Chapter 22 The Moon Over the Past
In addition, Xie Ning didn't know how many students in the school liked mechanical engineering. Despite Cheng Youmin and Principal An's enthusiasm, many people were thinking more about their future. Unless you were as specialized as Xie Ning, mechanical engineering didn't offer good job prospects, and it was also very difficult to study.
But when Xie Ning stood on the podium and looked at the students sitting below, her heart calmed down.
She wasn't unfamiliar with teaching; she used to substitute for her professors in college. But she had never taught anything so basic before. No problem, she'd take it slow.
One is willing to learn, and the other is willing to teach.
Xie Ning originally only wanted to survive this chaotic world, but when she was actually in it, it was difficult to escape the surging torrent. Fortunately, she had one or two special skills. History cannot be changed, but she could try to make this path less bloody.
"I don't know if you have read Mr. Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution'. He said that humans evolved from apes. Of course, in your eyes, apes are probably monkeys and gorillas."
I won't offer any explanations here. What I want to say is that, regardless of the past, we are human beings now, while monkeys, apes, and gorillas are animals. There is a difference between humans and animals. Here's a question: what is the fundamental difference between humans and animals? Does anyone have an answer?
The students looked at each other, wondering why Teacher Xie was talking about people and animals instead of mechanics. But the well-behaved students still thought actively and raised their hands to answer.
“Sir, humans have thoughts and can think, while animals cannot.”
"Okay, please sit down."
Then someone else raised their hand, “Sir, I think the difference is that humans use all sorts of tools, while animals don’t.”
“Sir, I believe that humans can farm, weave cloth, and trade, while animals cannot.”
"Sir, sir, I think..."
......
The students were very active in speaking up in class, and Xie Ning's tolerant attitude made them even bolder.
"Okay, the students have all spoken very well. Now it's time for the teacher to summarize."
Humans can create and use tools for production, which is the essential difference between humans and animals. The fundamental difference between humans and animals lies in the fact that humans are conscious, possess subjective initiative, and have the ability to observe, distinguish, and analyze things—capabilities that animals cannot do. Humans can also create and use various tools; for example, only humans can make airplanes, cars, and ships. Animals cannot manufacture these. In other words, humans possess consciousness, but animals do not.
"And toolmaking is what I'll be talking about next."
The hallmark of humankind becoming "modern" is the manufacture of tools. In the Stone Age, humans crafted various simple, crude tools such as stone axes, stone hammers, and tools made of wood and leather for productive activities; these were the precursors to machinery.
As Xie Ning spoke, he drew rough tools on the blackboard with chalk, and then demonstrated the long process of evolving from making simple tools to making modern machines composed of multiple parts and components.
With the pointer pressed against the blackboard, Xie Ning began his speech, pointing to the rough drawings on the blackboard.
"Thousands of years ago, humans began to make various tools, such as mortars for husking grains and stone mills for crushing grains. These kinds of things should be familiar to you."
And we see wheeled vehicles everywhere on the road, such as wooden carts, rickshaws, and cars. Looking out at the sea, we see boats sailing on rivers. Looking up at the sky, we see hot air balloons, passenger planes, fighter jets, and so on.
At first, we relied solely on our own strength, but later we discovered that we could utilize animal power. We could use donkeys to pull millstones and oxen and horses to pull carts. Later still, we learned to use oars to cross rivers and seas with the help of water power, and discovered that we could use wind power to fly high into the sky.
This is leveraging external resources.
The millstone is made of stone, the wooden cart is made of wood, and the desks and chairs the students are sitting on are also made of wood. These are the most primitive and natural materials. However, humans began using man-made materials thousands of years ago, such as ceramics.
Xie Ning tapped the ceramic cup on the podium and continued, "The potter's wheel makes ceramics; it's a complete machine with three parts: power, transmission, and operation."
"...Before the Industrial Revolution, most machinery was made of wood and handcrafted by carpenters. Metal was only used to manufacture instruments, locks, clocks, pumps, and small parts for wooden machinery. Furthermore, its processing relied heavily on the meticulous craftsmanship of machinists to achieve the required precision. However, the widespread adoption of steam engines, and the subsequent development of large-scale machinery in mining, metallurgy, shipbuilding, and locomotives, necessitated the forming and machining of increasingly larger and more complex metal parts, demanding ever-increasing precision. The metal materials used evolved from copper and iron to primarily steel... Machining processes included forging, pressing, sheet metal work, welding, heat treatment..."
During the class, Xie Ning drank the entire pot of tea on the table, but still felt thirsty and had an urgent need to urinate.
But the students in the audience were listening attentively, and she was getting carried away with her story, so she had to hold back for now, thinking that she would definitely have to buy throat lozenges to stock up on another day, otherwise her throat really couldn't take it.
Outside the classroom were Principal An and several teachers, listening intently. Principal An stroked his beard, looking pleased. "Mr. Xie is a great talent. With him, we can fill the gaps in our knowledge of mechanics. Moreover, I have discovered that Mr. Xie's expertise in other disciplines is equally impressive. It's just a pity that there is only one Mr. Xie."
If Principal An weren't worried about exhausting Xie Ning, he really wouldn't mind adding a few more subjects.
Xie Ning swallowed hard and said that she was about to leave after class because she needed to go to the restroom and really couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Sir! May I ask you about this?"
"Sir, sir, I have a question too!"
......
The students who had just been sitting upright in the classroom surrounded Xie Ning, bombarding him with questions that landed on his slightly contorted face.
Xie Ning: Hold it in!
More than half an hour later, she finally escaped from the students' encirclement. Xiao Yang went up to support Xie Ning, and for some reason, he felt that Xie Ning's legs were trembling.
"Quick, to the toilet!"
Xie Ning went into the restroom looking pale, but came out looking refreshed. It really felt good to have taken care of this important life event. Next time, she shouldn't drink so much water; she was afraid of ruining her bladder.
With so much time already wasted, they definitely wouldn't have time to go back and eat Aunt Liu's cooking. Xie Ning didn't plan to go to the cafeteria; she didn't even need to look at the school cafeteria—the food was bound to be bad. She wasn't short of money, so she decided not to suffer the inconvenience.
So he took Xiao Yang to a small restaurant outside for a meal.
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