[填空题]
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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 and publishes
full details of his invention to the public after that period
terminates.
Only in the most exceptional circumstances is the
life-span 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 color TV to receive and thus no hope of reward
for the invention.
Because a patent remains permanently public
after it has termin
[单项选择]I confess that when first I made acquaintance with Charles Strickland I never for a moment discerned that there was in him anything out of the ordinary. Yet now few will be found to deny his greatness. I do not speak of that greatness which is achieved by the fortunate politician or the successful soldier; that is a quality which belongs to the place he occupies rather than to the man; and a change of circumstances reduces it to very discreet proportions. The Prime Minister out of office is seen, too often, to have been but a pompous rhetorician, and the General without an army is but the tame hero of a market town. The greatness of Charles Strickland was authentic. It may be that you do not like his art, but at all events you can hardly refuse it the tribute of your interest. He disturbs and arrests. The time has passed when he was an object of ridicule, and it is no longer a mark of eccentricity to defend or of perversity to extol him. His faults are accepted as the necessary complem
A. ordinary
B. great
C. fortunate
D. discreet
