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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 And the assembly line — the organization of large numbersof men to carry out simple repetitive functions — is outdated.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，旧的技术象征更会引起误解，因为当今最先进的工艺流程是在远离流水装配线和鼓风炉的地方进行的。实际上，在电子技术、太空技术以及大部分新兴工业中，安静和清洁的环境是其特色—有时甚至是必不可少的。而流水装配线—组织大批的人从事简单的重复性的劳动—已经过时。现在该是更换我们的技术象征的时候了—以便赶上技术本身越来越快的变化。
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.
简要地回顾一下交通发展史，工艺技术的这种加速变化往往便可得到生动形象的说明。譬如，有人指出，在公元前6千年的时候，人类远距离交通的最快手段是骆驼运输队，平均每小时8英里。直到公元前大约1千6百年双轮马拉战车的发明，才将最高速度提高到每小时20英里。
