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  3. Despite the clear-cut technological advantages, the railroad didn’t become the primary means of transportation for nearly 20 yea

Despite the clear-cut technological advantages, the railroad didn’t become the primary means of transportation for nearly 20 yea

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问题     Despite the clear-cut technological advantages, the railroad didn’t become the primary means of transportation for nearly 20 years after the first pioneering American railroads were introduced in the early 1830s. Besides the stiff competition of water transport, an important hindrance to railroad development was public antipathy, which had its roots in ignorance, conservatism, and vested interest. People thought that speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour would be physically harmful to passengers. Many honestly believed that the railroad would prove to be impractical and uneconomical and would not provide service as dependable as that of the waterways.
    Unsurprisingly, the most vigorous opposition to railroads came from groups whose economic interests suffered from the competition of the new industry. Millions of dollars had been spent on canals, rivers, highways, and plank roads, and thousands of people depended on these transportation enterprises for their livelihood. Tavern keepers feared their businesses would be ruined, and farmers envisioned the market for hay and grain disappearing as the "iron horse" replaced the flesh-and-blood animal that drew canal boats and pulled wagons. Competitive interests joined to embarrass and hinder the railroads, causing several states to limit traffic on them to passengers and their baggage or to freight hauled only during the months when canal operations ceased. One railroad company in Ohio was required to pay for any loss in canal traffic attributed to railroad competition. Other railroads were ordered to pay a tonnage tax to support the operation of canals.
    These sentiments, however amusing today, were seriously espoused by national leaders, as seen in a 1829 letter from Martin Van Buren, then governor of New York, to President Andrew Jackson.
    Despite the opposition of those who feared the railroads, construction went on. In sections of the country where canals could not be built, the railroad offered a means of cheap transportation for all kinds of commodities. In contrast to the municipality that wished to exclude the railroad, many cities and towns, as well as their state governments, did much to encourage railroad construction. And the federal government provided tariff exemptions on railroad iron.
    By 1840, railroad mileage in the United States was within 1,000 miles of the combined lengths of all canals, the volume of goods carried by water still exceeded that transported by rail. After the depression of the early 1840s, rail investments continued, mostly government assisted, and by 1850, the country had 9,000 miles of railroads, and the railroad’s superiority was clear.
    With the more than 20,000 miles of rails added to the transportation system between 1850 and 1860,total trackage surpassed 30,000 at the end of the decade, and the volume of freight traffic equaled that of canals. All the states east of the Mississippi were connected during this decade. The eastern seaboard was linked with the Mississippi River system, and the Gulf and South Atlantic states could interchange traffic with the Great Lakes. Growing trunk lines like the Erie, the Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore and Ohio completed construction of projects that had been started in the 1840s, and combinations of short lines provided new through routes. By the beginning of the Civil War, the eastern framework of the present rail-transportation system had been erected, and it was possible to travel by rail the entire distance from New York to Chicago to Memphis and back to New York.
    Many modifications and improvements occurred, and total factor productivity in railroads more than doubled in the two decades before the Civil War. Technological advances were reflected in the fact that the average traction force of locomotives more than doubled in these two decades. Freight car sizes also increased, with eight-wheel cars being common by 1859. Most of the productivity rise, however, resulted from increased utilization of existing facilities. The stock of capital—and other inputs—grew, but output grew much faster as the initial input became more fully utilized.
Which of the following adjectives can best describe American economy between the 1840s and the 1860s?
选项 A、Diversified.
B、Stable.
C、Thrilling.
D、Prosperous.
答案D
解析 推断题。最后一段指出，铁路系统有了诸多改进与发展，因而铁路的全要素生产率在南北战争前20年间提高了一倍多。技术进步在这20年中得到体现，火车头的平均拉力提高了一倍多。货车容量也增加了，到1859年，八轮车厢已很普遍。但生产率的提高主要得益于现有设备使用率的提高。资本存量以及其他要素投入有所增加，但随着更充分地利用创始投入，产出水平也大大提高。从这些描述都可以看出当时整体经济状况良好，非常繁荣，故[D]为答案。
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