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TOEFL Directory > TOEFL writing > TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 24_Question 254-264
TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 24_Question 254-264
You have about 15 minutes to finish this passage.
First,use about 3-4 minutes to read the passage, try to understand the main idea of this passage.
Don't read it so slowly or try to remember all details.You need to do "fast reading",and "scan" the passage.
Second, read questions 1-11, and with questions you go back the passage again and look for correct answers.
Questions 254-264
Passage 24
In a sense, the Industrial Revolution, in the United States as in Europe, was merely an acceleration of technological changes that had no clear beginning. It involved the development and increasing use of power-driven machines in industrial production, the location of those machines in factories that tended to grow in size and complexity, and, with the decline of transportation costs, the distribution of products in ever widening mass markets. As the domestic market expanded, manufacturing enterprises became increasingly specialized. The early textile mills, for example, marketed their own products and constructed their own machinery; but eventually they concentrated on spinning and weaving, selling their products to wholesalers and buying their machinery from independent machine shops. The essential features of the Industrial Revolution, then, were mechanization, specialization, and a trend from local to regional and national distribution.
United States industrial technology was in part copied from Europe, especially England, and was in part an outgrowth of the efforts of American inventors, skilled mechanics, and entrepreneurs. Manufacturers found an impelling incentive for mechanization in the relative scarcity and high cost of domestic labor. The high cost of labor was the direct result of the high productivity of American agriculture, which forced industry to pay wages comparable to what could be earned on the land. Another incentive was the presence of cheap waterpower to which machinery could easily be harnessed. Moreover, optimistic American entrepreneurs, anticipating continued technological advances, usually built cheaper machines that wore out quickly, thus making it relatively inexpensive to retool, that is, adapt machines for different uses. In the United States, such conditions provided many inducements for mechanical innovation. In addition, the relative youth of the society meant that there were few established political and social structures that would be likely to impede technological change.
254. What does the passage mainly discuss?
a) Similarities between the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States
b) The complexity of new factories in the United States
c) The effects of industrialization on society in the United States
d) Features of the Industrial Revolution in the United States
255. The word acceleration in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) crossing over
b) speeding up
c) acceptance
d) construction
256. The word It in the passage refers to
a) sense
b) the Industrial Revolution
c) acceleration
d) beginning
257. Which of the following is mentioned as a reason for the expansion of markets?
a) The availability of natural resources
b) Highly effective salespeople
c) Inexpensive transportation
d) The location of factories
258. The author mentions textile mills in the passage in order to focus on the
a) size of factories
b) power of newly developed machines
c) cost of textile manufacturing
d) growing specialization in industry
259. The word essential in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) unusual
b) precise
c) individual
d) fundamental
260. All of the following are mentioned as being features of the Industrial Revolution EXCEPT
a) a decrease in the cost of labor
b) an increase in regional distribution of goods
c) more use of machines in factories
d) the specialization of work in factories
261. The word outgrowth in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) cause
b) assumption
c) description
d) result
262. The word incentive in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) explanation
b) motive
c) request
d) activity
263. The word impede in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) obstruct
b) precede
c) measure
d) connect
264. All of the following contributed to the industrialization of the United States economy EXCEPT
a) the availability of water as a source of power
b) new inventions
c) the ability to change industrial machinery without great expense
d) traditional social and political structures
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