmental shift, historians emphasize that while societal values shape early technological choices, their subsequent consolidation renders these choices self-perpetuating, effectively transforming contingent human decisions into institutionalized constraints.
Analytical Completion:
1. As used in the passage to describe a nascent technological system, the word 'plastic' most nearly means 【malleable】.
2. In the final sentence of the passage, the possessive pronoun 'their' in the phrase 'their subsequent consolidation' refers to 【early technological choices】.
In his seminal analysis of technological systems, Thomas Hughes introduced the concept of 'technological momentum' to mediate between technological determinism—the view that technical artifacts independently dictate social structures—and social constructivism, which posits that human agency exclusively shapes technological trajectories. Hughes observed that as infrastructural networks grow in scale and capital investment, they acquire a structural inertia akin to momentum. In its formative phase, a nascent system remains remarkably plastic, vulnerable to the competing intentions of system builders and social groups. Once fully consolidated, however, the system exerts a powerful determinative effect upon the society it serves, restricting future policy choices. Scholars examining this mature state often confuse its pervasive influence with intrinsic determinism, failing to recognize that such autonomy is sociotechnically constructed rather than inherent. In discussing this developmental shift, historians emphasize that while societal values shape early technological choices, their subsequent consolidation renders these choices self-perpetuating, effectively transforming contingent human decisions into institutionalized constraints.
Analytical Completion:
1. As used in the passage to describe a nascent technological system, the word 'plastic' most nearly means 【malleable】.
2. In the final sentence of the passage, the possessive pronoun 'their' in the phrase 'their subsequent consolidation' refers to 【early technological choices】.
Cevap
For the first blank, 'plastic' contextually means malleable or flexible. For the second blank, 'their' refers to early technological choices.
In the third sentence, 'plastic' is contrasted with a consolidated system to describe how early technological networks remain open to modification by human agents, making 'malleable' or 'flexible' the precise contextual meaning. In the final sentence, 'their' syntactically and logically refers to 'early technological choices', as these choices undergo consolidation and become self-perpetuating over time.
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Contextual Vocabulary and Pronoun Reference in Reading Comprehension