A very rapid increase in the number of ships sailing between American and European ports began almost immediately after the end

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问题      A very rapid increase in the number of ships sailing between American and European ports began almost immediately after the end of the war of 1812 in order to meet the new need for the regular rapid transportation of mail, light cargo, and passengers. It was the increase in emigration to America that for the first time made the carrying of passengers across the Atlantic more profitable than the transportation of heavy cargo. A new type of sailing vessel, the packet, appeared to meet this new demand, and the extent of the demand very soon resulted in strong competition among several packet lines. The earliest to these was the Black Ball Line established in New York in 1816, only a year after the end of the war. The scheduled service of this famous line started with four of the new fast packets, each of 400 to 500 tons: the Pacific, the Amity, the James Cooper, and the William Thompson. During the first twenty years of service, the average time from New York to Liverpool was 23 days and the average trip back to New York took 40 days.By the middle of the century, packets had increased in size to between 900 and 1,000 tons, and their speed had increased. The Red Jacket once sailed from New York to Liverpool in 13 days, 11.5 hours. The Mary Whiteridge took 4.5 hours off this record on a run from Baltimore to Liverpool. Such speeds were far greater than the average of from 19 to 21 days to Liverpool and from 30 to 35 homeward to New York, but the packet had still set a new standard for transoceanic travel. No wonder that steamships, the first of which tried to compete with the packets in 1838, only began to replace them in the 1850’s.
According to the author, in which decade of the nineteenth century did a steamship first attempt to compete with the transatlantic packets?

选项 A、The twenties.
B、The thirties.
C、The forties.
D、The fifties.

答案B

解析 本题为细节推断题。文章最后提到“No wonder that steamships, the first of which tried to compete with the packets in 1838…”可知首次想要和它竞争是在 30 年代。
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