There are no lights, no televisions, no radios, and no cars. What is the role of the rhetorical device used?

Uses the rhetorical technique of parallelism.

In this sentence, "There are no lights, no TVs, no radios, and no cars" has the same structure, and there are words with the same tone "no", "no...no... ...No...and no..." is an obvious characteristic of a parallel sentence. It specifically writes about the situation in that era when everything was lacking, highlighting the backwardness at that time.

This sentence comes from the fourth-grade Chinese text "The Century of Change". The original sentence is:

For millions of years of history, human beings have been living in a world that relies on nature. Agrarian society. There were no electric lights, no television, no radios, and no cars. People can only use "clairvoyance", "ears of the wind" and gods who soar in the clouds and mist in myths to express their good wishes.

Extended information:

The first chapter of "The Century of Change" has 5 natural sections, which can be divided into three parts

The first part (Part 1 Natural paragraph), the 20th century is a century of change.

The second part (paragraphs 2 to 4), the significance of science and technology to human beings.

The third part (paragraph 5) points out the main purpose of the article - science and technology have changed human life style, and it will make human life better.

Writing Features

In paragraphs 3 and 4, the author uses the method of comparison and lists specific examples to subtly reveal the significance of science and technology to human life: without science and technology, human beings would only Ability to obey nature. Living in a "farming society" where people work at sunrise and rest at sunset, they can only "entrust their good wishes" in myths; but with science and technology, humans can transform nature and change their way of life.

It is no longer a myth to go up to the sky and enter the earth, so close to the end of the world. Modern science and technology have condensed the vast earth into a small "global village". "Science is changing the spiritual and cultural life of mankind, and it is also changing material life of mankind”. It can be seen that science and technology play a huge role in changing human life.

In the fifth natural paragraph, the author quotes the famous sayings of the British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell to clarify the main purpose of the article: Science and technology have completely changed the way of human existence, and it will make human beings Life is better.