Technology is great,isn’t it? It allows us to do more in less time(think of washing machines,automobiles and calculators).It allows us to do things and go places never before imagined-like land a man on the moon.It help us to understand new worlds-like atoms and DNA.

　　First,what is technology?It is basically scientific understanding and tools which help us understand and master our environment.Man and chimpanzee alike have opposing thumbs and can grasp tools.But man was created differently from animals:he is self-aware;he can plan and evaluate;he can fashion tools and conduct experiments.

　　It’s natural for us to try to improve our lives and save time and energy.Most inventors like thinking but also create new things hoping to sell their ideas to others – mostly farmers-who want to progress.And so over the centuries,thousands of tools had been invented,but most work was still done by hand….

　　Then came the Industrial Revolution(late 1700’s to early 1800’s),which saw the invention of amazing machines which could do the work of dozens of English and Americn workers!Factories took over from farms as the center of life.

　　In 1899,Charles Duell,the commissioner of the US Patent Office,said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”But it was only the beginning.

　　The transistor-that key electonic component in computers and all things digital-was invented in 1947.The first “personal computer”was sold in the US in 1975.Now,there are electronic gadgets for anything you can imagine.and the pace of inventing is increasing!

　　Today,about the only thing that is constant is change.One might also say that technology has taken on a life of its own.