Part II、真題解題
1993年Passage 3
When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: he
can give the invention to the world by publishing it, keep the idea secret, or patent it.
A granted patent is the result of a bargain struck between an inventor and the state, by which the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly (壟斷) and publishes full details of his invention to the public after that period terminates. Only in the most exceptional circumstances is the lifespan of a patent extended to alter this normal process of events.
The longest extension ever granted was to Georges Valensi; his 1939 patent for color TV receiver circuitry was extended until 1971 because for most of the patent' s normal life there was no colour TV to receive and thus no hope of reward for the invention.
Because a patent remains permanently public after it has terminated, the shelves of the library attached to the patent office contain details of literally millions of ideas that are free for anyone to use and, if older than half a century, sometimes even re-patent. Indeed, patent experts often advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through live patents that the one sure way of avoiding violation of any other inventor' s right is to plagiarize a dead patent. Likewise, because publication of an idea in any other form permanently invalidates further patents on that idea, it is traditionally safe to take ideas from other areas of print. Much modern technological advance is based on these presumptions of legal security.
Anyone closely involved in patents and inventions soon learns that most "new" ideas are, in fact, as old as the hills. It is their reduction to commercial practice, either through necessity or dedication, or through the availability of new technology, that makes news and money. The basic patent for the theory of magnetic recording dates back to 1886. Many of the original ideas behind television originate from the late 19th and early 20th century. Even the Volkswagen rear engine car was anticipated by a 1904 patent for a cart with the horse at the rear.
44. The word "plagiarize" (line 8, Para. 5) most probably means _
[A] steal and use
[B] give reward to
[C] make public
[D] take and change
[答案] A
[解題思路]
本題所在的原文為"Indeed, patent experts often advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through live patents that the one sure way of avoiding violation of any other inventor' s right is to plagiarize a dead paten"（實(shí)際上，專利專家們常對(duì)希望開(kāi)發(fā)有效專利而又想避免高額費(fèi)用的人提出建議，即避免侵犯他人專利權(quán)的有效方法就是使用過(guò)期專利）。B和C選項(xiàng)顯然與原文無(wú)關(guān)，而D選項(xiàng)"change"的意思在文章中沒(méi)有體現(xiàn)出來(lái)。在專利過(guò)期之后，任何人都可以把這個(gè)專利或其想法和流程拿來(lái)使用而不用經(jīng)過(guò)作者的同意，因此就有"steal and use"的意思。實(shí)際上plagiarize這個(gè)詞語(yǔ)的意思就是"抄襲，剽竊：把（他人的觀點(diǎn)或文章）作為自己的使用"。
[題目譯文]
"plagiarize"（第五段第八行）最可能的意思是
[A] 偷來(lái)使用
[B] 給......頒獎(jiǎng)
[C] 使......公開(kāi)
[D] 拿來(lái)并改變
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