首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
DEFORESTATION IN NORTH AMERICA 1 The land area of the United States and Canada is just over 4.8 billion acres. When large numb
DEFORESTATION IN NORTH AMERICA 1 The land area of the United States and Canada is just over 4.8 billion acres. When large numb
admin
2012-01-14
125
问题
DEFORESTATION IN NORTH AMERICA
1 The land area of the United States and Canada is just over 4.8 billion acres. When large numbers of Europeans began to arrive in the eighteenth century, almost one-third of that area was covered with old-growth forests. In the eastern half of the continent, nearly 90 percent of the land was thick with forests of elm, ash, beech, maple, oak, and hickory. By the end of the nineteenth century, after several decades of intensive deforestation, only half of the original forests remained.
2 During the first two centuries of European colonization, settlement was concentrated along the East Coast, having almost no effect on the vast forests covering the continent. Then, in the first half of the nineteenth century, agriculture expanded and settlers began to move westward in search of land for new farms. Land for agriculture came almost exclusively from clearing forests. The demand for farmland and timber continued to soar, and by 1850, more than 100 million acres of old-growth forest had been cut or burned off in the Northeast, the Southeast, the Great Lakes region, and along the St. Lawrence River.
3 Along with agriculture, industrialization was a major cause of deforestation. The Industrial Revolution was fueled by North America’s abundance of wood, as iron makers relied on charcoal, or charred wood, to fire their furnaces. Hardwoods such as oak produced the best charcoal, which charcoal burners made by slowly burning logs in kilns until
they
were reduced to concentrated carbon. It took eight tons of wood to make two tons of charcoal to smelt one ton of iron. Thus, the
toll
on the forests was high, as countless acres were cut to feed the furnaces of the iron industry.
4 The transportation technology of the Industrial Revolution contributed greatly to deforestation. The river steamboats that came into operation after 1830 had a
voracious
appetite for wood. To keep their wheels turning, steamboats typically took on fuel twice a day. The wood was supplied by thousands of"
wood hawks
" along the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi with stacks of cut firewood. Annual consumption of wood on riverboats continued to increase until 1865. Consequently, river valleys that had the heaviest traffic were stripped of their forests.
5 After 1860, immigration and westward expansion surged, and railroads swept over the continent. Clean-burning hardwood was the preferred fuel of the "iron horses," which required the cutting of 215,000 acres of woodland to stay in operation for one year. Not only did wood fuel the steam engines, but enormous amounts of oak and locust also went into the manufacture of railcars, ties, fencing, bridges, and telegraph poles. Railroads in the United States and Canada stretched from coast to coast by 1885, and each additional mile of railroad meant at least two more miles of fencing and 2,500 ties.
6 Other major consumers of forest products included ordinary homeowners.
More than four out of five of the houses constructed in the early nineteenth century-from log cabins to clapboard cottages-were built mainly of wood and roofed with wooden shingles.
All were filled with wooden furniture. Two-thirds of all households in North America were heated by open, wood-burning fireplaces, and it took between 10 and 20 acres of forest to keep a single fireplace burning for one year.
7 Throughout the century, the timber industry continued to supply the single most valuable raw material for a rapidly expanding population. Between 1840 and 1860, the annual production of lumber rose from 1.6 million to 8 billion board feet. This increase was made possible by the widespread application of steam power. Wood-fueled steam engines powered the sawmills, moved and barked the logs, and finished the boards. Railroad lines were now built right into the forests so that felled logs could be shipped directly to market. These innovations had their greatest impact in the Great Lakes region. By 1890 the technology of the timber industry had triumphed over the natural abundance of the forests, and woodlands that had once seemed endless were now depleted.
Why does the author use the word toll in discussing the iron industry in paragraph 3?
选项
A、To show that the process of smelting iron was expensive
B、To illustrate the impact of forest fires on the iron industry
C、To point out that the iron industry had to pay high taxes
D、To emphasize that large areas of woodland were eliminated
答案
D
解析
The author’s purpose is to emphasize that large areas of woodland were eliminated. In this context, toll refers to loss because many trees had to be cut to make charcoal. Clues: ...countless acres were cut to feed the furnaces of the iron industry. (1.6)
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/03yO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseONEWORDONLYfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes21-26onyourans
HowdesertsareformedA.Adesertreferstoabarrensectionofland,mainlyinaridandsemi-aridareas,wherethereisal
TheInnovationofGroceryStoresA.Attheverybeginningofthe20thcentury,theAmericangrocerystoresofferedcomprehen
Whataretheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofsendingthingsbyair?WhenwillthecustomerarriveinCanada?
Whichgroupgavethefollowingadvice?TickColumnAifitwasmainlywomen.TickColumnBifitwasmainlymen.TickColumnCi
WhichTWOofthefollowingaresalesstrategiesforchocolatesinItalyandGermany?AChangethelocationoftheproductonshe
(With)thediscovery(ofgold)intheKlondikeinCanada’sYukonTerritoryin1896,people(flockedsoon)therefrom(allparts)
Thecommonbarnowl,oneoftenspeciesofbarnowlsfoundinNorthAmerica,isalsocalledthemonkey-facedowlbecauseitshea
In(theearly)nineteenthcentury,theCherokeenationofAmericanIndians(wasadopted)awrittenconstitution(based)on(that
随机试题
在计算机内,多媒体数据最终是以()形式存在的。
妇科腔内放射治疗曼彻斯特系统A点位于侧穹隆上方多少和子宫中轴旁开多少的交点处
甲、乙企业达成一项非专利技术转让协议,约定甲向乙转让一种配方,乙不得将配方告知他人。乙获得配方后,违反保密协议,将配方允许联营企业丙使用,丙为了牟利,将配方多次转让,导致配方在社会上公开,甲企业蒙受重大损失,则_________。
甲、乙、丙、丁共同出资设立日升有限公司,出资比例分别为50%、30%、10%、10%。公司成立后因经营理念发生冲突,乙拟向戊转让其全部股权,甲不同意,丙、丁同意。2018年5月1日,乙书面通知甲、丙、丁转让条件并要求5月20日前答复是否行使优先购买权,丙、
民事法律关系的客体是民事权利和民事义务共同指向的对象。在货物运输合同关系中,其客体指()。
根据工程特点,发包方除工程造价款以外另行支付工期奖、质量奖、措施奖及索赔等款项时,要依据双方协议、合同等文件在约定期限内随同( )同时收取。
背景某写字楼地上6层,层高3.6m,幕墙面积4580m2,现浇混凝土框架结构。内墙墙面乳胶漆。外立面装修采用单元式隐框玻璃幕墙,槽型预埋件,在结构边梁的梁顶以及梁底预埋。幕墙单元板块在公司生产车间组装,加工完成后运至施工现场安装;幕墙全部采用吸热
小高平时安静沉稳,喜欢沉思,考虑事情全面,情绪不易外露,善于忍耐,克制自己,但是反应慢,新环境适应能力差,小高气质类型最可能属于哪种?()
在幼儿活动室窗台放几盆仙人球,既可以防电磁辐射,又可以供幼儿观察认识欣赏。()
请从所给的四个选项中,选出最符合左边四个图形一致性规律的选项()
最新回复
(
0
)