|
TOEFL Directory > TOEFL writing > TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 10_Question 100-110
TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 10_Question 100-110
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 100-110
Passage 10
Thomas Edison, an inventor of the late 1800's, always said that the phonograph was his only real discovery, the only invention he stumbled upon rather than deliberately set out to find. Having invented it, he then had to find a use for it. Musical entertainment was one of the first uses he predicted for the phonograph, although it was by no means the only one. The inventor claimed that it would change education, politics, and business communication, in addition to providing entertainment. Edison also thought it could be adapted for phonographic books for people with visual impairments, for the teaching of public speaking, and for talking clocks.
It was thought that the phonograph could be used to save telephone messages, and the ability to record speech opened up several commercial uses. Chief among these was its employment as a dictating machine for people in business. A talking machine could be used to replace the tedious exchange of letters with the recorded message of the speaker on a phonograph cylinder. The inventor hoped that the cylinder could be sent through the mail with the ease of a letter. The advantage was that the recipient got an exact record of the sender's message as it was dictated, substituting a sound recording for correspondence. The paperless business office was anticipated well before the advent of personal computers and modems.
Edison hoped that the phonograph would transform office work. The electric light, telephone, and typewriter were slowly changing the way business was conducted in the United States, facilitating the task of managing the larger business organization of the late nineteenth century. When used as a dictating machine, the phonograph promised to further ease the burden of business administration by mechanizing correspondence. The device that had begun as a complement to the telephone was now seen as an adjunct to the typewriter.
At the same time that Edison was imagining the phonograph as the ultimate business tool, he also made a prophetic statement about its future. "This machine,?he wrote in 1878, shortly after the clamor surrounding the invention had died down, "can only be built on the American principle of interchangeability of parts, like a sewing machine.? Edison had grasped the idea of mass production using standardized parts.
100. What does the passage mainly discuss?
a) The discovery and potential uses of the phonograph
b) Various inventions of Thomas Edison
c) Office technology in the United States in the late 1800's
d) The impact of the telephone on businesses
101. The author uses the phrase stumbled upon in the passage to indicate that Edison's invention of the phonograph was
a) accidental
b) disorganized
c) important
d) popular
102. The word one in the passage refers to
a) Edison
b) phonograph
c) uses
d) entertainment
103. The word adapted in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) sold
b) presented
c) modified
d) rotated
104. According to the passage, Edison believed the phonograph could be used to improve all of the following EXCEPT
a) business communication
b) musical entertainment
c) speed of mail delivery
d) education
105. The word tedious in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) tiresome
b) regular
c) confusing
d) hurried
106. The word facilitating in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) identifying
b) structuring
c) explaining
d) easing
107. The author mentions The electric light, telephone, and typewriter in paragraph 3 in order to
a) show how office work was organized in the late 1800's
b) indicate problems that existed in offices in the late 1800's
c) provide examples of inventions that improved office efficiency in the late 1800's
d) point out accomplishments of offices in the late 1800's
108. According to the passage, Edison believed that the phonograph could be used by business to
a) save money
b) make office work easier to manage
c) create new jobs
d) improve accounting procedures
109. The word device in the passage refers to
a) phonograph
b) electric light
c) telephone
d) typewriter
110. Thomas Edison compared the phonograph to the sewing machine in terms of its
a) variety of uses
b) cost of manufacture
c) future impact on business
d) method of production
Click here to get the detail explanations and correct answers.
|
