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.

41. The passage is mainly about
[A] an approach to patents     
[B] the application for patents
[C] the use of patents   
[D] the access to patents

[答案] D

[解題思路]

本題有一定難度。縱觀全文，作者首先提出了發明者對于其發明的東西可以用三種方式處理其發明，引出專利這個話題。第二和三段介紹了關于專利的一些情況，而最后兩段則進入了本篇文章主要關注的一個方面，即如何得到專利的信息、以及如何把一些專利項目用于商業用途。因此這篇文章的關注點是人們怎么樣才能夠取得一些獲得專利權的發明的相關信息，因此正確答案為D。

[題目譯文]

這篇的主要內容是
[A] 關于取得專利的方法
[B] 關于專利的申請
[C] 關于專利的使用
[D] 關于專利的獲取