WhenI was five, I once peeled off the paper that enveloped my crayons and snappe-组卷网

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When I was five, I once peeled off the paper that enveloped my crayons and snapped them in two. My great enthusiasm was dampened to find just more crayon inside. When I started writing words with pencils, I would twist them inside a sharpener to see if the pencil lead went all the way through the body. Growing up, I saw my television taken apart to reveal the inner workings that only made sense when I did a degree in physics.

Then I landed a career in engineering, spending six years as part of the team that designed the Shard, a famous building in London. Actually, whether I knew it or not, I was already on a mission to understand how things are formed.

After exploring the big, I decided to turn to the small. I realized whatever matter forms human-made objects, complex devices are made up of fundamental building blocks, without which our complex machinery wouldn’t exist.

It is this idea that inspired my book where I select what I believe are seven core elements that form the basis of the world-the nail, the wheel, the spring, the magnet, the lens, the pump and the string. Together they compose a vast range of innovations in terms of their underlying (潜在的) scientific principles and the fields of engineering they touch. They’ve changed our technology, and had a sweeping impact on our history, arts, culture, communication, political and power structures, etc.

The blender we use to make baby’s food relies on gears (齿轮), which couldn’t exist without the wheel. The speaker on the phone relies on a magnet. Even when we think of larger and more complex objects-diggers, skyscrapers, satellites-we come back to the same seven foundational innovations.

So, look around you, and ask questions about what you see: reignite(重燃) that childhood curiosity. Hopefully, that will inspire you to investigate and lead you to a better understanding of the building blocks of our world.

【小题1】Why does the author mention crayons in paragraph 1?

A．To explain his choice of college major.

B．To demonstrate his fascination with tools.

C．To highlight his disappointment at the discovery.

D．To show his early passion for the insides of objects.

【小题2】What made the author’s book possible?

A．His experience in designing buildings.

B．His understanding of the origin of things.

C．His finding of the components of machinery.

D．His perspective on the operation of the world.

【小题3】What do we know about the seven core elements?

A．They throw light on scientific principles.