閱讀完型實(shí)例講解及練習(xí)
TEXT A
Before the mid1860‘s， the impact of the railroads in the United States was limited， in the sense that the tracks ended at this Missouri River， approximately the center of the country. At the point the trains turned their freight， mail， and passengers over to steamboats， wagons， and stagecoaches. This meant that wagon freighting， stage coaching， and steam boating did not come to an end when the first train appeared; rather they became supplements or feeders. Each new “end瞣f瞭rack” became a center for animal drawn or waterborne transportation. The major effect of the railroad was to shorten the distance that had to be covered by the older， slower， and more costly means. Wagon freighters continued operating throughout the 1870’s and 1880‘s and into the 1890’s.
Although over constantly shrinking routes， and coaches and wagons continued to crisscross the West wherever the rails had not yet been laid. The beginning of a major change was foreshadowed in the later 1860‘s， when the Union Pacific Railroad at last began to build westward from the Central Plains city of Omaha to meet the Central Pacific Railroad advancing eastward from California through the formidable barrier of the Sierra Nevada. Although President Abraham Lincoln signed the original Pacific Railroad bill in 1862 and a revised， financially much more generous version in 1864， little construction was completed until 1865 on the Central Pacific and 1866 on the Union Pacific. The primary reason was skepticism that a Railroad built through so challenging and thinly settled a stretch of desert， mountain， and semiarid plain could pay a profit. In the words of an economist， this was a case of “premature enterprise”， where not only the cost of construction but also the very high risk deterred private investment. In discussing the Pacific Railroad bill， the chair of the congressional committee bluntly stated that without government subsidy no one would undertake so unpromising a venture; yet it was a national necessity to link East and West together.
16. The author refers to the impact of railroads before the late 1860‘s as “l(fā)imited” because ____.
A. the track did not take the direct route from one city to the next
B. passengers and freight had to transfer to other modes of transportation to reach western destinations
C. passengers preferred stagecoaches
D. railroad travel was quite expensive
17. What can be inferred about coaches and wagon freighters as the railroad expanded?
A. They developed competing routes.ぶ謝考試網(wǎng)
B. Their drivers refused to work for the railroads.
C. They began to specialize in private investment.
D. There were insufficient numbers of trained people to operate them.
18. Why does the author mention the Sierra Nevada in line 17?
A. To argue that a more direct route to the West could have been taken.
B. To identify a historically significant mountain range in the West.
C. To point out the location of a serious train accident.
D. To give an example of an obstacle faced by the central pacific.
19. The word “subsidy” in line 27 is closest in meaning to _____.
A. persuasion
B. financing
C. explanation
D. penalty
答案和解析：
16. B)根據(jù)文章前五句可知，在十九世紀(jì)六十年代晚期前鐵路在美國(guó)的影響是有限的“l(fā)imited”，當(dāng)時(shí)鐵路只從美國(guó)東部修到了美國(guó)中部，運(yùn)到美國(guó)西部地區(qū)的貨物只有在鐵路的盡頭“end瞣f瞭rack”改用其他的運(yùn)輸方式，比如：汽船、馬車(chē)等，它們的運(yùn)輸效率可想而知。故選項(xiàng)B為正確答案。
17. D)這是一道推論題�？捎门懦ㄗ龃祟}。根據(jù)文章第六行至第七行“rather they became supplements or feeders”和第十行至第十三行“Wagon freighters continued operating throughout the 1870‘s and 1880’s and into the 1890‘s. Although over constantly shrinking routes， and coaches and wagons continued to crisscross the West wherever the rails had not yet been laid.”可知隨著鐵路線的`不斷延伸，馬車(chē)貨運(yùn)的路線日益減少，雖然馬車(chē)貨運(yùn)經(jīng)營(yíng)者們繼續(xù)在西部發(fā)展貨運(yùn)線路，但是它們只是鐵路運(yùn)輸?shù)难a(bǔ)充。因此選項(xiàng)A“他們發(fā)展了有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)性的線路”可以排除。而選項(xiàng)B、C文中根本沒(méi)有提及。故只有選項(xiàng)D為正確答案。
18. D)根據(jù)“the Sierra Nevada”所在句可知作者提到它是因?yàn)樗切藿M跨東西鐵路的一個(gè)巨大的障礙，故D為正確答案。
19. B)Subsidy意為“補(bǔ)助金，津貼”，與financing意義相符。