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
24
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
Which sentence below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 1? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
选项
A、International trade had to take place near oceans and rivers and did not extend to interior regions.
B、After several centuries of slow growth, the world economy was no longer confined by geography.
C、The effects of economic activity were felt everywhere, but especially along coasts and rivers.
D、World markets expanded rapidly, affecting people who lived hundreds of miles from the coast.
答案
A
解析
The world market...was confined to the coasts and along rivers.., is paraphrased in International trade had to take place near" oceans and rivers...; ...and its effects were rarely felt a hundred miles inland is paraphrased in ...and did not extend to interior regions.(1.7)
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/kDyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
DothefollowingstatementsagreewiththeinformationgiveninReadingPassage3?Inboxes32-35onyouanswersheet,writeTR
DothefollowingstatementsagreewiththeinformationgiveninReadingPassage1?Inboxes5-8onyouanswersheet,writeTRUE
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-13,whicharebasedonReadingPassage1below.AAmericanstodaychooseamong
DothefollowingstatementsagreewiththeinformationgiveninReadingPassage3?Inboxes32-35onyouanswersheet,writeTRU
TheEvolutionaryMystery:CrocodileSurvivesA.Eventhoughcrocodileshaveexistedfor200millionyears,they’reanything
Thestoryillustratesthatdogsare______animals.Thepeopleofthetownbuilta______ofadog.
Whatpercentageofthestudentsaremature?Thewebsitealsohasresponsesto______.
Thievesoftentargetstudents’homesbecausestudents______.Academic______areinsuredupto£5000.
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.Accordingtothespeaker,whatistrueaboutthetransportation?
随机试题
赔偿费用列入()预算
以下属于政府预算完整性原则的有()。
在我国,判断某项遗产是否为涉外无人继承财产,应该适用()
视杆系统
某安全等级为二级的高层建筑采用混凝土框架一核心筒结构体系,框架柱截面尺寸均为900mm×900mm,筒体平面尺寸为11.2m×11.6m,如题图所示。基础采用平板式筏基,板厚14m,筏基的混凝土强度等级为C30(ft=1.43MPa)。提示:计算时取,
某大型机床厂机电安装工程项目,通过招标投标,最终由某设备安装工程公司中标,并签订了总承包合同。该设备安装工程公司与某机床生产企业签订了采购合同。总承包合同中约定总承包企业承担工程设备的采购任务,总承包企业在订立采购合同后,派人进驻机床生产企业进行监
最惠国待遇原则与普惠制原则一样都具有互惠性。()
反映员工个性与潜能的信息,包括()。
已知A=,矩阵X满足A*X=A-1+2X,其中A*是A的伴随矩阵,则X=_______.
打伞的人想必是汤姆。
最新回复
(
0
)