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
THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION 1 By the close of the eighteenth century, the outlines of a world economy were clearly visible.C
THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION 1 By the close of the eighteenth century, the outlines of a world economy were clearly visible.C
admin
2012-01-14
54
问题
THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION
1 By the close of the eighteenth century, the outlines of a world economy were clearly visible.Centered in Western Europe, it included Russia, India, the East Indies, the Middle East, northern and western Africa, and the Americas.Trade had increased greatly and shipping had grown in volume and speed, connecting the markets of the world more closely than ever before.
The world market, however, was confined to the coasts and along rivers, and its effects were rarely felt a hundred miles inland.
The expansion of economic activity into the interior, and its spread throughout China, Japan, Oceania, and Africa, was a major development of the nineteenth century.It was largely accomplished through a revolution in transportation, particularly the development of the steamship, canals, and railroads.
2 Since the fifteenth century, the wooden sailing ship had been the main instrument of European economic and political expansion.Sailing ships constantly grew in carrying capacity and speed with improvements in design, and they were built of easily available materials.The age of sailing ships reached its
zenith
in the middle of the nineteenth century, the era of the great ocean-plying clippers that carried the majority of international trade.
3 Before 1850, the bulk of internal trade was carried by water.In Western Europe, there had been several attempts to supplement the excellent river network with canals.However, it was the demands of the Industrial Revolution, particularly the need to transport huge quantities of coal, that stimulated large-scale canal building in the years 1760-1850, first in Britain and then in Western Europe and the United States.The introduction of steamboats gave an additional
impetus
to river navigation and canal construction.The steamship rose in stature in the 1870s, when technical progress reduced the amount of coal the steam engine consumed.Technical innovation, along with the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, enabled the steamship to surpass the sailing ship as the chief instrument of international trade.
4 Methods of land transport continued to be slow, uncertain, and expensive until the
boom
in railroad construction at mid century.In 1840 there were 5,500 miles of rail track throughout the world; just twenty years later, there were 66,000 miles.Of these, 50 percent were in North America and 47 percent were in Europe.The rail lines built during that period served populated areas where considerable economic activity already existed, yet a global ideology of railroads gradually emerged: the belief that railroads could populate and bring wealth to undeveloped regions.
5 In Britain and the United States, private companies built hundreds of uncoordinated rail projects, but in continental Europe railroad construction became a concern of the state, which provided overall control and a large share of capital.Until 1914, the building of railroads remained the most important reason for the export of capital as well as the main method of developing new territories.British capital financed the majority of the railroads built in India, Canada, and Latin America.The U.S.transcontinental railroad played a key role in populating and developing huge tracts of land in North America, as did the Trans-Siberian Railway in Asia.
6 In the course of the nineteenth century, around 9 million square miles of land were settled in North and South America and Oceania.This was made possible by the decline in transportation costs, which greatly extended the area from which bulky products such as grains and minerals could be marketed.The introduction of
refrigeration
on railcars and steamers in the 1870s opened huge markets for meat, dairy products, and fruit in North America and Europe.The 1870s also saw the adoption of steel rails, electric signals, compressed-air brakes, and other inventions that made railroads a leading source of technical innovation in the nineteenth century.
7 In the world context, the rise of the railroad was inseparable from that of the steamship.The economic and geographic consequences of these two innovations complemented one another.Both had the effect of increasing the size of markets as well as the amount of economic activity worldwide.
Glossary:
clipper:a sailing ship that was built for great speed
Look at the four squares,A,B,C, and D, which indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.Where would the sentence best fit?
Railroad construction required enormous amounts of capital and was financed in diverse ways.
A In Britain and the United States, private companies built hundreds of uncoordinated
rail projects, but in continental Europe railroad construction became a concern of the state,
which provided overall control and a large share of capital.BUntil 1914, the building of railroads remained the most important reason for the export of capital as well as the main method of developing new territories.CBritish capital financed the majority of the railroads built in India, Canada, and Latin America.DThe U.S.transcontinental railroad played a key role in populating and developing huge tracts of land in North America, as did the Trans Siberian Railway in Asia.
选项
A、Square A
B、Square B
C、Square C
D、Square D
答案
A
解析
The added sentence introduces the topic of how railroad construction was financed.The rest of the paragraph develops this topic with facts and details: ...private companies...; ...a concern of the state...; British capital financed the majority of the railroads...(1.8)
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/HDyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
DothefollowingstatementsagreewiththeinformationgiveninReadingPassage1?Inboxes8-13onyouranswersheet,writeT
Choosethecorrectletter,A,B,CorD.Writethecorrectletterinboxes9-13onyouranswersheet.Howtoincreasethehappi
Choosethecorrectletter,A,B,CorD.Writethecorrectletterinboxes9-13onyouranswersheet.TheMaximisationScaleis
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-13,whicharebasedonReadingPassage1below.AAmericanstodaychooseamong
HowdesertsareformedA.Adesertreferstoabarrensectionofland,mainlyinaridandsemi-aridareas,wherethereisal
TheEvolutionaryMystery:CrocodileSurvivesA.Eventhoughcrocodileshaveexistedfor200millionyears,they’reanything
Timekeeper:InventionofMarineChronometerA.Uptothemiddleofthe18thcentury,thenavigatorswerestillunabletoexa
Timekeeper:InventionofMarineChronometerA.Uptothemiddleofthe18thcentury,thenavigatorswerestillunabletoexa
Tiktaalikrosaeisconsideredtobeanevolutionary______.WherewerethelateDevonianrocksoriginallycreated?
Studentswhosepreviouseducationalexperiencewas______oftenfindithardtobecomeindependentlearners.Studytripsprovid
随机试题
“普遍选举”最早由______提出。()
(非英语专业学生做)(Para.2,Passage2)Theadvancementoftechnologydependsuponresearchanddevelopment,andthelateststatisticssho
龈上菌斑位于牙龈缘的上方,在牙周组织相对正常的情况下,G+菌占细菌总量的
菟丝子主要含()
作为整体包括多个层次的含义,产品的质量属于产品的()含义
火灾风险评估的试验方法不包括()。
企业绩效管理系统由()等多个子系统组成。[2015年11月三级真题]
①尽管海外屯田存有各种风险,但它能在一定程度上减轻为保障国内粮食供给而对耕地施加的压力。因此,我国也应积极探索海外屯田②印度也于2008年开始在巴拉圭、乌拉圭、巴西等国展开租田谈判③2007年的粮食危机又引发了新一轮的“海外屯田潮”④日本最先开始海外
改革的性质是()
设f(x)=,f[φ(x)]=1一x,且φ(x)≥0,求φ(x)及其定义域.
最新回复
(
0
)