题型分类：文章总结题

题干分析：选择概括性的正确选项。

选项分析：

A选项是第一段和第二段的重要信息。“The increasing complexity of social and economic activity in medieval Europe led to the need for a more dependable means of keeping time”对应第二段的“Medieval Europe gave new importance to reliable time.”第二段具体提及了宗教、人们工作作息、市场开放关闭等活动对于准确时间的需求；“sun and water clocks provided”对应第一段“In Europe, before the introduction of the mechanical clock, people told time by sun and water clocks.”

E选项是第四段的重要信息。对应第四段“But the mechanical clock kept equal hours, and this implied a new time reckoning. The Catholic Church resisted, not coming over to the new hours for about a century.”

F选项是第五段和第六段的重要信息。“Clockmakers introduced precision engineering,”对应第五段的“At every stage, clockmakers led the way to accuracy and precision; …They were thus the pioneers of mechanical engineering and served as examples and teachers to other branches of engineering.”；“and their clocks gave individuals and groups more control over the organization of their activities.”对应第六段“The clock brought order and control, both collective and personal.”

B选项说“Because they were unreliable even in sunny climates”，而第一段说“Both these devices worked well in sunny climates”。因此选项与原文描述不符。

C选项说“more timekeepers allowed for better organization of collective activities”，文中未提及人们需要more timekeepers的信息，无中生有。

D选项说“Soon after the invention of the mechanical clock, sun and water clocks became obsolete”，而第三段说“Once known, it spread rapidly, driving out water clocks but not solar dials, which were needed to check the new machines against the timekeeper of last resort.” 即使出现机械钟，人们还继续保留日晷。因此选项与原文描述不符。