" Progress" was the watchword(口号) of the first two decades of the 20th Century. World-wide attempts to deal with rapid industria

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问题       " Progress" was the watchword(口号) of the first two decades of the 20th Century. World-wide attempts to deal with rapid industrial growth brought changes in technology, ideas, and political and social institutions that were to shape the century.
      Advances in communication: the telegraph, radio, motion pictures, sped knowledge of events throughout cities and rural areas. Airplanes and automobiles widened the geographic boundaries of people’s lives. In December 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully flew the first powered heavier-than-air vehicle. In 1908 Henry Ford introduced his Model-T, a mass-produced automobile available at the affordable price of $ 850. In 1920, KDKA broadcast the first radio reporting of presidential election results.
      The Progressives who held political control in the US throughout the period worked to increase democratic participation in the government and other institutions. Through their social reform movements,  they attempted to improve people’s lives by advocating prohibition of alcoholic beverages, the regulation of working conditions, and the improvement of living conditions. The booming cities were populated by immigrants who saw America as the land of opportunity. Immigration to the US reached its peak in 1907 with 12, 000 arrivals a day, but would continue to be an issue for Americans until the end of the century. Prohibition, legalized by the 18th Amendment in 1919, would challenge law enforcement officials into 1930s.
      Both Republican and Democratic parties pursued a progressive agenda from 1900 through 1920. Republicans Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft pressed for democratic reforms in local, state and national government, restrictions on business monopolies, and advocated social and economic benefits for American citizens. Democrat Woodrow Wilson advocated reforms in banking, tariffs, trusts and labor and sought the development of democracy internationally.
     Government and business became more democratic. Big business was a negative and positive force for change; industry’s treatment of workers created the pressure for labor reform; municipal governments modeled their management structures on business organizations. President Theodore Roosevelt led a campaign to" bust the trusts". On May 15,1911, the Supreme Court dissolved the monopoly of the Standard Oil Company.
     The people became more directly involved with government. The passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913 provided/’or the popular election of Senators. Women lobbied for and won a voice in government with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on August 8,1920.
What can be concluded as the remarkable characteristic of the first twenty years of the 20th century?

选项 A、Industry.
B、Watchword.
C、Technology.
D、Progress

答案D

解析 这是一道主旨题,考查对文章整体上的把握。文章首句“‘Progress’was…20th Century.”就指出进步是20世纪头20年的口号,接下来整篇文章,都在介绍20世纪头20年在技术、经济、政治上取得的进步。因此“进步”是这—时期最显著的特征。A 工业和C 技术只是这一特征所表现的方面,并不是特征本身。
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